I was discussing the bi-centennial of Madison County with a teen-age acquaintance the other day. "What famous person was our county named for?" I asked.

"Ummm. Dolly Madison?" she guessed.

"Close" I answered. "It was her husband."

So, what did James Madison do that made him famous enough to have a county named for him? Oh, nothing that important. He just wrote the United States Constitution and served as our fourth president.

James Madison was born on March 16, 1751 in Virginia on a tobacco farm. He completed his degree at Princeton University in two years and then became an apprentice to Thomas Jefferson. When the Continental Congress finished their work on the Constitution, they turned to him to write out the final draft of the document.

Now, writing the constitution was a very important thing at one time. It was the foundation for our federal republic. It created the rules of government, the structure of our legislature and administration, created our federal courts system and guaranteed our God given rights as American citizens. In the early part of our national history, it worked quite well.

Then he helped write the Federalist Papers along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, a major factor in winning ratification for the new constitution. But then we had some politicians, starting with Abraham Lincoln, who saw the Constitution as an inconvenience and they began to ignore it. Today, they swear allegiance to the Constitution, then proceed to do whatever they wish without regard to its rules and restrictions.

James Madison was not an imposing figure. He was quite short and a bit of a dandy. He was, perhaps, the most intelligent of our founding fathers. In today’s culture he would be described as a policy wonk or a nerd.

Dolly Madison holds an equal place in the history of our nation. She was the official hostess for two presidents, James Madison and his predecessor, the widowed Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps her greatest claim to fame was when she rescued our founding documents and the famous portrait of George Washington just before the invading British sacked Washington D.C. and burned the Whitehouse during the war of 1812.

Dolly Madison was a prolific letter writer and a large selection of her letters are still in existence. They paint a vivid picture of life in the early years of America ranging from family matters to politics to history. Much of our knowledge of her husband and his presidency are found in those letters!

Madison County was created by the Georgia legislature in 1811, while James Madison was president. It was completely natural for the state to name the new county for the sitting president. And that is how Madison County got its name.

Copyright © 2011 by Frank Gillispie
frank@frankgillispie.com, Hull, GA