Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament, to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.

He served as a politician much of his adult life. Like most of his contemporaries Madison changed his political views during his life. As president (1809–17) after the failure of diplomatic protests and a trade embargo against Great Britain he led the nation into the War of 1812.