i stole a lot of things. i said i opened the door and the door opened. they had a nice bucket seat. >> they have to wrap it up. sorry about that. . >> a round of applause for these people. >> i took the jeep out of there. i thought he was in paradise. they were better prepared. the teet there. i stole a lot of stuff. i stole a lot of cars and they

paid the taxes. >> political coverage takes you to the kondidate events. >> my leadership cut taxes 19 times and cast over 800 vetoes. we balanced the budget and kept our schools first in the nation. my leadership will end the obama era and begin a new era of american prosperity. >> there is a mess up in washington. they created a mess and have given us a lousy foreign policy and a lousy budget and given us a lousy recession. the wonderful thing that is happening is the grass roots. people are beginning to realize that the problem is too much government. we need more personal liberty!

>> the judges and policies so that the system gets on the right track and america could give our children and grandchildren. this is how big the gap was. >> at c-span.org/campaign 2012. each week american history tv's american artifacts takes viewers

behind the scenes at archives and historic sites. it lies about 90 miles south in orange county, virginia. the national trust for historic preservation owns the property that is managed by the month pellier foundation. they had a tour with the president michael quinn. >> later in life he talks about walking from the old farmhouse over here carrying the lighter

furniture. if you look at the house, you can pick out the original core built by his father. if you look at the doorway on the far left to the right of it, you will see a line in the brick where the brick was stitched together. the house stood like this for third years. then james married the love of his life, dolly madison. after four years as a member of congress, he retired from congressional service and come home to montpelier. at that point he extended the main block of the house about 30 feet. he added this second door and two windows and added them. in fact, he was an essential

part and not an esthetic element and the functioning of the house. there was no interior hall way connecting the two houses on the first floor. james and dolly lived on the left side and his parents and other children on the right side. the way that the two called on each other was via the front doors and the shelter. the house remained in this configuration for about ten years and then madison was elected president of the united states. with that huge salary of $25,000 a year, he embarked on another invasion and expansion campaign of his home. he added the one-story wings. the wing on this side, he created his private library. the wing on the other side, he designed as a private apartment for his mother. his father passed away and he added the door.

with the help of his good friend as the centerpiece welcoming you into montpelier. this home as it stands reflects james madison's vision for his home and also told his entire life story from the youth to his marriage to his ascension to the position of president of the united states of america. let's go in and learn about james and dolly. his drawing room and where every member of the public is welcomed. with virginia hospitality and madison's fame for his statesmanship, he was visited constantly.

foreign visitors and rising politicians in america. abdomen rue jackson came and just the merely curious. they would have been welcomed in the room and made a powerful impression. visitor after visitor talked about the presidential splendor and did reflect his entire career as a statesman and a virginia planter and a force in the creation of the american nation. for madison, the history of humanity was his laboratory. america today was founded on the past.

that's a pan figure and a nymph. this is alluding to the ancient world. the ideas on which the constitution was based. across from the painting is a huge depiction of a mass. for madison that talks about the next in history. the third chapter of human history is told on this wall. the president of the united states. of course he focuses on the presidents because it also emphasizes one of the great inventions of the american constitution which is the peaceful transfer of power. from leader to leader. he followed a typical standard depiction of the president.

george washington is hung the highest. below him should be the next three presidents. john adams, thomas jefferson and madison hangs the picture of the fifth president. james monroe. madison hung his own portrait as one said in the corner behind the door showing his modesty, but also hung his 54 trade next to his beloved dolly. he is telling you a lot about himself. the important thing in his life. over this portrait of himself, he hung a picture of his best friend, thomas jefferson and next to it, a 54 trade of mary

mag dollen. i often thaw he poked fun at his close friend. this room really made a powerful impression. it was a functional room and served tea and welcomed their guest. they had many visitors. madison also used this room to control all of that public interest and to give himself some privacy. unless you knew him or had a letter of introduction, you wouldn't see any more of the house than this room.

you would be welcomed here and served punch you would be on your way. you only went into the other rooms of the house and the family or a friend. now let's go into the south of the house which was the private apartments of madison's mother. we pass through the entry hall of the house and really understand how this function, this big wide space and open for a cooling cross breeze in the summer. this is where people would have carried out activities. this later became mother madison's room. visitors to mother madison said they would find her on the sofa with her knitting and prayer book. she lived to be 98 mere years

old and only 20 when madison was born. she was always a part of the madison household. madison is on the left and a young slave born almost the same time is helping him move. given the reality of slavery in america at the time. madison a parents realized his incredible ability and they sent him to prince and then called the college of new jersey.

prior to that, that prepared him and placed him with a private tutor by the name of donald robertson. he studied with him for five years. he was a scottsman who is from edinburgh. later in life, madison was to write everything i became i owed to that man. it was an inspiration by an amazing teacher that prepared him to take on a strong role in building the american nation. we are going to go to the dining room and take a look at how james and dolly entertain their guests. we are now entering the madison's dining room. this is in a part of the house

that madison had in his marriage to dolly. this was his first expansion of the home. during the presidency at the white house. we created a table with ghost of the famous visitors who came calling. they were introducing french-inspired papers.

they ordered wallpaper from him and this was a replica of what he produced at that time. a feeling of attempt in this room. that makes the corners dissolve away. an intimate and spacious feel from the guest. the thing they noticed is madison was not seated at the head of the table. he was on the side of the table. it was his wife, dolly, who was seated at the head. she was running the dinner. she was calling for the service, pouring the soup or asking them to pour the wine and conducting the conversation. they developed this while madison was president and it shocked them at first. that was not the role the women took on in the house. that was the man's role.

dolly was so good at it, everyone fell in love with it. couldn't be bothered with what sat where. it tells you a lot about the relationship between james and dolly. they were complementary. she was 17 years younger and even though she was raised a quaker, she had a flair putting people at ease for really knowing them as people and caring for them. she loved the lime light. between the two of them, madison gave that role to her and he focused on the government and politics. from this room, we will go to the adjoining room which is madison's library. we are entering the library and this is one of the most important rooms in this house.

he added this on to the house and created a very spacious place to hold his books and provide the area he wanted to work. as this room was being built, we have a letter from his builders and he said if i put a window next to the fireplace, it will give you a view of the temple he plans to bmd as well. there will still be plenty of spaces for all of the books. we know that madison okayed that idea because the window was there. madison used this area in the years after his presidency. he said for himself an amazing project which was to create an archive of the united states constitutional convention. as you look around, you see the work and the thought you put into that. he had taken careful note at the

convention and he went back over those notes and expanded them and wrote them out carefully and added and in one or two cases he wrote to other delegates or their families asking if they still had a copy of the speech that was given at the convention. by the end of his life, madison put together a thorough record of the constitutional convention that filled almost 1,000 pages. for him this was an important part of the legacy of the founding of america. when he was preparing, he carried out great research and found out how other attempts at government. what was the intentions of those creators had come up blank. there were no records. madison wrote an intersection to this and described his goal as

providing a record for those who in other places or at a later time might be striving for liberty and could learn from the example of the decisions and the debates of the american founders. he had a real sense of history and a sense of legacy. even at the end of his life in effect for 40 something years, he did not know he survived. he followed current events and subscribed to newspapers and welcomed visitors to discuss political issues before the nation. he weighed in on topics like nullifications and cessation by writing the equipment of editorials in the tarp.

these books are identical edition of books and the same titles that madison owned and many of them may be madison's. sadly his library that totalled 4,000 volumes by the end of his life was lost after his death. in his will he provided that that should go to the university of virginia. this is james madison's studia the end of his life. very close to his library and he didn't have to move very far. in his old age and he lived to be 85 he suffered terribly and even walking was difficult and hisrippd. in this room we show a bust made

of madison when he just passed 80 years of age. this was made from a life mask. he was the last surviving member of the constitutional convention. he died on june 28th, 1836. he died in this room. we have an account of his death that is provided by a man who was a slave and personal assistant to madison in his final years. >> i was always with mr. madison until he died and shaved him every other day for 16 years. six months before his death he was not able to walk and spent most of his time reclined on the couch, but his mind was bright. with his visitors he talked with

as much animation and strength as ever i heard him in his best days. i was present when he died. that morning they brought him breakfast as usual and he could not swallow. his niece said what is the matter, uncle james? nothing more than a change of mind, my dear. his head instantly dropped and he ceased breathing. as quietly as the snuff of a candle goes out. >> after his death, they found something he had written and he titled it advice to my country and intended it to remain private until after he died. it contained what he thought was the most important words he could convey to his fellow americans and he wrote the advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is

that they are perpetuated. it's a pan dora of the box and the serpentent creeping with his deadly wiles in the paradise. this comment tells you so much about him. his long careful study of the american nation told him the most important thing was to keep the union together. we also see his deep training and understanding. he refers both to the classical world with the reference to pan dora and the biblical world with his serpent to the garden. we will take a look at the bedrooms and what used to be madison's library. james and dolly never had children, but this house was always filled with children and family members.

madison came from a large family. on his 50th birthday, he noted that he had 50 nieces and nephews. most of them lived in this area and they were visiting and all the bedrooms on the second floor would have been filled. this room was james and dolly's private bedroom. the bed you see has come to us from a family member. a strong family tradition and having been there. we are still not gong dress this. it's meat by a washington, d.c. furniture maker.

it was a gorgeous mantle here that madison installed later. also show the feminine side. this was one of the best rooms in the house and the reason is the spectacular view out the windows and the amount of light that filled this room. ten years later when he put the wings on the mansion, he created the flat decks. some of them would have their own private tariffs. it's a glorious space. one visitor said i have the best bedroom in the house. my own private porch. this is what he meant. a place to catch fresh air and have a spectacular view of the blue ridge mountains.

the next room is the old library and where they were stored until they put the addition on the home. we are entering the old part of the house and the one door they did put down is when he added that addition when he came home with dolly. this one. he did it because this was the library of the house and madison wanted access to his books. in fact, madison came home in 1786, the year before the constitutional convention and his family said he barely emerged except to eat. when he went to the convention, he wasn't any more patriotic, but prepared. he studied every attempt at confederation that he could find

in human history. from that study he really discovered a record of failure. again and again democracies have fallen apart and failed. one of the most powerful is he concluded that standard belief that democracy will work best and it is completely wrong. research told him in that environment yes, everyone may know each other, but it's easy for a single individual charismatic individual to gain power or for a faction, those who own land. those who don't own land to gain power. the first thing they do is pass laws that oppress everyone else. it did not lead to freedom. madison concluded that a great protection of liberty is to

create a large country. there so many factions and so many interest groups and so many people vying for leadership, no single one would be able to gain control. from this study he concluded that america needed to be nipped together, the 13 states needed to be nipped as a single nation, a true union. the way to achieve that was for the new constitution was to be ratified not by the state legislatures, but the people of america. thus our constitution begins with the words we the people of the united states. if you look at wall, you learn much more about madison's insights and think iing. what makes him great is he is not only a philosopher, but a politician. what that meant is madison knew his stuff and knew human nature.

he spent the previous ten years in american politics, working at the virginia assembly and the federation of congress. he knew that people would never be better than they really are. other thoughts he brought to frame the new constitution is make people's ambition counter other ambition. therefore he proposed separation of powers. these ideas were in two research papers he wrote in this room. one titled vices of the political system of the united states. the others an examination. these were guiding the constitutional convention. when madison got there, he arrived early. the rest of the delegation soon arrive and he caucused with them and put together a plan of action.