As an example, he edited a letter written to Jefferson criticizing Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette; Madison not only inked out original passages, but in other correspondence he even forged Jefferson's handwriting.[244] Historian Drew R. McCoy wrote that, "During the final six years of his life, amid a sea of personal [financial] troubles that were threatening to engulf him ... At times mental agitation issued in physical collapse. For the better part of a year in 1831 and 1832 he was bedridden, if not silenced ... Literally sick with anxiety, he began to despair of his ability to make himself understood by his fellow citizens."[245]

Death
Madison's health slowly deteriorated through the early-to-mid-1830s.[246] Approaching the Fourth of July, he died of congestive heart failure at Montpelier on the morning of June 28, 1836, at the age of 85.[247] According to one common account of his final moments, he was given his breakfast, which he tried eating but was unable to swallow. His favorite niece, who sat by to keep him company, asked him, "What is the matter, Uncle James?"Madison died immediately after he replied, "Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear.