历届美国总统简介：詹姆斯·麦迪逊

詹姆士·麦迪逊（James Madison，1751年3月16日－1836年6月28日），美国第四任总统（1809年－1817年）。他与约翰·杰伊及亚历山大·汉密尔顿共同编写《联邦党人文集》，亦被一些人视为“美国宪法之父”。他也是一名共济会成员。曾担任州众议员（1776年）、州参议员（1784-1786）、大陆会议代表（1780-1783）、联邦众议员（1789-1797）和国务卿(1801-1809在杰斐逊总统下)。他还是制宪会议的主要人物、北部联邦党人文件的起草人之一、民主共和党的组织者。

James Madison was the fourth President of the United States. He was born in 1751 in Virginia, the oldest of twelve children. He studied history and government at Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey). He was well read in law, which he studied because he thought it was interesting, not because he wanted to become a lawyer. He is known as the “Father of the Constitution”.

 

Madison started out in politics at an early age. He served in the Virginia state legislature from 1776 to 1779 and became known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. During this time, he helped draft the Virginia Statute¹ for Religious Freedom. He served a second term in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1784 to 1786. He gained a reputation for his ability to build coalitions².

 

Madison was 36 when he attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and made a major contribution to its ratification³. He felt he hadn’t earned the title of "Father of the Constitution" and wrote that it was not "the offspring of a single brain, but the work of many heads and many hands”. In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact⁴ the first revenue legislation.

 

Madison served as President between 1809 and 1817. He led America into the War of 1812 to try to end British interference in American affairs. The war ended in 1815 and is often called “the Second War of American Independence”. After the war he promoted a stronger national government and signed a bill that created the Second Bank of the United States. He died at the age of 85 in 1836.

 

1 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

2 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。

3 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。

4 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。