Madison Didn’t Sign the Declaration of Independence
The Claim
James Madison signed the Declaration of Independence.
Emerging story
At the recent Republican National Convention in August 2020, the appropriately-named congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn said that "James Madison was just 25 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence.”
Discussion of the claim soon went viral on social media, with some users supporting it, some questioning it, and some calling it fake.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that James Madison was 25 years old in 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. However, he was not amongst the 56 people to sign it.
Below is a transcript of the signatories, taken from the National Archives.
In 1789, Madison introduced the Bill of Rights, a series of amendments to the constitution.
After the gaffe, Cawthorn tweeted about the mistake, even joking that he wanted to give fact-checkers “something to do.”
