James Madison University - Index

James Madison University - Liberty & Learning - Index

1788 Madison leads the fight for the ratification of the Constitution at the Virginia
Ratifying Convention.
1790 Thomas Jefferson visits Montpelier for the first time.
1789 Madison is elected to the House of Representatives.
1790 The U.S. capital moves from New York to Philadelphia while Washington
City is being built.
1793 Yellow fever epidemic hits Philadelphia.
1794 Madison marries Dolley Payne Todd, who is seventeen years his junior.
Her husband had perished in the yellow fever epidemic.
1795 Madison, as a member of the House of Representatives, leads the opposition
to Jay’s Treaty with Great Britain.
1797 Madison retires to Montpelier after more than twenty years of govern-
ment service.
1798 Madison, as a private citizen, drafts the Virginia Resolution of 1798,
which protested the Alien and Sedition Acts.
1799 Madison begins two years of service in the Virginia legislature.
1801 James Madison Sr. dies at Montpelier on February 27.
1801 Madison is sworn in as secretary of state on May 2.
1801 Thomas Jefferson is elected president of the United States by the House of
Representatives.
1803 Marbury v. Madison establishes the doctrine of judicial review.
1803 The Louisiana Purchase is negotiated with France.
1803 The Lewis and Clark Expedition explores the newly acquired territory.
1804 Haiti becomes the second independent country in the western hemisphere.
1804 The Philadelphia runs aground and is captured by Barbary pirates
from Tripoli.
1807 The Chesapeake affair helps provoke hostility toward Britain.
1807 The Embargo Act is passed.
1809 James Madison becomes the fourth president of the United States.
1810 Madison announces the annexation of West Florida, deemed to be a part
of the Louisiana Purchase.
1811 Madison asks Congress to mobilize troops against Great Britain.
1812 War is declared against Great Britain following the impressment of American
seamen and the seizure of cargoes.
1812 Madison is re-elected president.
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