Montpelier to celebrate James Madison's birthday

James Madison’s Orange County home offers free admission all day Tuesday in honor of the fourth president’s 259th birthday.

Born 1751 at Port Conway in King George while on a visit to his grandmother, Madison was raised at Montpelier, the oldest of 12 children. He is buried on the grounds of his lifelong home in the family cemetery, site of a special ceremony in honor of his birthday March 16 at 1:30 p.m.

Former Deputy Secretary of Education Eugene Hickock will deliver remarks at the cemetery along with Quantico Marine Corps Base Chief of Staff Col. Thompson Gerke, who will lay a wreath on the fourth president’s grave on behalf of President Barack Obama. Numerous other groups will also honor Madison by placing wreaths on his grave Tuesday.

The U.S. Marine Corps has a long-standing tradition of attending the annual birthday ceremony because of Madison’s connection to the naval force’s founding. As Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson, Madison recommended sending a squadron of naval ships to fight pirates off the coast of Africa, ultimately leading to their demise by 1805.

As president, Madison again called on the Marines to lead the nation during the War of 1812.

As a younger man, he attended Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) before beginning a political career spanning 41 years.

A delegate to the Constitutional Convention, the 36-year-old Madison made a major contribution to the ratification of the Constitution by writing — along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay — the Federalist essays.

For that, Madison later earned the moniker “Father of the Constitution,” a term he later protested, saying the document was not “the offspring of a single brain” but “the work of many heads and many hands,” according to whitehouse.gov.

“Madison’s legacy lives in the Constitution, the document that U.S. citizens live by every day,” said Michael Quinn, president of the Montpelier Foundation, the group that oversaw the five-year restoration of Montpelier back to its Madison-era appearance, culminating in a grand celebration on its grounds in 2008.

“The Constitution is more the product of the intellect of James Madison than any other single individual. Madison conceived the ideals that would eventually become the Constitution in his second-floor library. A visit to Montpelier on his birthday is the perfect way to honor the man who gave us the very bedrock of the laws and liberties of our nation.”

The range of American history told at Montpelier covers slavery, the Civil War, emancipation, segregation and much more.

Want to go?

James Madison’s Montpelier hosts a special ceremony in the family cemetery Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in honor of the fourth president’s 259th birthday. Get in free at Montpelier all day.