It was this morning in 1836 that James Madison, our fourth president, father of our constitution, and the last of the founding fathers died at age 85 at his home in Montpelier, Virginia.
Paul Jennings, his manservant, descibes the scene in his memoirs, A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison:
I was always with Mr. Madison till he died, and shaved him every other day for sixteen years. For six months before his death, he was unable to walk, and spent most of his time reclined on a couch; but his mind was bright, and with his numerous visitors he talked with as much animation and strength of voice as I ever heard him in his best days. I was present when he died. That morning Sukey brought him his breakfast, as usual. He could not swallow. His niece, Mrs. Willis, said, "What is the matter, Uncle Jeames?" "Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear."
His head instantly dropped, and he ceased breathing as quietly as the snuff of a candle goes out. He was about eighty-four years old, and was followed to the grave by an immense procession of white and colored people. The pall-bearers were Governor Barbour, Philip P. Barbour, Charles P. Howard, and Reuben Conway; the two last were neighboring farmers.
You can imagine what kind of a night Dolley must have spent this night. We know from family letters that she grieved deeply, and for a year suffered an intense insomnia, losing her health, and having to be supported by two persons to take a simple walk. This would be the last night James would live in the house where he had spent about 76 of the 85 years of his life, before being carried down to the family cemetary where he rests today beside his beloved wife and his parents. James Madison's final wish was that the unity of the states should be preserved.
Madison was honored and respected, loved deeply by those who knew him best, and was a good husband and uncle, though he never had any children of his own. Despite the fact that there is no national monument to this man who did so much for us by giving us a government, his legacy remains in the constitution that he created, and his house, Montpelier.
www.montpelier.org
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cheerful
dismayed
pensive
