[32] Frustrated by the failure of the states to supply needed requisitions, Madison proposed to amend the Articles of Confederation to grant Congress the power to independently raise revenue through tariffs on imports.[41]  Though General George Washington, Congressman Alexander Hamilton, and other leaders also favored the tariff amendment, it was defeated because it failed to win the ratification of all thirteen states.[42] While a member of Congress, Madison was an ardent supporter of a close alliance between the United States and France. As an advocate of westward expansion, he insisted that the new nation had to ensure its right to navigation on the Mississippi River and control of all lands east of it in the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War.[43] Following his term in Congress, Madison won election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1784.[44]

Ratification of the Constitution
Main articles: James Madison as Father of the Constitution and Constitutional Convention (United States)
Further information: Confederation period
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