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James Madison, Constitution Lead card art from Lost Chapters (Cobalt, Character)
Card art: James Madison, Constitution Lead

James Madison, Constitution Lead: Cobalt Character

James Madison (1751 to 1836) was a Virginia statesman often called the Father of the Constitution and the fourth president of the United States, serving from 1809 to 1817. He shaped the Virginia Plan, co-wrote The Federalist, proposed the amendments that became the Bill of Rights and led the country through the War of 1812.

Cost
4 crystals
Type
Character · Founder
Power / Health
3 / 4
Color
Cobalt (Thinkers & Dreamers)
Rarity
Rare
Set
Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)

Your Founders get +0/+1.

On play: if you control another Founder, draw a card.

Scholarly architect of democracy whose brilliant mind designed a government system while barely standing five feet tall.

Real history

The real history

Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, and grew up on his family's Orange County plantation, later named Montpelier, which enslaved people built and worked. He graduated from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton, in 1771. At the Virginia Convention of 1776 he pushed to widen its protection of religious liberty.

In 1780, at 29, he became the youngest member of the Continental Congress, where his efforts to give Congress its own revenue kept failing. Fearing the union would not last, he urged George Washington to attend the 1787 convention in Philadelphia. Before it opened, he worked with the Virginia delegates on the Virginia Plan, a design for a national government with three branches. Delegates reworked it all summer and Madison lost some fights, but the final Constitution largely reflected his ideas.

To win ratification he joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay on The Federalist, 85 essays printed in New York newspapers, about a third of them his. In the First Congress he proposed amendments protecting civil liberties, and ten were ratified in 1791 as the Bill of Rights.

After serving as Jefferson's secretary of state, Madison became president in 1809. British impressment of American sailors and British support for Native nations resisting expansion led him to sign a declaration of war on June 18, 1812. Invasions of Canada failed, and in 1814 British troops burned the White House. The Treaty of Ghent ended the war in 1815 without changing borders.

Madison enslaved people throughout his life. In 1801 he inherited Montpelier and more than 100 enslaved people, and his will left them to his wife, Dolley, instead of freeing them. He died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836.

Sources

  1. James Madison: Life Before the Presidency, Miller Center, University of Virginia
  2. James Madison: Foreign Affairs, Miller Center, University of Virginia
  3. The Life of James Madison: Founding Father and Fourth President, James Madison's Montpelier

Checked against these sources on October 2, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.

How the card plays

James Madison, Constitution Lead costs 4 crystals and is a 3/4 Rare Cobalt Founder. While he is on the field, your Founders get +0/+1. When he arrives, if you control another Founder, draw a card, so play him second, not first.

As a Cobalt card he fits decks led by Martin Luther King Jr. or Neil Armstrong.

John Jay, Constitution Drafter is a cheap Founder with Guard to set up his draw, and his +0/+1 makes it even harder to break. Washington, First President gives your other Founders +1/+1, and with Madison's aura on top they get +1/+2 in all. Alexander Hamilton, Advisor draws two more cards and turns into a sturdier body beside him. In a deck that can play both Cobalt and Quartz cards, The Constitution draws 2 cards instead of 1 while you control James Madison.

  • Playable in decks led by Martin Luther King Jr., Neil Armstrong, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Cobalt.
  • In the Dr. King starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-BAABAQICAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAQkCCgILAQwBDQIOAg8BEAIRARICEwIUAhUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAEdAR4B3v4
  • In the Armstrong starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-AQABAQECAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAgkCCgILAQwBDQIOAQ8BEAERARICEwIUARUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAIdAR4BfQK1eQ
  • Works with The Constitution.
  • A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.

Questions about Madison

Why is James Madison called the Father of the Constitution?

He pushed for the 1787 convention, helped persuade Washington to attend, supplied the ideas behind the Virginia Plan, argued for ratification and wrote the Bill of Rights. Madison himself disliked the title, calling the Constitution the work of many heads and many hands.

Who saved the portrait of George Washington when the White House burned?

When British troops approached Washington in 1814, Dolley Madison and Paul Jennings, James Madison's enslaved valet, helped get Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington out of the White House before they fled.

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