Friday, March 20, 2009
James Madison - Dollar
The James Madison Presidential Dollar was released on November 15, 2007.
This was the fourth coin of the Presidential Dollar coin series and the final release for the year 2007. Oddly, no official launch ceremony was held for the release of the coin.
The obverse of the coin was designed by Joel Iskowitz and sculpted by Don Everhart.
It features a portrait of James Madison and the inscriptions “James Madison,” “4th President,” and the years of his presidential term “1809-1817″.
The reverse of the coin carries a rendition of the Statue of Liberty design that is used as the common design for all Presidential Dollars. It was designed and sculpted by Don Everhart.
The inscriptions read “United States of America” and the denomination “$1″.
The coin has edge lettering which includes the mottoes “In God We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum.”
The date and mint mark are also included on the edge of the coin.
The Philadelphia mint produced 84,560,000 coins.
The Denver mint produced 87,780,000 coins.
This represented the third consecutive production decline following John Adams and Thomas Jefferson’s decline from each prior production total.
JAMES MADISON - War of 1812
British insults continued, especially the practice of using the Royal Navy to intercept unarmed American merchant ships and "impress" (conscript) all sailors who might be British subjects for service in the British navy[citation needed].
Madison's protests were ignored by the British, so he helped the nationalist Republicans to stir up public opinion in the west and south for war.
One argument by the so-called "war hawks" was that an American invasion of British Canada would be easy and would provide a good bargaining chip.
Madison carefully prepared public opinion for what everyone at the time called "Mr. Madison's War", but much less time and money was spent building up the army, navy, forts, and state militias.
After he convinced Congress to declare war, Madison was re-elected President over DeWitt Clinton but by a smaller margin than in 1808
Some historians in 2006 ranked Madison's failure to avoid war as the sixth worst presidential mistake ever made.
In the ensuing War of 1812, the British, Canadians, and First Nations[citation needed] allies won numerous victories, including the capture of Detroit after the American general there surrendered to a smaller force without a fight, and the occupation of Washington, D.C. which forced Madison to flee the city and watch as the White House was set on fire by British troops. The attack was in retaliation for a U.S. invasion of York, Upper Canada , in which U.S. forces twice occupied the city, burning the Parliament Buildings of Upper Canada.
The British also armed American Indians in the West, most notably followers of Tecumseh who met defeat at the Battle of the Thames.
The Americans built warships on the Great Lakes faster than the British and Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British fleet to avert a major invasion of New York in 1814.
At sea, the British blockaded the entire coastline, cutting off both foreign trade and domestic trade between ports.
Economic hardship was severe in New England, but entrepreneurs built factories that soon became the basis of the industrial revolution in America.
Madison faced formidable obstacles—a divided cabinet, a factious party, a recalcitrant Congress, obstructionist governors, and incompetent generals, together with militia who refused to fight outside their states. Most serious was lack of unified popular support.
There were serious threats of disunion from New England, which engaged in massive smuggling to Canada and refused to provide financial support or soldiers.
However Andrew Jackson in the South and William Henry Harrison in the West destroyed the main Indian threats by 1813.
War-weariness led to the end of conflict after the apparent defeat of Napoleon in 1814.
Both the British and American will to continue were exhausted, the causes of the absurd war were forgotten, the Indian issue was resolved for the time being, and it was time for peace.
New England Federalists, however, set up a defeatist Hartford Convention that discussed secession. The Treaty of Ghent ended the war in 1815.
There were no territorial gains on either side as both sides returned to status quo ante bellum, that is, the previous boundaries. The Battle of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson defeated the British regulars, was fought fifteen days after the treaty was signed but before the news of the signing reached New Orleans.
With peace finally established, the U.S. was swept by a sense of euphoria and national achievement in finally securing solid independence from Britain.
In Canada, the war and its conclusion represented a successful defense of the country, and a defining era in the formation of an independent national identity.
This, coupled with ongoing suspicion of a U.S. desire to again invade the country, would culminate in creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
In the U.S., the Federalist Party collapsed and eventually disappeared from politics, as an Era of Good Feeling emerged with a much lower level of political fear and vituperation, although political contention certainly continued.
JAMES MADISON - Education
From ages 11–16, Madison studied under Donald Robertson, an instructor at the Innes plantation in King and Queen County, Virginia.
From Robertson, Madison learned math, geography, and modern and ancient languages.
He became especially proficient in Latin.
At age 16, he began a two-year course of study under the Reverend Thomas Martin, who tutored Madison at Montpelier in preparation for college.
Unlike most college-bound Virginians of his day, Madison did not choose William and Mary because the lowland climate of Williamsburg might have strained his delicate health.
Instead, in 1769 he enrolled at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).
Through diligence and long hours of study that at times robbed him of his sleep, he managed to graduate in two years.
His studies there included Latin, Greek, science, geography, math, rhetoric, and philosophy.
Great emphasis also was placed on speech and debate.
After graduation, Madison remained at Princeton to study Hebrew and philosophy under university president John Witherspoon before returning to Montpelier in the spring of 1772. Madison studied law sporadically but never gained admission to the bar.
From Robertson, Madison learned math, geography, and modern and ancient languages.
He became especially proficient in Latin.
At age 16, he began a two-year course of study under the Reverend Thomas Martin, who tutored Madison at Montpelier in preparation for college.
Unlike most college-bound Virginians of his day, Madison did not choose William and Mary because the lowland climate of Williamsburg might have strained his delicate health.
Instead, in 1769 he enrolled at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).
Through diligence and long hours of study that at times robbed him of his sleep, he managed to graduate in two years.
His studies there included Latin, Greek, science, geography, math, rhetoric, and philosophy.
Great emphasis also was placed on speech and debate.
After graduation, Madison remained at Princeton to study Hebrew and philosophy under university president John Witherspoon before returning to Montpelier in the spring of 1772. Madison studied law sporadically but never gained admission to the bar.
JAMES MADISON - Early life
James Madison was the oldest of seven children to live to maturity.
His father, James Madison, Sr. (1723–1801) was a planter who grew up on an estate in Orange County, Virginia, which he inherited on reaching maturity.
He later acquired still more property and became the largest landowner and leading citizen of Orange County.
His mother, Eleanor "Nelly" Rose Conway (1731–1829), was born at Port Conway, Virginia, the daughter of a prominent planter and tobacco merchant. Madison's parents married in 1743.
Both parents had a significant influence over their most famous oldest son.
Madison had three brothers and three sisters to live to maturity (by whom he had more than 30 nieces and nephews):
* Francis Madison (1753–1800) - planter of Orange County, Virginia
* Ambrose Madison (1755–1793) - planter and captain in the Virginia militia, looked after the family interests in Orange County; named after his paternal grandfather.
* Catlett Madison (1758–1758) - died in infancy.
* Nelly Madison Hite (1760–1802)
* William Madison (1762–1843) - veteran of the Revolution and a lawyer, he served in the Virginia legislature
* Sarah Catlett Madison Macon (1764–1843)
* unnamed child (1766–1766)
* Elizabeth Madison (1768–1775)
* unnamed child (1770–1770)
* Reuben Madison (1771–1775)
* Frances "Fanny" Madison Rose (1774–1823)
JAMES MADISON - president (4) part-2
As President Jefferson's Secretary of State, Madison protested to warring France and Britain that their seizure of American ships was contrary to international law.
The protests, John Randolph acidly commented, had the effect of "a shilling pamphlet hurled against eight hundred ships of war."
Despite the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which did not make the belligerent nations change their ways but did cause a depression in the United States, Madison was elected President in 1808. Before he took office the Embargo Act was repealed.
During the first year of Madison's Administration, the United States prohibited trade with both Britain and France; then in May, 1810, Congress authorized trade with both, directing the President, if either would accept America's view of neutral rights, to forbid trade with the other nation.
Napoleon pretended to comply. Late in 1810, Madison proclaimed non-intercourse with Great Britain. In Congress a young group including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, the "War Hawks," pressed the President for a more militant policy.
The British impressment of American seamen and the seizure of cargoes impelled Madison to give in to the pressure.
On June 1, 1812, he asked Congress to declare war.
The young Nation was not prepared to fight; its forces took a severe trouncing.
The British entered Washington and set fire to the White House and the Capitol.
But a few notable naval and military victories, climaxed by Gen.
Andrew Jackson's triumph at New Orleans, convinced Americans that the War of 1812 had been gloriously successful.
An upsurge of nationalism resulted.
The New England Federalists who had opposed the war--and who had even talked secession--were so thoroughly repudiated that Federalism disappeared as a national party.
In retirement at Montpelier, his estate in Orange County, Virginia, Madison spoke out against the disruptive states' rights influences that by the 1830's threatened to shatter the Federal Union. In a note opened after his death in 1836, he stated, "The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated."
The protests, John Randolph acidly commented, had the effect of "a shilling pamphlet hurled against eight hundred ships of war."
Despite the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which did not make the belligerent nations change their ways but did cause a depression in the United States, Madison was elected President in 1808. Before he took office the Embargo Act was repealed.
During the first year of Madison's Administration, the United States prohibited trade with both Britain and France; then in May, 1810, Congress authorized trade with both, directing the President, if either would accept America's view of neutral rights, to forbid trade with the other nation.
Napoleon pretended to comply. Late in 1810, Madison proclaimed non-intercourse with Great Britain. In Congress a young group including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, the "War Hawks," pressed the President for a more militant policy.
The British impressment of American seamen and the seizure of cargoes impelled Madison to give in to the pressure.
On June 1, 1812, he asked Congress to declare war.
The young Nation was not prepared to fight; its forces took a severe trouncing.
The British entered Washington and set fire to the White House and the Capitol.
But a few notable naval and military victories, climaxed by Gen.
Andrew Jackson's triumph at New Orleans, convinced Americans that the War of 1812 had been gloriously successful.
An upsurge of nationalism resulted.
The New England Federalists who had opposed the war--and who had even talked secession--were so thoroughly repudiated that Federalism disappeared as a national party.
In retirement at Montpelier, his estate in Orange County, Virginia, Madison spoke out against the disruptive states' rights influences that by the 1830's threatened to shatter the Federal Union. In a note opened after his death in 1836, he stated, "The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated."
JAMES MADISON - president (4) part-1
At his inauguration, James Madison, a small, wizened man, appeared old and worn; Washington Irving described him as "but a withered little apple-John." But whatever his deficiencies in charm, Madison's buxom wife Dolley compensated for them with her warmth and gaiety.
She was the toast of Washington.
Born in 1751, Madison was brought up in Orange County, Virginia, and attended Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey).
A student of history and government, well-read in law, he participated in the framing of the Virginia Constitution in 1776, served in the Continental Congress, and was a leader in the Virginia Assembly.
When delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled at Philadelphia, the 36-year-old Madison took frequent and emphatic part in the debates.
Madison made a major contribution to the ratification of the Constitution by writing, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the Federalist essays.
In later years, when he was referred to as the "Father of the Constitution," Madison protested that the document was not "the off-spring of a single brain," but "the work of many heads and many hands."
In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact the first revenue legislation.
Out of his leadership in opposition to Hamilton's financial proposals, which he felt would unduly bestow wealth and power upon northern financiers, came the development of the Republican, or Jeffersonian, Party.
She was the toast of Washington.
Born in 1751, Madison was brought up in Orange County, Virginia, and attended Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey).
A student of history and government, well-read in law, he participated in the framing of the Virginia Constitution in 1776, served in the Continental Congress, and was a leader in the Virginia Assembly.
When delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled at Philadelphia, the 36-year-old Madison took frequent and emphatic part in the debates.
Madison made a major contribution to the ratification of the Constitution by writing, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the Federalist essays.
In later years, when he was referred to as the "Father of the Constitution," Madison protested that the document was not "the off-spring of a single brain," but "the work of many heads and many hands."
In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact the first revenue legislation.
Out of his leadership in opposition to Hamilton's financial proposals, which he felt would unduly bestow wealth and power upon northern financiers, came the development of the Republican, or Jeffersonian, Party.
Thomas Jefferson - Dollar
Thomas Jefferson, who served for two terms, from 1801-1809.
As shown in this artist rendering, Thomas Jefferson is staring right straight into the viewer's eyes, almost as if he listening to us try to justify how our society has strayed so very far from our Founding Father's ideals.
The tight line of his mouth implies a hint of exasperation with us, and yet the portrait as a whole conveys the sense that Jefferson is a patient and understanding man. So, what do we get when this artist rendering becomes an engraved coin?
Are we really looking at the same man that is depicted in the artist rendering? Of course we are; this is another view of third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who is featured on the third Presidential Dollar.
However, comparing the rendering to the actual coin, we see that Jefferson has lost his penetrating gaze and the mildly exasperated set of his mouth.
Here he has a look that seems almost distant and little bit amused, as if he gets the joke that the rest of us are living. In fact, he is almost smirking here!
How can the actual coin we get be so different from the conceptual drawing?
Normally, it would be easy to attribute the difference to varying artistic perspectives, since the artist that designs the coin is often not the same artist who does the die engraving work.
In this case, however, the artist is one and the same, U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Joseph Menna. So why does the visage of Jefferson on the coin look so different from the Jefferson in the artist rendering?
There are many considerations which go into making a successful coin design besides simply creating art.
Technical striking requirements may dictate that an area on the obverse die be made in lower relief to facilitate the even flow of metal into all points of the reverse design, for example.
If you have ever looked at a penny or nickel edge on, you might have noticed that the coin's rim isn't the same thickness all the way around.
Especially on the Wheat Cent, the area of Lincoln's chest and shoulder is in such high relief, drawing up so much metal during striking,
that the inscription on the reverse side of the coin in the same place often comes out lightly struck.
The variable thickness of the coin is clearly evident on most Wheat Cent specimens when looking at them edge on.
Today, when coins are designed and engraved, mint engineers and artists strive to minimize these "design flaws," so that solidly struck obverses and reverses are the norm for each coin.
To accomplish this level of striking perfection, sometimes the original artist conceptions must be altered by the engraver.
As shown in this artist rendering, Thomas Jefferson is staring right straight into the viewer's eyes, almost as if he listening to us try to justify how our society has strayed so very far from our Founding Father's ideals.
The tight line of his mouth implies a hint of exasperation with us, and yet the portrait as a whole conveys the sense that Jefferson is a patient and understanding man. So, what do we get when this artist rendering becomes an engraved coin?
Are we really looking at the same man that is depicted in the artist rendering? Of course we are; this is another view of third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who is featured on the third Presidential Dollar.
However, comparing the rendering to the actual coin, we see that Jefferson has lost his penetrating gaze and the mildly exasperated set of his mouth.
Here he has a look that seems almost distant and little bit amused, as if he gets the joke that the rest of us are living. In fact, he is almost smirking here!
How can the actual coin we get be so different from the conceptual drawing?
Normally, it would be easy to attribute the difference to varying artistic perspectives, since the artist that designs the coin is often not the same artist who does the die engraving work.
In this case, however, the artist is one and the same, U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Joseph Menna. So why does the visage of Jefferson on the coin look so different from the Jefferson in the artist rendering?
There are many considerations which go into making a successful coin design besides simply creating art.
Technical striking requirements may dictate that an area on the obverse die be made in lower relief to facilitate the even flow of metal into all points of the reverse design, for example.
If you have ever looked at a penny or nickel edge on, you might have noticed that the coin's rim isn't the same thickness all the way around.
Especially on the Wheat Cent, the area of Lincoln's chest and shoulder is in such high relief, drawing up so much metal during striking,
that the inscription on the reverse side of the coin in the same place often comes out lightly struck.
The variable thickness of the coin is clearly evident on most Wheat Cent specimens when looking at them edge on.
Today, when coins are designed and engraved, mint engineers and artists strive to minimize these "design flaws," so that solidly struck obverses and reverses are the norm for each coin.
To accomplish this level of striking perfection, sometimes the original artist conceptions must be altered by the engraver.
Thomas Jefferson - Fast Facts
Political philosopher Thomas Jefferson was the third U.S. president.
He is credited as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and was the founder of what would become the modern-day Democratic Party.
-Born: 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia
- Political Party: Democratic-Republican
-Administration: March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1809
-Vice Presidents: Aaron Burr, George Clinton
- Succeeded by: James Madison
-Secretary of State: James Madison
-Spouse: Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
-Occupation: Lawyer, farmer
-Died: July 4, 1826, at Monticello
He is credited as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and was the founder of what would become the modern-day Democratic Party.
-Born: 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia
- Political Party: Democratic-Republican
-Administration: March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1809
-Vice Presidents: Aaron Burr, George Clinton
- Succeeded by: James Madison
-Secretary of State: James Madison
-Spouse: Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
-Occupation: Lawyer, farmer
-Died: July 4, 1826, at Monticello
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