Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use words

and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Today, Brian Lynn tells the story of the President, also known as the father of the U.S. Constitution,

James Madison.

Jill Robbins reports on the rescue of a man trying to cross the Pacific Ocean in a rowboat.

Alice Bryant gives advice on using word maps to strengthen your vocabulary.

Then, the lesson of the day. But first, here is Brian.

The men who created America's Constitution are often called the nation's founders.

But only one of those men, James Madison, is widely considered the father of the Constitution.

Madison was elected president of the United States in 1808.

He served for two terms.

But many Americans remember Madison more for the work he did to strengthen the national government

before he served as president.

Madison was one of the writers of the state constitution in his home state of Virginia in 1776.

Later he proposed a more structured national government after the Revolutionary War.

That conflict resulted in the American colonists separating from Britain.

Madison imagined a three-part American government, one with an executive, a legislature, and an

independent Supreme Court. His ideas became the basis for the U.S. Constitution.

Tom Howard has served as an educator at Madison's home in Southern Virginia. He said

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