He became an active Unitarian Party supporter, and joined Francisco Ramos Mexía as a leader of a failed 1839 rebellion against the Unitarians' nemesis, Buenos Aires Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas.

They relocated to Spain after the wedding, but returned to Argentina following Rosas' defeat at the 1852 Battle of Caseros, and dedicated himself to animal husbandry at his wife's Pampas ranch, in rural Monsalvo.

His tenure as Senator was marked by his work in the Economic Policy Committee and his having the newly established hamlet of Maipú recognized as a town.

[1] Little known outside his local area, Madero was named the running mate for the governing National Autonomist Party candidate, Julio Roca.

Elected in 1880, Madero built on the relationship he had established with the Western Railway (whose reaching Maipú that year had been the result of his efforts) to encourage their expansion throughout Buenos Aires Province.