When peace did come, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, it came too late to save New Orleans. Word of peace had yet to arrive when, on January 8, 1815, General Andrew Jackson, also to become a president, led his forces into New Orleans in the war's biggest battle that was a major victory over the British.
But not all was lost for President Madison and his government when, during the War of 1812, he won his second a second term as president.
The Second Time Around
During Madison's second term as President of the United States he signed a law that would charter a new United States Bank and would call for higher tariffs to protect American manufacturers. On March 3, 1817, his last day as president, he vetoed John Calhoun's "Bonus Bill." This bill would have used federal funds to assist in building a "perfect system of roads and canals." It was Madison's contention that the states should be responsible for funding the building of their own roads and canals.
The Twilight Years
James Madison lived to see his eighty-fifth year. He died on June 28, 1836, at Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia. He had outlived all of his old colleagues of the Constitutional Convention so many years ago.
Previous: Madison and War, War, War: Napoleonic, Indians, and British.
Recommended Readings about American Presidents:
John Francis Fitzgerald: The Grandfather of President John F. Kennedy.
Before the Bay of Pigs: Beware of Castro and Khrushchev.
Before the Cuban Missile Crisis: Who Has the Biggest Gun?
Peter Jefferson: Father of a President
Lincoln's Words by Pony Express
Source:
Whitney, David C. The American Presidents. Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York, 1967.
