#4 James Madison

1809--1817

--James Madison was the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution. The first president to have served in the United States Congress, he was a leader in the 1st U.S. Congress, drafting many basic laws, and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". As a political theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.

--Madison and Thomas Jefferson organized the Democratic-Republican party, which became one of the first two U.S. political parties, in opposition to Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Party.

--Madison was 5' 6" tall (at most), and never weighed much more than 100 lbs. Though he was often sickly and had a delicate constitution, he lived into his mid-eighties and was the last of the founding fathers to die.

--He was the first president to wear long trousers (all the previous presidents wore knee breeches).

--Madison is the only U.S. president to authorize an invasion of Canada (so far...).

--James Madison wrote what would become the Federalist Papers along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, under the shared pen name "Publius". Other Madison pen names of note include "A Principled Farmer", "Hugh Jass", "Napoleon Dynamite", and "Percival Q. Thunderfoot".