of James Madison_, vol. i.]

CHAPTER II

THE YOUNG STATESMAN

Madison's place, both from temperament and from want of physical vigor,
was in the council, not in the field. One of his early biographers says
that he joined a military company, raised in his own county, in
preparation for war; but this, there can hardly be a doubt, is an error.
He speaks with enthusiasm of the "high-spirited" volunteers, who came
forward to defend "the honor and safety of their country;" but there is
no intimation that he chose for himself that way of showing his
patriotism. But of the Committee of Safety, appointed in his county in
1774, he was made a member,--perhaps the youngest, for he was then only
twenty-three years old.

Eighteen months afterward he was elected a delegate to the Virginia
Convention of 1776, and this he calls "my first entrance into public
life." It gave him also an opportunity for some distinction, which,
whatever may have been his earlier plans, opened public life to him as a
career. The first work of the convention was to consider and adopt a
series of resolutions instructing the Virginian delegates in the
Continental Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, to urge an
immediate declaration of independence. The next matter was to frame a
Bill of Rights and a Constitution of government for the province.
Madison was made a member of the committee to which this latter subject
was referred. One question necessarily came up for consideration which
had for him a peculiar interest, and in any discussion of which he, no
doubt, felt quite at ease. This was concerning religious freedom. An
article in the proposed Declaration of Rights provided that "all men
should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion,
according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by
the magistrate, unless, under color of religion, any man disturb the
peace, happiness, or safety of society." It does not appear that Mr.
Madison offered any objection to the article in the committee; but when
the report was made to the convention he moved an amendment. He pointed
out the distinction between the recognition of an absolute right and the
toleration of its exercise; for toleration implies the power of
jurisdiction. He proposed, therefore, instead of providing that "all men
should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion," to
declare that "all men are equally entitled to the full and free exerc