The founders of our country understood that a fresh start under federal law is so essential to the fiscal health and economic vitality of our country; they included the right to file bankruptcy in Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.

James Madison James Madison (March 16, 1751 - June 28, 1836) was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809-1817) and is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a young lawyer, Madison defended Baptist preachers arrested for preaching without a license from the established Anglican Church. In addition, he worked with the preacher Elijah Craig on constitutional guarantees for religious liberty in Virginia. Working on such cases helped form his ideas about religious freedom. Madison served in the Virginia state legislature (1776-79) and became known as a protege of Thomas Jefferson.

Madison is often referred to as the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in its drafting and ratification. However, he protested the title as being "a credit to which I have no claim... The Constitution was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom, the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands". To encourage ratification of the Constitution, Madison joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write the Federalist Papers in 1787 and 1788, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution. In Virginia in 1788, Madison led the fight for ratification at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, debating with Patrick Henry and others who sought revisions (such as the United States Bill of Rights) before its ratification.

The first president to have served in the United States Congress, he was a leader in the 1st United States Congress, drafting many basic laws, and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution (said to be based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights) and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". Initially Madison "adamantly maintained ... that a specific bill of rights remained unnecessary because the Constitution itself was a bill of rights." However, the anti-Federalists demanded a bill of rights in exchange for their support for ratification.

Madison had three main objections to a specific bill of rights: (1) It was unnecessary, since it purported to protect against powers that the federal government had not been granted; (2) It was dangerous, since enumeration of some rights might be taken to imply the absence of other rights; and (3) At the state level, bills of rights had proven to be useless paper barriers against government powers.

Still ambivalent as late as 1788 in his support for a bill of rights, in June 1789, Madison offered a package of twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Madison completed his change in position and "hounded his colleagues relentlessly" to accept the proposed amendments. By 1791, the last ten of Madison's proposed amendments were ratified and became the Bill of Rights. Contrary to his wishes, the Bill of Rights was not integrated into the main body of the Constitution, and it did not apply to the states until the passages of Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments restricted the powers of the states. The second amendment originally proposed by Madison was later ratified in 1992 as the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. The remaining proposal was intended to accommodate future increase in members of the House of Representatives.

As a political theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority. At the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, Madison's draft of the Virginia Plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of today.

As leader in the House of Representatives, Madison worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government. Breaking with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1791, Madison and Thomas Jefferson organized what they called the Republican Party (later called the Democratic-Republican Party) in opposition to key policies of the Federalists, especially the national bank and the Jay Treaty. He secretly co-authored, along with Thomas Jefferson, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts.

As Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801-1809), Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size, and sponsored the ill-fated Embargo Act of 1807. As president, he led the nation into the War of 1812 against Great Britain. During and after the war, Madison reversed many of his positions. By 1815, he supported the creation of the second National Bank, a strong military, and a high tariff to protect the new factories opened during the war.

This article was derived fully or in part from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the Wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

Contact us today to learn more about your options under the current bankruptcy laws. We're here to help. Have questions on filing for bankruptcy and need a Dallas bankruptcy attorney or a Fort Worth bankruptcy attorney? The Patrick D. West Law Firm, P.C. has been providing bankruptcy and debt solution legal counsel for over 20 years. The law office serves bankruptcy clients in these DFW area cities in both Dallas & Tarrant Counties: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Grapevine, Grand Prairie, Euless, Bedford, Hurst, Haltom City, Burleson, Colleyville, Mansfield, Keller, Saginaw, West Lake, Richland Hills, Coppell, Lewisville, and more