Editing James Madison (section)

=== Death ===

Madison's health slowly deteriorated through the 1830s.{{sfn|Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia}} He died of [[congestive heart failure]] at Montpelier on the morning of June 28, 1836, at the age of 85.{{sfn|Ketcham|1990|pages=669–670}} 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, Nellie Madison Willis, 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."{{sfn|Magnet|2013|pp=321-322}} He was buried in the family cemetery at Montpelier.{{sfn|Montpellier, Life of James Madison}} He was one of the last prominent members of the Revolutionary War generation to die.{{sfn|Burstein|Isenberg|2010|pages=608–609}} His [[last will and testament]] left significant sums to the [[American Colonization Society]], Princeton, and the University of Virginia, as well as $30,000 ($897,000 in 2021) to his wife, Dolley. Left with a smaller sum than James had intended, Dolley suffered financial troubles until her death in 1849.{{sfn|Burstein|Isenberg|2010|pages=609–611}} In the 1840s Dolley sold Montpelier, its remaining slaves, and the furnishings to pay off outstanding debts. [[Paul Jennings (abolitionist)|Paul Jennings]], one of Madison's younger slaves, later recalled in his memoir,

<blockquote>In the last days of her life, before Congress purchased her husband's papers, she was in a state of absolute poverty, and I think sometimes suffered for the necessaries of life. While I was a servant to Mr. Webster, he often sent me to her with a market-basket full of provisions, and told me whenever I saw anything in the house that I thought she was in need of, to take it to her. I often did this, and occasionally gave her small sums from my own pocket, though I had years before bought my freedom of her.{{sfn|Jennings, 1865}}</blockquote>