25 - James Madison Jr (VA)

#25 - John Madison Jr (VA)
Birthplace: King George County, VA
Age at Convention: 36

1) Religion
-- Considered the ministry for a career after college graduation
-- Studied theology
-- Issued a Proclamation calling for a public day of prayer

2) Slavery
-- Held slaves his entire adult life
-- Active during later years with American Colonization Society, whose mission was the resettlement of slaves in Africa.
-- Wrote to R.E. Lee: "Another of my wishes is to depend as little as possible on the labour of slaves"
-- Wrote "the slave is no less evidently regarded by the law as a member of the society, not as a part of the irrational creation; as a moral person, not as a mere article of property"
-- Said the following during the a State of the Union address in 1810: "American citizens are instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of the laws of humanity and in defiance of those of their own country. The same just and benevolent motives which produced interdiction in force against this criminal conduct will doubtless be felt by Congress in devising further means of suppressing the evil. "

3) Upbringing
-- Oldest of 10 children and scion of the planter aristocracy
-- Educated via tutors and private schools
-- Graduated from Princeton

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/madison.html
2) http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=3727
3) http://gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/quotes/slavery.html

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (21) or Primarily Secular (10)
2) Abolitionist (14), Partial Abolitionist (13) or Non-Abolitionist (4)
3) Wealthy (13) or Middle-Class/Poor (18)