[119] Of his six siblings who lived to adulthood, Ambrose (one of the younger siblings) helped manage Montpelier for both his father and older brother until his own death in 1793.[11] Madison never had children with Dolley, but he adopted her one surviving son, John Payne Todd (known as Payne), after the marriage.[120] Some of his colleagues, such as Monroe and Burr, would later infer that Madison was infertile and that his lack of offspring weighed on his thoughts, but Madison never spoke of any such distress.[121] Oral history has suggested that Madison fathered a child with his enslaved half-sister, a cook named Coreen, but DNA evidence is inconclusive.[122][123]

Adams presidency
Further information: Presidency of John Adams
Washington chose to retire after serving two terms and, in advance of the 1796 presidential election, Madison helped convince Jefferson to run for the presidency.[109] Despite Madison's efforts, Federalist candidate John Adams defeated Jefferson, taking a narrow majority of the electoral vote.[124] Under the rules of the Electoral College then in place, Jefferson became vice president because he finished with the second-most electoral votes.