James Madison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

James Madison - Essay Example Madison firmly believed in the strong unification of the country. Origin The fourth President of United States, James Madison (16th March, 1751- 28th June, 1886) made a massive contribution towards building the foundation of the nation. This great leader was born at Belle Grove Plantation situated near Port Conway, Virginia. His father, James Madison Senior was the largest landowner (with 5000 acres of land) and a leading citizen of the Orange Country. His mother, Nelly Conway Madison was the daughter of a prominent planter 2 and tobacco merchant. Thus, Madison was born in quite a prosperous family and as the oldest of 12 children was given suitable education at each step of his life. Both his parents had a considerable influence on him and his career. James Madison attended Princeton College (previously named College of New Jersey) and graduated in 1771. On 15th September, 1794, James married a widow, Dolley Payne Todd (20th May, 1768) and adopted her son, John Payne Todd. Dolley wa s the sister of Lucy Payne who married one of President Washington’s nephews, George Steptoe Washington. Dolley was expelled from the Society of Friends for marrying a non-Quaker. Ratification of Constitution Madison greatly contributed towards the ratification of Constitution by writing several Federal essays along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. Madison had extensively studied the ancient and modern confederacies and he understood that the republic would perish if it did not have a strong central government. He contributed twenty nine out of eighty five articles that were published in various newspapers. At 1787 Constitutional Convention, Madison’s draft of Virginia Plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of Today. Afterwards when addressed as the â€Å"Father of the 3 Constitution†, Madison deliberately played it down by saying that the document was not â€Å"the off-spring of a single brain †, but â€Å"the work of many heads and many hands.† Political Views James was very much a liberal politically. He believed that as the governments were formed after a formal election and by popular choice of people, hence if that government failed and became oppressive then people should have the full right to cause a revolt and overthrow that government. James respected privatization in the form of properties and religious liberties. James Madison had helped to write the Federalists Papers. According to him, the national government should be empowered to act directly on persons while safeguarding the integrity of the State Sovereignty. Hence, this also makes him Federalist in a political way. James was a republic too. His life was devoted to the cause of self government. Dislike of Slavery James Madison regarded slavery as a form of cruelty where one person was treated as a property of another individual and traded in the same way as human does. In a letter to Robert J. Evans, Madison writes, â€Å"[I]f slavery, as a national evil, is to be abolished, and it be just that it be done at the national expense, the amount of the expense is not a paramount consideration.† 4 James Madison appealed to the public to abolish slavery and to treat the slaves as human beings and not merely as property. Favored Congress Over State Legislature James Madison favored the Congress over the

Convergence of Accounting Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Convergence of Accounting Standards - Essay Example The world markets are increasingly converging due to globalization, and there is a constant flow of investments from one part of the world to another. The use of different accounting standards in a highly globalized world has hampered the flow of investment across borders, which drags the world economic growth and security valuations in its turn. As a result there has been a move among the regulatory bodies to converge the accounting standards globally, and steps have been taken towards this aim. Sir David Tweedie, The Chairman of IASB, says that research shows that if companies are familiar with a country's accounting standards, then they would invest more there than if they are unfamiliar with it. Any company entering another country's market has to learn its accounting principles and even then they remain concerned that they may have overlooked at some points. This increases the risk premium and cost of capital, as well as the interest charged on it. This might lead to a company cutting its investment, thus cutting employment and hence cutting its growth. Hence, a common set of international accounting standards becomes very important. (Heffes, Apr 2006) A global set of principles based accounting standards is the final goal of this international convergence in accounting standards. ... Of these, the most important is the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) of the United States. There has been a marked difference in the accounting standards of FASB and that proposed by IASB. The latter is propagating a principles-based accounting standard, while the former has been following a rule-based accounting standard. A lot of effort has gone into bringing the FASB to the IASB's line of thinking. And a lot of progress is being made. The UK accounting standards have traditionally been principles based and so have not had much disagreement with the efforts to converge with an international accounting standard, which is based on principles. In this paper we analyze the convergence projects undertaken between the IASB and the FASB, and the UK accounting standards and the International Accounting standards. History The FASB is the private sector standard-setting body in the USA. It was established in the year 1972. The standards that FASB sets put recognition, measurement and disclosure principles to be at the heart of preparing the financial statements. The IASB was created when the erstwhile IASC was restructured. The IASB was delegated the responsibility of producing a single set of high quality, understandable and enforceable IFRS's and to encourage convergence on these standards. The first step taken towards convergence between FASB and IASB accounting principles was the Norwalk Agreement, which discussed how the two bodies could work together to "get rid of the reconciliation between US GAAP and International standards." The second step has been the European Union adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which has meant a 100 or more countries adopting it. (Heffes, Apr 2006) In 2002, the EU approved a regulation,