James Madison: Little Big Man Trivia Quiz

Answer: 0

James and Dolley never had any children of their own, although Dolley did have a son by her first husband, John Todd, a lawyer who died of yellow fever in 1793. Ironically, another famous American "father," George Washington, also had no biological children.

Answer: Lawyer

Madison, after graduating from Princeton University in 1772, briefly considered a career as a member of the bar but soon abandoned that course. He was elected to the Orange County (VA) Committee of Safety in 1774, which was chaired by his father. After leaving the White House in 1817, Madison served on the board of regents for the University 0f Virginia, succeeding his life-long friend Thomas Jefferson as rector in 1826.

Answer: True

In his long public life, Madison lost only ONE election. That came in 1777, when he was defeated for reelection to the Virginia House of Delegates. The main reason given for his defeat was that Madison refused to utilize the then=-common practice of providing whiskey to the voters. He apparently learned his lesson, for he never lost another election, a time period of 40 years.

Answer: The protection of U.S. neutral rights at sea.

Both sides of the Napoleonic Wars treated the U.S. as a pawn. France was seizing America ships and their cargo bound for England, while the British, desperate for men, regularly boarded ships flying the American flag and impressed, or seized, sailors from those ships and pirated them to serve on theirs.

In retaliation, and to assert America's right as a neutral to deal with all belligerents of the war, President Jefferson, with the full backing of Secretary of State Madison, enacted the embargo. The hope was that the economies of France and England would be so severely damaged that they would be more than happy to respect America's neutrality.

It turned out that the economy that suffered the most was America's, as $16 million in customs revenues was lost from the inception of the embargo until its partial repeal in 1809, just before Jefferson left office.

Answer: Both died in office.

George Clinton, Madison's first V.P., and Elbridge Gerry, his second V.P., died in office. Clinton, former governor of New York and nemesis of Alexander Hamilton, had also been Jefferson's vice-president. He died shortly before the end of his term in 1812. Gerry was one of the American representatives during the XYZ Affair that occurred during John Adams' presidency, and had served as governor of Massachusetts before being elected to the vice presidency.

He died midway through his term, in 1814.

Answer: 3

As a delegate to the Virginia Convention of 1776, Madison was automatically a member of the first House of delegates, as this was one of the provisions of the state constitution of Virginia adopted at the convention. He was returned to the House in 1784, where he led the fight against the reestablishment of the Episcopalian church as the state-sanctioned church of Virginia.

After serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789-1797, he once again was elected to the Virginia House, were he campaigned for Thomas Jefferson's presidential bid in 1800.

As a reward, and as they were close friends, Jefferson rewarded Madison with what was then the "stepping stone" to the White House, secretary of state.

Answer: The annexation of Canada.

Although it was a goal of Madison's to bring Canada into the American fold, it wasn't one stated in his war address to Congress. Madison believed that Canada could be taken before England had a chance to react, to then be used as a bargaining chip ion peace talks.

The U.S., however, was plagued by an inadequate army and inept commanders and was never able to capture the key cities of Montreal and Quebec.

Answer: False

Rather than have the government on the run, as it was during times of the Revolutionary War, and risk the demoralization of the country, Madison thought it important that it should be "business as usual," or as close to usual as possible. Not all government buildings had been burned and Congress soon resumed meeting, transferring their offices to the Post Office and Patent building. Things didn't work out so well for the President and First lady however, as they were never able to return to the White Houses.

The repairs were not completed until after Madison had left office.

Answer: The American Colonization Society

Madison had believed for many years that slavery was a cancer upon America that would eventually lead to its dissolution, if allowed to spread unabated. He favored the idea of resettling freed blacks back in Africa. The American Colonization Society, founded in 1819, was the organization that founded the country of Liberia in Africa, whose capitol was named for then-President James Monroe.

Answer: John Quincy Adams

Adams, in reviewing Madison's career, studied, among other items, the correspondence between Madison and his old friend Thomas Jefferson. John Q. wasn't quite as forgiving of Jefferson as his father had been, feeling that Jefferson, at the least, was a user of people. Madison, Adams believed, did much to blunt some of Jefferson's sharp edges.

In studying their relationship, Adams wrote, "Madison moderated some of his (Jefferson's) excess....He was in truth a greater and far more estimable man."