and others who thought the south's problems were being caused by other sources as the reason for southerners defense of slaver.As Madison drew up his will, he pondered the fate of his slaves. He offered no clause for his slave's emancipation; it read:"I give and bequeath my ownership in the Negroes and people of color held by me to my dear wife but it is my desire that none of them should be sold without his or her consent or in case of their misbehavior except that the infant children may be sold with their parent who consents for them to be sold," (McCoy, p.318). Following Madison's death in 1836, Dolly Madison returned to Washington to live her last years. Financial reasons forced her to sell Montpelier in two parts. She sold the slave families together but retained some of them for her use in Washington. They were freed upon her death (Slaughter, p.73).James Madison worked throughout his life to end the peculiar institution of slavery. Once he found a plan that suited him, he stayed with it only to see it fail because it was impractical. Madison often refereed to African-Americans as being peculiar and being peculiar was the reason that they could not be emancipated without being removed to territory beyond white inhabitation. Although Madison's plan failed, it set up the beginnings of an improved effort to end slavery gradually in the states....
