James Monroe

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James Monroe, oil sketch by E.O. Sully, 1836, after a contemporary portrait by Thomas Sully; in (credit: Courtesy of the Independence National Historical Park Collection, Philadelphia)

(born April 28, 1758, Westmoreland county, Va.died July 4, 1831, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Fifth president of the U.S. (181725). After serving in the American Revolution, he studied law under Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia. From 1783 to 1786 he served in the Congress under the Articles of Confederation. In 1790 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he opposed the adminstration of George Washington. He nevertheless became Washington's minister to France in 1794, though he was recalled two years later for misleading the French about U.S. politics. From 1799 to 1802 he served as governor of Virginia. In 1803 Pres. Jefferson sent him to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase; he was then appointed minister to Britain (180307). He returned to Virginia and was again elected governor in 1810, though he resigned the office after 11 months to serve as U.S. secretary of state (181117) and secretary of war (181415). He served two terms as president, presiding in a period that became known as the Era of Good Feelings. He oversaw the Seminole War of 181718 and the acquisition of the Floridas (181921), and he signed the Missouri Compromise (1820). With Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, he developed the principles of U.S. foreign policy later called the Monroe Doctrine.

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While at William and Mary in 1776, Monroe was commissioned an infantry lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Regiment. He subsequently rose to lieutenant colonel, serving with the Continental army in the battles of Long Island, New York; Trenton (where he was severely wounded); Brandywine; and the Battle of Monmouth.

In 1782, Monroe entered the Virginia House of Delegates; later he held positions in the Continental Congress (1783–86) and U.S. Senate (1790–93), and as governor of Virginia (1799–1802 and 1811). In 1793–96, he was U.S. minister to France, returning there in 1803 to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Thereafter he served as minister in London and Madrid until 1807.

Monroe became secretary of state and a leading advocate for the diplomatic and military policies of James Madison's administration in 1811. As acting secretary of war during the winter of 1812–13 and secretary of war, October 1814–March 1815, he shaped U.S. manpower policies during the War of 1812.

Monroe's presidency (1817–25) contributed significantly to national defense and security. The 1819 Adams‐Onís Treaty (or Transcontinental Treaty) acquired the Floridas, established clear boundaries for the Louisiana Purchase, and extended U.S. territory to the Pacific. His annual message of 1823, subsequently known as the Monroe Doctrine, laid the foundation for U.S. diplomatic hegemony in the Americas. His administrations improved the efficiency of the army and began the professionalization of its officer corps. In 1825, Monroe retired to New York City; he died on 4 July 1831.

[See also Army, U.S.: 1783–1865; Commander in Chief, President as; Revolutionary War: Military and Diplomatic Course.]

Bibliography

• William P. Cresson, James Monroe, 1946.
• Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity, 1971

Monroe, James (1758-1831) 5th president of the United States (1817-25), born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Monroe fought in the Revolutionary War and was wounded at the battle of Trenton (1776). He later studied law with Thomas Jefferson and served in the Virginia legislature (1782). As a delegate to the Continental Congress (1783-86), Monroe opposed ratification of the Constitution, believing it granted too much power to the central government. While serving in the Senate (1790-94), Monroe became a staunch anti-Federalist, allying himself with the Jeffersonians. As governor of Virginia (1799-1802; 1811) Monroe proved a solid administrator. In 1803 he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase; giving him national prominence. As minister to Great Britain (1803-07), Monroe failed to effect a treaty acceptable to Jefferson. In 1811 James Madison appointed Monroe secretary of state, and for a time during the War of 1812 he was secretary of war as well (1814-15), reorganizing that department. In the presidential election of 1816 Monroe handily defeated his Federalist opposition, and four years later was easily reelected. His inauguration ushered in what came to be called the “Era of Good Feeling.” Monroe toured the country, put together a strong cabinet, acquired Florida (1819), and approved the Missouri Compromise (1820). His most significant achievement came in the realm of foreign affairs with the declaration, later known as the Monroe Doctrine, that the United States considered the Americas closed to further colonization and would regard as an unfriendly act any interference in their affairs. The principle was formulated with the assistance of secretary of state John Quincy Adams and issued in Monroe's annual message of 1823.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

James Monroe (1758-1831), fifth president of the United States, a founder of the Jeffersonian Republican party and a major agent in acquiring Louisiana and Florida, authored the celebrated American foreign policy statement, the Monroe Doctrine.

James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Va., on April 28, 1758, on his parents' small plantation. He enrolled in William and Mary College in 1774 but left 2 years later, with the beginning of the American Revolution, to enlist as a lieutenant in the 3d Virginia Regiment. He was seriously wounded in the action at Trenton, and his heroism earned him the rank of major. In 1777 and 1778 he was aide to Gen. William Alexander (Lord Stirling) with the rank of colonel. Unable to obtain a field command because of the excess of officers, he returned to Virginia and entered the lower house of the legislature in 1782. At this time he formed his friendship with Governor Thomas Jefferson, with whom he began to study law.

In 1783 Monroe was elected to the governor's council; the next year he, Jefferson, and Richard Henry Lee were members of the Virginia delegation to the Confederation Congress. Monroe labored to strengthen the central government, but after failing to secure reform through Congress, he endorsed the recommendation that a special convention be held. He was responsible for the structure of territorial government incorporated in the Ordinance of 1787. In 1786 he led the fight against the proposal of John Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to negotiate a treaty with Spain closing the Mississippi for 20 years in return for commercial concessions. While a member of Congress he married Elizabeth Kortright, one of the most beautiful women of her generation.

Monroe was not a member of the Constitutional Convention, but as a delegate to the Virginia ratifying convention, he opposed ratification unless the Constitution was amended. After the new government was inaugurated and the amending process under way, he ceased his opposition. At this time he shifted his residence to Albemarle County adjacent to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.

U.S. Senator

After a few years of law practice Monroe entered the U.S. Senate in 1790. He emerged as a leading critic of George Washington's administration, which, he felt, was favoring the commercial class and seeking closer ties with Great Britain. He attributed these policies to the influence of Alexander Hamilton. Monroe joined James Madison and Jefferson in organizing the opposition that developed into the Republican party.

Diplomatic Posts

In 1794 Washington appointed Monroe minister to France. Monroe accepted at the urging of the Republicans, who felt that friendship with France was essential for the preservation of republican government in the United States. Arriving in France immediately after the downfall of Robes-pierre, Monroe was able to ease recent tensions, but he irritated Washington by publicly voicing enthusiasm for the French Revolution. The ratification of Jay's Treaty led to a worsening of relations between France and the United States, and Monroe was recalled in 1796 in a manner casting doubt on his conduct. He published a vindication, asserting that the administration was seeking to join England in the war against France.

As proof that Monroe's recall had not shaken party confidence, the Republicans elected him governor of Virginia in 1799. He proved an able administrator, acting decisively to suppress the attempted slave rebellion (Gabriel's Rebellion) in 1800. In 1803 President Jefferson sent him to France to assist Robert R. Livingston in seeking a port for America at the mouth of the Mississippi River after Spanish authorities had closed the river to American ships. In France, Monroe learned that Napoleon, who had acquired Louisiana from Spain, had offered to sell all Louisiana. Although empowered to buy only a small tract, Monroe and Livingston purchased the whole region. From 1804 to 1807 Monroe was minister to Great Britain.

In 1806 Monroe and William Pinkney concluded a treaty with Great Britain permitting American ships to carry produce of the French colonies to France if American duties were paid. Jefferson and his secretary of state, James Madison, did not consider this arrangement a sufficient compensation for the omission of impressment, which they deemed the sine qua non for any treaty with England. Consequently, it was not submitted to the Senate. Deeply offended, Monroe allowed dissident Republicans in Virginia to run him against Madison in the 1808 presidential election. Madison won, but Monroe garnered enough votes to indicate wide support. In 1811 President Madison, plagued by factional conflicts within his own party and a resurgence of federalism, appointed Monroe secretary of state.

Secretary of State

Monroe's entry into the Cabinet did not change the policy of commercial warfare with Great Britain, but it did strengthen the administration. Enjoying great popularity among the younger Republican congressmen, Monroe worked with them to implement presidential policies. He collaborated with the "War Hawks" in drafting the measures that culminated in the declaration of war against England in 1812. He continued in the State Department during the war, serving simultaneously as secretary of war after John Armstrong retired in disgrace following the burning of the capital.

Presidential Policies

Monroe was named Republican presidential candidate in 1816. The Federalists offered only token opposition. As president, Monroe was an old-fashioned figure, wearing his hair pulled back in a queue and clad in the black clothes of the Revolutionary days. Tall, dignified, and formal in manner, he was admired for his genuine goodness, warmth, and lack of malice. His face was rather plain with massive features, but his widely set gray eyes and his smile reflected benevolence. He did not reach decisions quickly, for he was inclined to reflect carefully on all aspects of a question. His attention to detail gave him a soundness of judgment often lacking in more original minds. His remarkable awareness of the trends of public opinion contributed to his political success. He introduced into the White House a new, more formal note. Although he received congressmen, state party leaders, and citizens freely, he kept diplomats at a distance.

Monroe's Cabinet consisted of John Quincy Adams (State), William H. Crawford (Treasury), John C. Calhoun (War), William Wirt (Attorney General), and Benjamin Crowninshield, followed by Smith Thompson and Samuel L. Southard (Navy). If Monroe's appearance suggested the past, his policies were distinctly contemporary. A moderate nationalist, he supported the Bank of the United States, sought to maintain a large peacetime army, and approved the protective tariff.

Monroe made the restoration of political harmony (which meant, in effect, the elimination of parties) a major goal. To facilitate this, he toured the Union, journeying to New England in 1817 and to the South and West in 1819. The "Era of Good Feeling" that followed was short-lived. In 1820 Monroe, who was unopposed, received all the electoral votes but one.

During Monroe's presidency two major domestic crises occurred. The Panic of 1819 resulted from the overexpansion of credit during and after the War of 1812. The abrupt decline in government revenues forced a drastic reduction in the appropriation for the extensive system of coastal fortifications that Monroe had undertaken. The second crisis took place in 1820, following attempts to make the abolition of slavery a condition for the admission of Missouri to statehood. This conflict so divided the nation that many feared the Union would be destroyed. Monroe opposed any restriction on Missouri, but in the interest of harmony he accepted the compromise admitting Missouri as a slave state but excluding slavery from north of 36°30' in the Louisiana Territory.

Monroe's most important accomplishments were in foreign affairs. In 1819 he capitalized on Andrew Jackson's invasion of Florida to pressure Spain into ceding Florida and establishing the western and northern boundaries of Louisiana. Jackson's seizure of Spanish military posts precipitated a domestic furor. Many felt he should be reprimanded for exceeding his orders. Monroe, who appreciated the advantage Jackson's action gave him in negotiations with Spain, chose a middle course. He restored the posts and acknowledged that though Jackson had violated his orders, he had acted on reasons that seemed sufficient during the campaign.

Monroe Doctrine

In spite of considerable pressure for recognizing the new Latin American states, Monroe held off until 1822, after ratification of the treaty with Spain. His concern that the European powers might intervene in South America to restore Spanish authority seemed justified in 1823, after France suppressed revolution in Spain. Consequently, in 1823 Monroe was inclined to accept Britain's proposal that the United States and Great Britain jointly declare opposition to European interference in Latin America. However, though Jefferson and Madison urged him to accept, Monroe, desiring the United States to pursue an independent course, decided to act unilaterally. In his annual message of Dec. 2, 1823 (subsequently known as the Monroe Doctrine), he expressed disapproval of European intervention and affirmed America's intention of not interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. The message also contained a statement that the Americas were not to be considered open to further European colonization.

Last Years

Monroe's last years in office were harassed by the intraparty battle for the 1824 presidential nomination. His hope for a general rapprochement with England was frustrated when a treaty to suppress the international slave trade was so amended that England withdrew ratification.

Monroe's retirement was plagued by financial difficulties. He obtained some relief when Congress voted him $30,000 in 1826, and a similar sum in 1831. Until his health failed in 1831, he was a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia. In 1829, as a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention, he joined Madison in an unsuccessful attempt to arrange a compromise between Eastern and Western interests. He died in New York City on July 4, 1831.

Further Reading

The Writings of James Monroe was edited by Stanislaus M. Hamilton (7 vols., 1898-1903). Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (1971), concentrates on Monroe's political and public life. Useful older biographies are George Morgan, The Life of James Monroe (1921), and William P. Cresson, James Monroe (1946). Lucius Wilmerding, James Monroe: Public Claimant (1960), is an exhaustive study of a minor aspect of Monroe's career.

The presidential elections of 1816 and 1820 are covered in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., History of American Presidential Elections (4 vols., 1971). For Monroe's presidency, George Dangerfield's colorful but overdrawn The Era of Good Feelings (1952) and his briefer and more restrained The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815-1828 (1965) are important works. There is much material on Monroe in Irving Brant, James Madison (6 vols., 1941-1961), and in Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time (3 vols., 1948-1962).

Among the most important works on Monroe's foreign policy are Bradford Perkins, The Monroe Doctrine (1927; rev. ed. 1966); Philip C. Brooks, Diplomacy and the Borderlands: The Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 (1939); Arthur P. Whitaker, The United States and the Independence of Latin America, 1800-1830 (1941); Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (1949); and Bradford Perkins, Castlereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812-1823 (1964).

• Born: Apr. 28, 1758, Westmoreland County, Va.
• Political party: Democratic-Republican
• Education: College of William and Mary, 1774–76
• Military service: 3rd Virginia Infantry, 1776–80
• Previous government service: Virginia House of Delegates, 1782, 1787, 1810; Virginia Governor's Council, 1781–83; Continental Congress, 1783–86; Annapolis Convention, 1786; Virginia constitutional ratifying convention, 1788; U.S. Senate, 1790–94; minister to France, 1794–97; governor of Virginia, 1799–1802; 1811; minister to Great Britain, 1803–7; U.S. secretary of state, 1811–17; U.S. secretary of war, 1814–15
• Elected President, 1816; served, 1817–25
• Subsequent public service: Virginia Constitutional Convention, 1829; regent, University of Virginia, 1826–31
• Died: July 4, 1831, New York, N.Y.

James Monroe was a brilliant secretary of state whose Presidency restored peace and prosperity in the aftermath of the War of 1812. Monroe was born into a family without much money, but relatives helped him attend the College of William and Mary. He left after two years to fight with the 3rd Virginia Infantry under General George Washington during the revolutionary war. He fought in several battles and was wounded while leading a charge at the Battle of Trenton. In 1780 he left the military and studied law under Thomas Jefferson, who was at that time governor of Virginia. In 1782 he served in the Virginia Governor's Council, then in the Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1783 to 1786. Although he opposed ratifying the new U.S. Constitution, Monroe soon took part in national politics. He was defeated by James Madison for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1788, but two years later was selected by the Virginia legislature for a seat in the U.S. Senate, where he opposed the Federalist economic programs of Alexander Hamilton.

President George Washington appointed Monroe to be U.S. minister to France. He refused to defend the Jay Treaty with Great Britain to the French government, believing the terms to favor British interests against the French, and Washington recalled him. He published a defense of his conduct and an attack on the Federalist foreign policy in a book, A View of the Conduct of the Executive in the Foreign Affairs of the United States (1797). He then served three terms as governor of Virginia.

In 1803 President Jefferson appointed Monroe to a mission to France to purchase New Orleans. Finding that Emperor Napoleon wished to sell even more land, Monroe exceeded his instructions and negotiated a treaty to purchase the entire Louisiana Territory. The following year, however, he failed in an attempt to negotiate the purchase of Florida from Spain. In 1806 he negotiated a commercial treaty with Great Britain that seemed so favorable to the British that President Jefferson refused to submit it to the Senate. In response, Monroe entered the Presidential contest in an attempt to defeat Jefferson's protege, James Madison. But in a replay of their 1788 contest, Madison defeated Monroe once again, this time for the Democratic-Republican caucus nomination.

In spite of their political rivalry, Madison appointed Monroe secretary of state in 1811. Simultaneously appointed secretary of war just after the British sacking of the capital in 1814, Monroe prevented an outright British victory, and he oversaw a favorable peace treaty that ended the War of 1812. By a narrow margin the Democratic-Republican congressional caucus nominated him for the Presidency in 1816. He handily won the general election against Federalist candidate Rufus King.

Since the Capitol had been burned to the ground by the British, Monroe's inauguration took place at the Brick Capitol, a temporary meeting hall for Congress. The Monroes could not move into the President's House, soon to be known as the White House, for six months, and Congress could not use the Capitol again until 1819.

Monroe's two terms saw the disappearance of the Federalist party and the brief establishment of a “no party” period known as the Era of Good Feelings. Sectional conflicts among the North, South, and West took the place of party competition. Monroe was reelected in 1820 by a 231-to-1 vote in the electoral college. The one dissenting vote was cast by William Plumer, an elector from New Hampshire, because he wished to reserve the honor of a unanimous vote for Washington alone.

Monroe appointed an exceptional cabinet: John Quincy Adams as secretary of state, John C. Calhoun as secretary of war, William Crawford as secretary of the Treasury, and William Wirt as attorney general—all men of Presidential stature. The cabinet met 180 times during Monroe's two terms, and most decisions were made by consensus.

In domestic affairs Monroe reduced taxes and paid off much of the public debt. He signed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which forbade slavery in the Louisiana Territory above the southern boundary of Missouri, in spite of his doubts that Congress had the constitutional power to exclude slavery from any part of the Union. The compromise preserved sectional peace. Monroe vetoed the Cumberland Road Bill in 1822 because he did not think it was constitutional for the national government to charge tolls for national roads. The following year, however, he submitted his own public works program for construction of roads and canals, to be funded by the national government out of general revenues.

Monroe's major accomplishments were in foreign affairs. In 1818 the United States settled its fishing disputes with Canada, which involved the right of Americans to fish off the coast of Labrador. By the Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) the United States acquired Florida from Spain and all Spanish claims to the Oregon Territory were granted instead to the United States. The United States recognized the newly independent nations of Latin America, and the Monroe Doctrine established the principles that European states were neither to colonize in the New World nor interfere with the governments there. Monroe's only significant failure involved the Senate, which refused to consent to a treaty with Great Britain that would have allowed navies of both nations to put an end to the illegal trade in African slaves.

Monroe retired in 1825 to Oak Hill, his Virginia plantation. He was the last of the “Virginia dynasty” to occupy the White House. Monroe acted as a regent of the University of Virginia and presided over the Virginia state constitutional convention in 1829. He died on a visit to New York City on July 4, 1831.

See also Caucuses, congressional; Jefferson, Thomas; Madison, James; Monroe Doctrine; Washington, George

Sources

• Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971).
• George Dangerfield, The Era of Good Feelings (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1952)

(1758-1831), fifth president of the United States. Monroe, who succeeded James Madison as president of the United States in 1817, was the last of the dynasty of Virginia presidents that began with Thomas Jefferson in 1801. Much of Monroe's career was closely associated with his two presidential predecessors. After reading law with Jefferson, he retained close ties with his mentor, and through Jefferson, he became friends with Madison. Jefferson's and Madison's more brilliant minds, broader interests, and greater impact on their times have overshadowed Monroe's place in the history of the early Republic. Nevertheless, he achieved a high degree of success in public life and enjoyed wide popularity. For Monroe politics was a consuming interest; he was a pragmatic man keenly sensitive to political currents.

Though closely linked to Jefferson and Madison in his political career, Monroe had established his own identity early. Leaving the College of William and Mary in 1776, the eighteen-year-old Monroe enlisted in the Continental army and as a junior officer fought under Washington in the fierce engagements of that year, being wounded at the Battle of Trenton. After the war, Monroe served in the Continental Congress and favored reform of the Confederation, but he opposed the ratification of the Constitution in the Virginia ratifying convention, where Madison led the fight for adoption. Monroe broadly approved the basic structure of the new government, but he favored adding to the Constitution more republican provisions, such as the direct popular election of the president and senators. He also wanted a bill of rights added prior to ratification. Monroe's antifederalism did not prevent his election to the U.S. Senate, and he soon joined with Representative Madison in support of Secretary of State Jefferson's opposition to Alexander Hamilton. He was active in organizing the early Republican party. Governor of Virginia at the time of Jefferson's election to the presidency, Monroe later was sent on the successful mission to purchase Louisiana and was subsequently named minister to Great Britain.

As Jefferson's retirement from office approached, Monroe allowed his name to be brought forward by Virginia friends as an opponent to Madison for the Republican nomination for president in 1808. Despite Monroe's differences with Madison, Jefferson succeeded in keeping the circle of friendship from being permanently broken, and in 1811 President Madison brought Monroe into his cabinet as secretary of state. For a time during the War of 1812, Monroe also acted as secretary of war.

Elected president in 1816, Monroe faced challenges different from any of his predecessors. With the demise in national politics of the Federalist party, he sought to end party divisions in the United States and to be the head of the nation, not of a party. The absence of a strong party in Congress in support of the president necessitated the working out of new relationships with Congress and with members of his cabinet. The "era of good feelings," over which Monroe is commonly seen as presiding, lacked the bitter partisanship of earlier years, but the times were not lacking in controversy. Although settled by compromise, the divisions over the admission of Missouri as a state in 1820 provided disturbing evidence of underlying tensions. Monroe's presidency is often remembered for the doctrine that bears his name, but the Monroe Doctrine would become more important in later years than when it was announced in 1823. Still, Monroe's nearly unanimous reelection to a second term in 1820 testified to his successful management of the office and his popularity as president.

Bibliography:

Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (1971; reprint, 1990).

Author:

Noble E. Cunningham, Jr.

See also Elections: 1816 , 1820; Louisiana Purchase; Revolution. For events during Monroe's administration, see Adams-Onís Treaty; American System; Dartmouth College v. Woodward; Erie Canal; Gibbons v. Ogden; McCulloch v. Maryland ; Missouri Compromise; Monroe Doctrine; National Road.

Early Life

Leaving the College of William and Mary in 1776 to fight in the American Revolution, he served in several campaigns and was wounded (Dec., 1776) at the battle of Trenton. He later studied law (1780-83) under Thomas Jefferson, and the friendship that sprang up between them was the foundation for Monroe's political career.

Political and Diplomatic Career

Monroe was elected to the Virginia legislature in 1782 and served (1783-86) in the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation. He was not a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and in his own state he supported Patrick Henry in opposing the Constitution, which seemed to him to create a government so centralized that it encroached on states' rights.

Under the new government, he served (1790-94) in the U.S. Senate, where he proved himself an outstanding lieutenant of Jefferson and a vigorous opponent of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Federalists. Appointed (1794) minister to France in the hope that his Francophile sympathies would smooth the ruffled relations between the two nations, he did nothing to lessen French resentment over Jay's Treaty, and he was recalled in 1796.

Governor of Virginia from 1799 to 1802, he was sent (1802) by President Jefferson to France as a special envoy. There he assisted Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813; see Livingston, family) during negotiations (1803) for the Louisiana Purchase. The next year, in Spain, he aided Charles Pinckney in the unsuccessful negotiations with the Spanish government. A later mission, to England, was even more disastrous. Monroe and William Pinkney struggled to arrive at a commercial treaty to end the disputes between Great Britain and the United States over shipping, but they could get no concessions, and Jefferson did not even submit the treaty they drafted (1806) to the Senate for approval.

In 1808, Monroe made a bid for the presidential nomination. He thus alienated James Madison, but the estrangement did not last long, and Monroe, after serving again as governor of Virginia, was Madison's Secretary of State (1811-17). For a time he was also Secretary of War (1814-15), after the dismissal of John Armstrong.

Presidency and the Monroe Doctrine

In 1816 Monroe obtained the presidential nomination and was easily elected. During his first administration, serious differences over the question of slavery in the territories were accommodated by the Missouri Compromise, which Monroe signed despite his sympathy for the South in this matter. In foreign affairs a number of settlements were reached. The Rush-Bagot agreement with Great Britain (1817) provided for mutual limitation of armaments on the Great Lakes, and the U.S.-Canadian boundary question was also settled. U.S. possession of the Floridas was confirmed by Andrew Jackson's campaigns and a treaty with Spain (1819).

In the 1820 election, despite economic depression, Monroe lost only one vote in the electoral college that reelected him. Late in 1823, he issued what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, one of the most important principles of U.S. foreign policy. Although this declaration was as much the work of Monroe's Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, as of the President himself, the initiative for presenting it in the annual message to Congress was Monroe's. The experiment of the American Colonization Society in settling Liberia was undertaken with Monroe's blessing, and Monrovia was named for him.

At the end of his term Monroe retired to his estate, Oak Hill, near Leesburg, Va. In 1829 he presided over the Virginia constitutional convention and supported the conservatives on suffrage and slavery. He died during a visit to New York City.

Bibliography

Monroe's writings were edited by S. M. Hamilton (7 vol., 1898-1903, repr. 1969). See his autobiography (ed. with introd. by S. G. Brown, 1959); biographies by G. Morgan (1921, repr. 1969), A. Styron (1945), and W. P. Cresson (1946, repr. 1971); studies by L. Wilmerding (1960) and H. Ammon (1971).

A political leader of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; a leader of the Democratic-Republican party. He was president from 1817 to 1825, between James Madison and John Quincy Adams. He issued the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, supporting the independence of Spain's colonies in America. The Missouri Compromise was reached in his presidency.

James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States and a distinguished diplomat. His administration was marked by several foreign-policy accomplishments, including the MonroeDoctrine, and a period of domestic tranquility that has been called the Era of Good Feelings.

Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on April 28, 1758. He attended the College of William and Mary at the age of sixteen but left in 1776 to fight in the Revolutionary War. He was wounded at the Battle of Trenton but served until the end of the war.

During this period he became acquainted with Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia. Monroe soon adopted Jefferson as his teacher and mentor, a relationship that would endure throughout Monroe's life. In 1780 Monroe began studying law with Jefferson, and in 1786 he established a law practice in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Politics, however, proved a more powerful attraction than a legal career.

Monroe became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782, and from 1781 to 1786 he participated in the Continental Congress. Monroe, like Jefferson, did not favor a highly centralized federal government. He preferred a government system under the Articles ofConfederation, which allocated greater powers to the states, as opposed to the Constitution, which gave the federal government more authority. He did believe in the development of the West and worked with Jefferson to enact laws to further this purpose.

In 1786 he retired from Congress. In 1788 Monroe participated in the Virginia convention that ratified the new federal Constitution. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1790 and served until 1794. After the expiration of his senatorial term, Monroe served as minister to France. President George Washington appointed Monroe to this position despite Monroe's opposition to the Washington administration's policies. When Monroe did not follow his diplomatic instructions and made intemperate remarks about policies with which he disagreed, Washington recalled him in 1796.

Monroe quickly reentered Virginia politics. He was elected governor in 1799 and served a three-year term. In 1802 President Jefferson sent Monroe back to France as a special envoy. He and Robert R. Livingston negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. Following this success, Jefferson named Monroe minister to England, where he served until 1806.

Again Virginia politics beckoned. Monroe served briefly as governor but left in 1811 to join the cabinet of President JamesMadison. He was secretary of state from 1811 to 1817 and secretary of war, during the War of 1812, from 1814 to 1815. The successful conclusion of the war and the military triumphs of General Andrew Jackson helped boost Monroe's popularity.

In 1816 he was elected president of the United States as a member of the Democratic-Republican party. The Federalist party disappeared after the election, and most politicians belonged to the Democratic-Republican party. With an end to the political feuding of the early years of the Republic, Monroe was able to promote what has been called the Era of Good Feelings. His popularity was so great that he was unopposed for reelection in 1820.

Monroe's presidency produced important domestic legislation, including the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which limited the extension of slavery into new territories. His main efforts, however, were directed at foreign affairs. The Rush-Bagot Treaty, drafted in 1817, restricted the increase of armaments in the Great Lakes area. In 1818 Great Britain agreed to the forty-ninth parallel as the boundary between the United States and Canada from Lake of the Woods on the Minnesota-Ontario border as far west as the Rocky Mountains. In 1819 U.S. diplomats convinced Spain to cede Florida to the United States in return for the cancellation of $5 million in U.S. claims against Spain.

In 1823 Monroe presented the most significant measure of his administration, the Monroe Doctrine. During the Napoleonic Wars, Spain had lost interest in its American colonies. Most of the colonies declared their independence, but the United States was concerned that Spain might try to reassert control. The Monroe Doctrine declared that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization and that any European intervention would be regarded as a threat to the security of the United States. Conversely, the United States agreed not to intervene in European matters. The Monroe Doctrine would be invoked several times by future presidential administrations.

After leaving the presidency in 1824, Monroe retired to Oak Hill, his estate in Virginia that was near Jefferson's Monticello. He served as a regent of the University of Virginia and in 1829 presided over the Virginia Constitutional Convention.

Monroe's last years were difficult. He left public service a poor man and was too old to rebuild his law practice. He was forced to sell his home and move to New York City to live with his daughter. He died there on July 4, 1831.

For other people named James Monroe, see James Monroe (disambiguation).

James Monroe
5th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825
Vice President	Daniel Tompkins
Preceded by	James Madison
Succeeded by	John Quincy Adams
8th United States Secretary of War
In office September 27, 1814 – March 2, 1815
President	James Madison
Preceded by	John Armstrong
Succeeded by	William Crawford
7th United States Secretary of State
In office April 2, 1811 – March 4, 2012
President	James Madison
Preceded by	Robert Smith
Succeeded by	John Quincy Adams
12th and 16th Governor of Virginia
In office December 19, 1799 – December 1, 1802
Preceded by	James Wood
Succeeded by	John Page
In office January 16, 1811 – April 2, 1811
Preceded by	George William Smith
Succeeded by	George William Smith
United States Minister to the United Kingdom
In office April 18, 1803 – February 26, 1808
Nominated by	Thomas Jefferson
Preceded by	Rufus King
Succeeded by	William Pinkney
United States Minister to France
In office May 28, 1794 – September 9, 1796
Nominated by	George Washington
Preceded by	Gouverneur Morris
Succeeded by	Charles Pinckney
United States Senator from Virginia
In office November 9, 1790 – March 29, 1794
Preceded by	John Walker
Succeeded by	Stevens Mason
Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from Virginia
In office November 3, 1783 – November 7, 1786
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Henry Lee
Personal details
Born	(1758-04-28)April 28, 1758 Monroe Hall, Virginia
Died	July 4, 1831(1831-07-04) (aged 73) New York City, New York
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Kortright
Residence	Ash Lawn
Alma mater	College of William and Mary
Profession	Lawyer Planter College Administrator
Religion	Deism Episcopal
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	Continental Army
Years of service	1775–1780
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War  • Battle of Trenton

James Monroe (April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831) was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation.^[1] His presidency was marked both by an "Era of Good Feelings" – a period of relatively little partisan strife – and later by the Panic of 1819 and a fierce national debate over the admission of the Missouri Territory. Monroe is most noted for his proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which stated that the United States would not tolerate further European intervention in the Americas.

Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was injured in the Battle of Trenton with a musket ball to his shoulder. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. As an anti-federalist delegate to the Virginia convention that considered ratification of the United States Constitution, Monroe opposed ratification, claiming it gave too much power to the central government. Nonetheless, Monroe took an active part in the new government and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate of the first United States Congress, where he joined the Jeffersonians. He gained experience as an executive as the Governor of Virginia and rose to national prominence when as a diplomat in France he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Monroe was of French and Scottish descent.

uring the War of 1812, Monroe held the critical roles of Secretary of State and the Secretary of War under President James Madison.^[2] Facing little opposition from the fractured Federalist Party, Monroe was easily elected president in 1816, winning over 80 percent of the electoral vote and becoming the last president during the First Party System era of American politics. As president, he sought to ease partisan tensions and embarked on a tour of the country and was well received everywhere.^{[citation needed]} As nationalism surged, partisan fury subsided and the "Era of Good Feelings" ensued until the Panic of 1819 struck and dispute over the admission of Missouri embroiled the country in 1820. Nonetheless, Monroe won near-unanimous reelection. In 1823, he announced the Monroe Doctrine, which became a landmark in American foreign policy. His presidency concluded the first period of American presidential history before the beginning of Jacksonian democracy and the Second Party System era. Following his retirement in 1825, Monroe was plagued by financial difficulties. He died in New York City on July 4, 1831.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Education and military service 2 Marriage 3 Early political career 3.1 Virginia politics 3.2 Ambassador to France 4 Governor of Virginia and Diplomat 4.1 1808 election and the Quids 5 Secretary of State and Secretary of War 6 Presidential elections of 1816 and 1820 7 Presidency 7.1 Domestic politics 7.1.1 Republican party dominance 7.1.2 Domestic troubles 7.1.3 Cumberland Road 7.1.4 Native American Policies 7.2 Foreign policy 7.2.1 Spanish Florida 7.2.2 Monroe Doctrine 7.3 Administration and Cabinet 7.4 Judicial appointments 7.5 States admitted to the Union 8 Post-presidency 9 Death 10 Religious beliefs 11 Slavery 12 Legacy and memory 13 See also 14 Bibliography 14.1 References 15 Notes 16 External links

Biography

Marker designating the site of James Monroe's birthplace in Monroe Hall, Virginia

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in a wooded area of Westmoreland County, Virginia. The site is marked and is one mile from what is known today as Monroe Hall, Virginia.

Monroe's father, Spence Monroe (1727–1774) was a moderately prosperous planter who also learned the carpentry trade. His mother, Elizabeth Jones Monroe (1730–1774), married Spence Monroe in 1752. His paternal great-grandfather emigrated to America from Scotland in the mid-17th century. In 1650 Andrew Monroe patented a large tract of land in Washington Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia.^[3]

Education and military service

Monroe studied at Campbelltown Academy, a school run by the Reverend Archibald Campbell of Washington Parish, between the ages of 11 and 16. There he excelled as a prodigious pupil and progressed through Latin and mathematics at a rate faster than that of most boys his age. John Marshall, later Chief Justice of the United States, was among his classmates.

In 1774 at the age of 16, Monroe inherited his father's fortune in land and slaves, and joined the ruling class of the planter elite in the slave society.^[4] He also began forming a close relationship with his uncle, the influential Judge Joseph Jones, who had been educated at the Inns of Court in London and was the executor of his father's estate.

That same year, Monroe enrolled in the College of William and Mary. But in 1774, most students were charged with excitement over the prospect of rebellion against King George. The following spring, Monroe dropped out of college and joined the 3rd Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army.^[5] In June 1775, after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Monroe joined 24 older men in raiding the arsenal at the Governor's Palace. The 200 muskets and 300 swords which they took were used to arm the Williamsburg militia. The following spring, Monroe dropped out of college and joined the Continental Army. He never returned to earn a degree.

Between 1780 and 1783, he studied law under Thomas Jefferson.^[6][7] Monroe was not particularly interested in legal theory or practice, but chose to take it up because he felt that it offered "the most immediate rewards" and that it would place him on a path to wealth, social standing, and political influence.^[7]

Although Andrew Jackson served as a courier in a militia unit at age thirteen, Monroe is regarded as the last U.S. President who was a Revolutionary War hero, since he served as an officer of the Continental Army and took part in combat.^[8] He served with distinction at the Battle of Trenton, where he was shot in his left shoulder. He spent three months recuperating from his wound. In John Trumbull's painting Capture of the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, Monroe can be seen lying wounded at left center of painting. In the famous painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Monroe is depicted holding the flag. Following his war service, he practiced law in Fredericksburg, Virginia.^[9][10]

Marriage

James Monroe married Elizabeth Kortright (1768–1830), daughter of Laurence Kortright and Hannah Aspinwall Kortright, on February 16, 1786, in New York City. After a brief honeymoon on Long Island, the Monroes returned to New York to live with her father until Congress adjourned. The Monroes had the following children:

• Eliza Monroe Hay (1786–1835) – married George Hay in 1808 and substituted for her ailing mother as official White House hostess for her father's events.
• James Spence Monroe (1799–1801) – his grave reads "J.S. Monroe", so the proper names are speculative but typical of naming patterns of the time.
• Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur (1803–1850) – married her cousin Samuel L. Gouverneur on March 8, 1820, in the first wedding of a president's child in the White House.^[11][12]

Monroe fulfilled his youthful dream of becoming the owner of a large plantation and wielding great political power, but his efforts in agriculture were never profitable. He sold his small inherited Virginia plantation in 1783 to enter law and politics. Although he later owned land and slaves and speculated in property, he was rarely on-site to oversee the operations. Overseers treated the slaves harshly to force production, but the plantations barely broke even. Monroe incurred debts by his lavish lifestyle and often sold property to pay them off.^[13]

Early political career

Virginia politics

Monroe was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782. After serving for the Continental legislature he was elected to the Fourth Continental Congress in November 1783. He was also elected to and served in the Fifth and Sixth Congresses, serving for a total of three years where he finally retired from that office by the rule of rotation.^[14]

In Virginia the struggle in 1788 over the ratification of the proposed new Constitution involved far more than a simple clash between federalists and anti-federalists. Virginians held a full spectrum of opinions about the merits of the proposed change in national government. George Washington and James Madison were leading supporters; Patrick Henry and George Mason were leading opponents. The central actors in the ratification fight were those who held the middle ground in the ideological struggle. Led by Monroe and Edmund Pendleton, these "federalists who are for amendments," criticized the absence of a bill of rights and worried about surrendering taxation powers to the central government. Virginia ratified the Constitution in June 1788, largely because these men suspended their reservations and vowed to press for changes after the new government had been established.^[15]

Virginia narrowly ratified the Constitution and Monroe ran for a House seat in the 1st Congress but was defeated by Madison. In 1790 he was elected United States Senator. He soon joined the "Democratic-Republican" faction led by Jefferson and Madison and by 1791 was the party leader in the Senate.^[16]

Ambassador to France

Monroe resigned his Senate seat after being appointed Minister to France in 1794.^[17] As ambassador.Monroe secured the release of Thomas Paine when he was arrested for his opposition to the execution of Louis XVI,on the condition that he,be sent to America.^[18]

He managed to free all the Americans held in French prisons, including Madame Lafayette. He issued American passports for the Lafayette family, (since they had been granted citizenship), before she traveled to Lafayette's place of imprisonment, in Olmutz.^[19]

A strong friend of the French Revolution, Monroe tried to assure France that Washington's policy of strict neutrality did not favor Britain. But American policy had come to favor Britain, and Monroe was stunned by the signing of the Jay Treaty in London. With France and Britain at war, the Jay Treaty alarmed and angered the French. Washington discharged Monroe from his office as Minister to France due to inefficiency, disruptive maneuvers, and failure to safeguard the interests of his country.^[20]

Monroe had long been concerned about untoward foreign influence on the presidency. He was alarmed at Spanish diplomat Don Diego de Gardoqui who in 1785 tried to convince Congress to allow Spain to close the Mississippi River to American traffic for 30 years. Here Monroe saw Spain over-influencing the republic, which could have risked the loss of the Southwest or dominance of the Northeast.^[21] Monroe placed faith in a strong presidency and the system of checks and balances. In the 1790s he fretted over an aging George Washington being too heavily influenced by close advisers like Alexander Hamilton who was too close to Britain. Monroe favored France and so opposed the Jay Treaty in 1795. He was humiliated when Washington criticized him for his support of revolutionary France while he was minister to France.^[22] He saw foreign and Federalist elements in the genesis of the Quasi War of 1798–1800 and in efforts to keep Thomas Jefferson away from the presidency in 1801. As governor he considered using the Virginia militia to force the outcome in favor of Jefferson.^[23] Federalists responded in kind, some seeing Monroe as at best a French dupe and at worst a traitor.^[24]

Governor of Virginia and Diplomat

Out of office, Monroe returned to practicing law in Virginia until elected governor there as a Republican, his first term serving from 1799 to 1802. He was reelected Virginia's governor four times.^[25] He called out the state militia to suppress Gabriel's Rebellion. Gabriel and 26 other enslaved people who participated were all hanged for treason.

President Jefferson sent Monroe to France to assist Robert R. Livingston to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe was then appointed Minister to the Court of St. James (Britain) from 1803 to 1807. In 1806 he negotiated a treaty with Britain, known as the Monroe–Pinkney Treaty. It would extend the Jay Treaty of 1794 which had expired after ten years; Jefferson had fought the Jay Treaty intensely in 1794–95 because he felt it would allow the British to subvert American republicanism. The treaty had produced ten years of peace and highly lucrative trade for American merchants, but Jefferson was still hostile. When Monroe and the British signed a renewal in December 1806, Jefferson decided to reject it, and not submit it to the Senate. Although the new treaty called for ten more years of trade between the U.S. and the British Empire, and gave American merchants certain guarantees that would have been good for business, Jefferson refused to give up the potential weapon of commercial warfare against Britain and was unhappy that it did not end the hated British practice of impressment of American sailors. Jefferson did not attempt to obtain another treaty, and as a result, the two nations moved from peace toward the War of 1812.^[26]

1808 election and the Quids

The Republican Party was increasingly factionalized with "Old Republicans" or "Quids" denouncing the Administration for abandoning true republican principles. The Quids, seeing that Monroe's foreign policy had been rejected by Jefferson, tried to enlist Monroe in their cause. The plan was to run Monroe for president in the 1808 election in cooperation with the Federalist Party, which had a strong base in New England. John Randolph of Roanoke led the Quid effort to stop Jefferson's choice of James Madison. However, the regular Republicans overcame the Quids, kept control of the party in Virginia, and protected Madison's base. Monroe did not run for president and Madison was elected president.^[27]

Secretary of State and Secretary of War

Monroe returned to the Virginia House of Delegates and was elected to another term as governor in 1811, but only served four months. He became Secretary of State in April of that year. He had little to do with the War of 1812, as President Madison and the War Hawks in Congress were dominant. The war went very badly, and when the British burned the capitol building on August 24, 1814, Madison removed John Armstrong as Secretary of War and turned to Monroe for help, appointing him Secretary of War on September 27.^[28] Monroe resigned as Secretary of State on October 1, but no successor was ever appointed, so he continued doing the work. Thus from October 1, 1814, to February 28, 1815, Monroe effectively held both cabinet posts. Monroe formulated plans for an offensive invasion of Canada to win the war, but a peace treaty was ratified in February 1815, before any armies moved north. Monroe therefore resigned as Secretary of War on March 15, 1815 and was formally reappointed Secretary of State. Monroe stayed on at State until March 4, 1817, when he began his term as the new President of the United States.^[2]

Presidential elections of 1816 and 1820

The congressional nominating caucus experienced little opposition during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison, but this situation changed in the election year of 1816. An indeterminate number of anti-Virginia Republicans, led by the New York delegation, objected to the caucus system along with the Federalists. Disorganization and failure to agree on William H. Crawford, Daniel Tompkins, Henry Clay or another possible contender weakened opposition to Monroe. The boycott by Virginia delegates of the March 12 caucus removed the chances of Monroe's opponents, and he received the caucus nomination four days later.^[29] With the Federalist Party in disarray due to the unpopularity of their opposition to the War of 1812, he was easily elected.^[30] The Federalists did not even name a candidate, though Rufus King of New York did run in opposition to Monroe under the Federalist banner.^[30] King carried only Connecticut, Delaware, and Massachusetts and won only 34 of 217 electoral votes cast.^[30] (See United States presidential election, 1816.)

The collapse of the Federalists left Monroe with no organized opposition at the end of his first term, and he ran for reelection unopposed,^[30] the only president other than Washington to do so. A single elector from New Hampshire cast a vote for John Quincy Adams, preventing a unanimous vote in the electoral college.^[30] (See United States presidential election, 1820.)

Presidency

Monroe as he appears in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Domestic politics

Republican party dominance

Monroe largely ignored old party lines in making appointments to lower posts, which reduced political tensions and enabled the "Era of Good Feelings", which lasted through his administration. He made two long national tours in 1817 to build national trust. Frequent stops on these tours allowed innumerable ceremonies of welcome and expressions of good will. The Federalist Party continued to fade away during his administration; it maintained its vitality and organizational integrity in Delaware and a few localities, but was no longer a national factor. Lacking serious opposition, the Republican party's Congressional caucus stopped meeting, and for practical purposes the Republican Party stopped operating.^[31]

Domestic troubles

Monroe's popularity was undiminished even when following difficult nationalist policies as the country's commitment to nationalism was starting to show serious fractures. The Panic of 1819 caused a painful economic depression. The application for statehood in 1819 by the Missouri Territory as a slave state failed. An amended bill for gradually eliminating slavery in Missouri precipitated two years of bitter debate in Congress. The Missouri Compromise bill resolved the struggle, pairing Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and barring slavery north of latitude 36/30' N forever. The Missouri Compromise lasted until 1857, when it was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court as part of the Dred Scott decision.

Cumberland Road

Congress demanded high subsidies for internal improvements, such as for the improvement of the Cumberland Road, during Monroe's presidency.^[32] Monroe vetoed the Cumberland Road Bill, which provided for yearly improvements to the road, because he believed it to be unconstitutional for the government to have such a large hand in what was essentially a civics bill deserving of attention on a state by state basis. This defiance underlined Monroe's populist ideals and added credit to the local offices that he was so fond of visiting on his speech tours.^[33]

Native American Policies

Main article: Seminole Wars

Monroe sparked a constitutional controversy when, in 1817, he sent General Andrew Jackson to move against Spanish Florida to pursue hostile Seminole Indians and punish the Spanish for aiding them. News of Jackson's exploits ignited a congressional investigation of the 1st Seminole War. Dominated by Democratic-Republicans, the 15th Congress was generally expansionist and more likely to support the popular Jackson. Ulterior political agendas of many congressmen dismantled partisan and sectional coalitions, so that Jackson's opponents argued weakly and became easily discredited. After much debate, the House of Representatives voted down all resolutions that condemned Jackson in any way, thus implicitly endorsing Monroe's actions and leaving the issue surrounding the role of the executive with respect to war powers unanswered.^[34]

Monroe believed that the Indians must progress from the hunting stage to become an agricultural people, noting in 1817, "A hunter or savage state requires a greater extent of territory to sustain it than is compatible with progress and just claims of civilised life."^[35] His proposals to speed up the assimilation process were ignored by Congress.^[36]

Foreign policy

Spanish Florida

Relations with Spain over the purchase of Spanish Florida proved to be troublesome, especially after General Andrew Jackson invaded that territory on what he believed to be the president's authorization, which Monroe later denied giving. But largely through the skillful work of John Quincy Adams, a treaty was signed with Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the United States in return for the assumption of $5,000,000 in claims and the relinquishment of any claims to Texas.^[37] Florida was ceded to the U.S. in 1821.

Monroe Doctrine

Main article: Monroe Doctrine

After the Napoleonic wars (which ended in 1815), almost all of Spain's and Portugal's colonies in Latin America revolted and declared independence. Americans welcomed this development as a validation of the spirit of Republicanism. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams suggested delaying formal recognition until Florida was secured. The problem of imperial invasion was intensified by a Russian claim to the Pacific coast down to the fifty-first parallel and simultaneous European pressure to have all of Latin America returned to its colonial status.^{[citation needed]}

Monroe informed Congress in March 1822 that permanent stable governments had been established in the United Provinces of La Plata (present-day Argentina), Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Adams, under Monroe's supervision, wrote the instructions for the ministers (ambassadors) to these new countries. They declared that the policy of the United States was to uphold republican institutions and to seek treaties of commerce on a most-favored-nation basis. The United States would support inter-American congresses dedicated to the development of economic and political institutions fundamentally differing from those prevailing in Europe. The articulation of an "American system" distinct from that of Europe was a basic tenet of Monroe's policy toward Latin America. Monroe took pride as the United States was the first nation to extend recognition and to set an example to the rest of the world for its support of the "cause of liberty and humanity".^{[citation needed]}

Monroe formally announced in his message to Congress on December 2, 1823, what was later called the Monroe Doctrine. He proclaimed that the Americas should be free from future European colonization and free from European interference in sovereign countries' affairs. It further stated the United States' intention to stay neutral in European wars and wars between European powers and their colonies, but to consider new colonies or interference with independent countries in the Americas as hostile acts toward the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Although it is Monroe's most famous contribution to history, the speech was written by Adams, who designed the doctrine in cooperation with Britain.^[38] Monroe and Adams realized that American recognition would not protect the new countries against military intervention to restore Spain's power. In October 1823, Richard Rush, the American minister in London, advised that Foreign Secretary George Canning was proposing that the U.S. and Britain jointly declare their opposition to European intervention. Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed re-conquest of Latin America and suggested that the United States join in proclaiming a "hands off" policy. Galvanized by the British initiative, Monroe consulted with American leaders and then formulated a plan with Adams. Ex-Presidents Jefferson and Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Adams advised, "It would be more candid ... to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war." Monroe accepted Adams' advice. Not only must Latin America be left alone, he warned, but also Russia must not encroach southward on the Pacific coast. "...the American continents," he stated, "by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power."^{[citation needed]}

The Monroe Doctrine at the time of its adoption thus pertained more to the Russians in North America than to the former Spanish colonies. The result was a system of American isolationism under the sponsorship of the British navy. The Monroe Doctrine held that the United States considered the Western Hemisphere as no longer a place for European colonization; that any future effort to gain further political control in the hemisphere or to violate the independence of existing states would be treated as an act of hostility; and finally that there existed two different and incompatible political systems in the world. The United States, therefore, promised to refrain from intervention in European affairs and demanded Europe to abstain from interfering with American matters. There were few serious European attempts at intervention.^[38]

Administration and Cabinet

Monroe made balanced Cabinet choices, naming a southerner, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a northerner, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State. Both proved outstanding, as Adams was a master diplomat^[39] and Calhoun completely reorganized the War Department to overcome the serious deficiencies that hobbled it during the war of 1812.^[40] Monroe decided on political grounds not to offer Henry Clay the State Department, and Clay turned down the War Department and remained Speaker of the House, so Monroe lacked an outstanding westerner in his cabinet.

The Monroe Cabinet
Office	Name	Term
President	James Monroe	1817–1825
Vice President	Daniel D. Tompkins	1817–1825
Secretary of State	John Quincy Adams	1817–1825
Secretary of Treasury	William H. Crawford	1817–1825
Secretary of War	John C. Calhoun	1817–1825
Attorney General	Richard Rush	1817
	William Wirt	1817–1825
Secretary of the Navy	Benjamin W. Crowninshield	1817–1818
	Smith Thompson	1819–1823
	Samuel L. Southard	1823–1825

Judicial appointments

Main article: List of federal judges appointed by James Monroe

Monroe appointed one Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, Smith Thompson. He appointed 21 other federal judges, all to United States district courts, as no vacancies occurred on the one circuit court existing at the time.

States admitted to the Union

• Mississippi – December 10, 1817
• Illinois – December 13, 1818
• Alabama – December 14, 1819
• Maine – March 15, 1820
• Missouri – August 10, 1821

Post-presidency

Monroe once owned a farm at the location of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville

When his presidency ended on March 4, 1825, James Monroe resided at Monroe Hill, what is now included in the grounds of the University of Virginia. He operated the family farm from 1788 to 1817, but sold it in the first year of his presidency to the new college. He served on the college's Board of Visitors under Jefferson and under the second rector James Madison, also a former president, almost until his death.

Monroe had racked up many debts during his years of public life. He sold off his Highland Plantation (now called Ash Lawn-Highland. It is now owned by his alma mater, the College of William and Mary, which has opened it to the public as an historic site. Throughout his life, he was not financially solvent, and his wife's poor health made matters worse.^[41]

He and his wife lived in Oak Hill, Virginia, until Elizabeth's death on September 23, 1830. In August 1825, the Monroes had received the Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams as guests there.^[42]

Death

Upon Elizabeth's death in 1830, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his daughter Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur who had married Samuel L. Gouverneur in the White House. Monroe's health began to slowly fail by the end of the 1820s and John Quincy Adams visited him there in April 1831.^[43] Adams found him alert and eager to discuss the situation in Europe, but in ill health. Adams cut the visit short when he thought he was tiring Monroe.

Monroe died there from heart failure and tuberculosis on July 4, 1831, thus becoming the third president in a row who died on Independence Day, July 4. His death came 55 years after the U.S. Declaration of Independence was proclaimed and 5 years after the death of two other Founding Fathers who became Presidents: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Monroe was originally buried in New York at the Gouverneur family's vault in the New York City Marble Cemetery. Twenty-seven years later in 1858 the body was re-interred to the President's Circle at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The James Monroe Tomb is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Religious beliefs

"When it comes to Monroe's thoughts on religion," Bliss Isely notes, "less is known than that of any other President." No letters survive in which he discussed his religious beliefs. Nor did his friends, family or associates comment on his beliefs. Letters that do survive, such as ones written after the death of his son, contain no discussion of religion.^[44]

Monroe was raised in a family that belonged to the Church of England when it was the state church in Virginia before the Revolution. As an adult, he frequently attended Episcopal churches, though there is no record he ever took communion. He has been classified by some historians as a Deist because he used deistic language to refer to an impersonal God.^[45] Unlike Jefferson, Monroe was rarely attacked as an atheist and infidel for his deistic views. In 1832 James Renwick Willson, a Reformed Presbyterian minister in Albany, New York, criticized Monroe for having "lived and died like a second-rate Athenian philosopher."^[46]

As Secretary of State, Monroe dismissed Mordecai Manuel Noah in 1815 from his post as consul to Tunis because he was Jewish.^[47] Noah protested and gained letters from Adams, Jefferson, and Madison supporting church-state separation and tolerance for Jews.^[48]

Slavery

Monroe owned dozens of slaves. According to William Seale, he took several slaves with him to Washington to serve at the White House from 1817 to 1825. This was typical of other slaveholders, as Congress did not provide for domestic staff of the presidents at that time.^[49]

On October 15, 1799, as some slave traders tried to transport a group of slaves from Southampton to Georgia, the slaves revolted and killed the traders.^[50] According to Scheer's article on the subject, a nearby slave patrol responded and killed ten slaves on the spot in extrajudicial killings without the benefit of trial. Of the initial group, the patrol took five slaves alive. They were tried in an oyer and terminer court without the benefit of a jury,^[51] and four were convicted .(The fifth pleaded benefit of clergy and was flogged and branded). Governor Monroe postponed the slaves' executions to check their identities; he granted a pardon to one, and allowed two to hang. The fourth died in jail from exposure to the cold. Scheer says that Monroe "help[ed] secure a modicum of civil protection for slaves sentenced to death for capital crimes."^[52]

When Monroe was Governor of Virginia in 1800, hundreds of slaves from Virginia planned to kidnap him, take Richmond, and negotiate for their freedom. Due to a storm on August 30, they were unable to attack. What became known as Gabriel's slave conspiracy became public.^[53]

In response, Governor Monroe called out the militia; the slave patrols soon captured some slaves accused of involvement. Sidbury says some trials had a few measures to prevent abuses, such as an appointed attorney, but they were "hardly 'fair'". Slave codes prevented slaves from being treated like whites, and they were given quick trials without a jury.^[54] Monroe influenced the Executive Council to pardon and sell some slaves instead of hanging them.^[55] Historians say the Virginia courts executed between 26 and 35 slaves. None of the executed slaves had killed any whites because the uprising had been foiled before it began.^[50]

As president of Virginia's constitutional convention in the fall of 1829, Monroe reiterated his belief that slavery was a blight which, even as a British colony, Virginia had attempted to eradicate.^{[citation needed]} "What was the origin of our slave population?" he rhetorically asked. "The evil commenced when we were in our Colonial state, but acts were passed by our Colonial Legislature, prohibiting the importation, of more slaves, into the Colony. These were rejected by the Crown." To the dismay of states' rights proponents, he was willing to accept the federal government's financial assistance to emancipate and transport freed slaves to other countries. At the convention, Monroe made his final public statement on slavery, proposing that Virginia emancipate and deport its bondsmen with "the aid of the Union."^[56]

Monroe was part of the American Colonization Society formed in 1816, which members included Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. They found common ground with some abolitionists in supporting colonization. They helped send several thousand freed slaves to the new colony of Liberia in Africa from 1820 to 1840. Slave owners like Monroe and Jackson wanted to prevent free blacks from encouraging slaves in the South to rebel. With about $100,000 in Federal grant money, the organization also bought land for the freedmen in what is today Liberia.^[57] The capital of Liberia was named Monrovia after President Monroe.^[58]

Legacy and memory

• Since its 1824 renaming in his honor, the capital city of the West African country of Liberia has been named Monrovia. It is the only non-American capital city named after a U.S. President.
• On December 12, 1954, the United States Postal Service released a 5¢ Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Monroe.

There are academic buildings named after him at the College of William and Mary; George Mason University; and the George Washington University

• The City of Monroe, Michigan is also named for him.
• Monroe County, PA, created in 1836, is named for him.
• The City of Monroe, Georgia, incorporated in 1821, is named for him.
• Monroe was the last U.S. President to wear a powdered wig tied in a queue, a tricorne and knee breeches according to the old fashioned style of the eighteenth century.^[59][60]
• Monroe is the last president who had never been photographed and whose portraits are preserved today only on paintings.^[61]

Presidential Dollar of James Monroe   First Monroe Postage stamp, Issue of 1904   Statue of Monroe at Ash Lawn-Highland   Monroe Hall at the University of Virginia; Monroe once owned the land on which the university sits.

See also

	Book: Presidents of the United States (1789–1860)
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Adams-Onís Treaty
• List of United States political appointments that crossed party lines
• Monrovia
• List of Presidents of the United States
• US Presidents on US postage stamps

Bibliography

• Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. (1971, 2nd ed. 1990). 706 pp. standard scholarly biography excerpt and text search
• Ammon, Harry. "James Monroe" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (1997)
• Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (1949), the standard history of Monroe's foreign policy.
• Cresson, William P. James Monroe (1946). 577 pp. good scholarly biography
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Presidency of James Monroe. 1996. 246 pp. standard scholarly survey
• Dangerfield, George. Era of Good Feelings (1953) excerpt and text search
• Dangerfield, George. The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815–1828 (1965) standard scholarly survey excerpt and text search
• Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism (1995). most advanced analysis of the politics of the 1790s. online edition
• Heidler, David S. "The Politics of National Aggression: Congress and the First Seminole War," Journal of the Early Republic 1993 13(4): 501–530. in JSTOR
• Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1754–1829 (2005), 1600 pp.
• Gilman, Daniel Coit. James Monroe (1911) 312 pages; old barely adequate biography. online edition
• Hart, Gary. James Monroe (2005) superficial, short, popular biography
• Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 (2007), Pulitzer Prize; a sweeping interpretation of the entire era
• Holmes, David L. The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, May 2006, online version
• Kranish, Michael. "At Capitol, slavery's story turns full circle", The Boston GLobe, Boston, December 28, 2008.
• May, Ernest R. The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (1975), argues it was issued to influence the outcome of the presidential election of 1824.
• Morgan, George. The Life of James Monroe (1921) 484 pages; old and barely adequate biography. online edition
• Perkins, Bradford. Castlereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812–1823 (1964)
• Perkins, Dexter. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823–1826 (1927), the standard monograph about the origins of the doctrine.
• Powell, Walter & Steinberg, Richard. The nonprofit sector: a research handbook, Yale, 2006, pg 40.
• Renehan Edward J., Jr. The Monroe Doctrine: The Cornerstone of American Foreign Policy (2007)
• Scherr, Arthur. "James Monroe and John Adams: An Unlikely 'Friendship'". The Historian 67#3 (2005) pp 405+. online edition
• Skeen, Carl Edward. 1816: America Rising (1993) popular history
• Scherr, Arthur. "James Monroe on the Presidency and 'Foreign Influence;: from the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788) to Jefferson's Election (1801)." Mid-America 2002 84(1–3): 145–206. ISSN 0026-2927.
• Scherr, Arthur. "Governor James Monroe and the Southampton Slave Resistance of 1799." Historian 1999 61(3): 557–578. ISSN 0018-2370 Fulltext online in SwetsWise and Ebsco.
• Styron, Arthur. The Last of the Cocked Hats: James Monroe and the Virginia Dynasty (1945). 480 pp. thorough, scholarly treatment of the man and his times.
• Unger, Harlow G.. "The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness" (2009), a new biography.
• White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801–1829 (1951), explains the operation and organization of federal administration
• Whitaker, Arthur P. The United States and the Independence of Latin America (1941)
• Wilmerding, Jr., Lucius, James Monroe: Public Claimant (1960) A study regarding Monroe's attempts to get reimbursement for personal expenses and losses from his years in public service after his Presidency ended.
• Wood, Gordon S. Empire of Liberty: A history of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)

References

• Monroe, James. The Political Writings of James Monroe. ed. by James P. Lucier, (2002). 863 pp.
• Writings of James Monroe, edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, ed., 7 vols. (1898–1903) online edition at books.google.com

Notes

1. ^ Harlow Unger, James Monroe: The Last Founding Father (2009).
2. ^ ^{a b} Hart, Gary, 'James Monroe' (2005), p.68
3. ^ Harry Ammon, James Monroe: the quest for national identity (1990) p. 577
4. ^ Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, 1611–1877, New York: Hilland Wang, 1993, p. 28
5. ^ Ammon, James Monroe pp 3–8
6. ^ Holmes, David R. (2006). The faiths of the founding fathers. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-19-530092-0. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Pessen, Edward (1984). The Log Cabin Myth: The Social Backgrounds of the Presidents. Yale University Press. p. 79. ISBN 0-300-03166-1. 
8. ^ "Presidential Trivia". Vernonkids.com. http://www.vernonkids.com/cedarmountain/4thgradelinks/President%20Trivia/Presidential%20Trivia.htm. Retrieved 2011-12-05. 
9. ^ "James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library | James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library Home Page". Umw.edu. http://www.umw.edu/jamesmonroemuseum/default.php. Retrieved 2010-04-20. 
10. ^ "Homes Of Virginia – Jame's Monroe's Law Office". Oldandsold.com. http://www.oldandsold.com/articles11/virginia-homes-13.shtml. Retrieved 2010-04-20. 
11. ^ "How many wedding ceremonies have been held at the White House?". While House History web site. The White House Historical Association. http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_history/history_faqs-06.html. Retrieved 2011-03-13. 
12. ^ Doug Wead (2008). "Murder at the Wedding Maria Hester Monroe". http://www.whitehouseweddings.com/murder.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-13.  Excerpt from All The President's Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families. Simon and Schuster. 2004. ISBN 978-0-7434-4633-4. 
13. ^ Gerard W. Gawalt, "James Monroe, Presidential Planter," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1993 101(2): 251–272
14. ^ Morgan, George, The life of James Monroe, (1921) p.94
15. ^ Jon Kukla, "A Spectrum of Sentiments: Virginia's Federalists, Antifederalists, and 'Federalists Who Are for Amendments,' 1787–1788," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1988 96(3): 276–296.
16. ^ Harry Ammon, James Monroe (1971) p. 89
17. ^ "MONROE, James – Biographical Information". United States Congress. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000858. Retrieved 2009-07-24. 
18. ^ Morgan, George (1921).'The life of James Monroe', p.75
19. ^ Ammon, James Monroe pp 137–8
20. ^ Herbert E. Klingelhofer, "George Washington Discharges Monroe for Incompetence," Manuscripts 1965 17(1): 26–34
21. ^ Ammon, James Monroe pp 55–56
22. ^ Ammon, James Monroe p. 151
23. ^ Ammon, James Monroe p. 193
24. ^ Arthur Scherr, "James Monroe on the Presidency and 'Foreign Influence;: from the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788) to Jefferson's Election (1801)." Mid-America 2002 84(1–3): 145–206
25. ^ Morgan, George, 'The life of James Monroe', p.xvi
26. ^ Alan Axelrod, Profiles in Folly: History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong (2008) p. 154
27. ^ David A. Carson, "Quiddism and the Reluctant Candidacy of James Monroe in the Election of 1808," Mid-America 1988 70(2): 79–89
28. ^ Hart, Gary, 'James Monroe' (2005), p.52
29. ^ William G. Morgan, "The Congressional Nominating Caucus of 1816: the Struggle Against the Virginia Dynasty," Virginia Magazine of History & Biography 1972 80(4): 461–475
30. ^ ^{a b c d e} "America President: James Monroe: Campaigns and Elections". Miller Center of Public Affairs. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/monroe/essays/biography/3. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
31. ^ Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., ed. History of U.S. political parties: Volume 1 (1973) pp. 24–25, 267
32. ^ "The administration of James Monroe." Bancroft, Hubert H., ed. (1902). "The Great Republic by the Master Historians". http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/The_Great_Republic_By_the_Master_Historians_Vol_III/jamesmonr_bd.html. 
33. ^ "Cumberland Road". Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States by the Best American and European Writers. 1899. http://www.econlib.org/library/YPDBooks/Lalor/llCy338.html. 
34. ^ David S. Heidler, "The Politics of National Aggression: Congress and the First Seminole War." Journal of the Early Republic 1993 13(4): 501–530.
35. ^ Francis Paul Prucha, The great father: the United States government and the American Indians (1986) p. 65
36. ^ Ammon, James Monroe, pp 536–40
37. ^ Ammon, James Monroe, pp 409–48
38. ^ ^{a b} Ammon, James Monroe, pp 476–92
39. ^ Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the foundations of American foreign policy, (1944) pp 244–61
40. ^ Charles Maurice Wiltse, John C. Calhoun: Nationalist, 1782–1828 (1944) pp 142–53
41. ^ "Ashlawn website". Ashlawnhighland.org. http://www.ashlawnhighland.org. Retrieved 2010-04-20. 
42. ^ Auguste Levasseur. Alan R. Hoffman. ed. Lafayette in America. p. 549. 
43. ^ Jon Meacham. American Lion. p. 181. 
44. ^ Bliss Isely, The Presidents: Men of Faith (2006) p 99-107, quote on p 105
45. ^ Holmes, David L. (Autumn 2003). "The Religion of James Monroe". Virginia Quarterly Review 79 (4): 589–606. http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2003/autumn/holmes-religion-james-monroe/. Retrieved 2011-10-27. 
46. ^ "Prince Messiah's Claims to Dominion Over All Governments". Covenanter.org. http://www.covenanter.org/JRWillson/princemessiah.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-20. 
47. ^ Bassett, Charles Walker; Maisel, Louis Sandy; Forman, Ira N.; Altschiller, Donald (2001). Jews in American politics. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 0-7425-0181-7. 
48. ^ Richard H. Popkin, "Thomas Jefferson's Letter to Mordecai Noah," American Book Collector 1987 8(6): 9–11
49. ^ Kranish, Michael. "At Capitol, slavery's story turns full circle", The Boston GLobe, Boston, December 28, 2008.
50. ^ ^{a b} Aptheker, Herbert (1993). American Negro Slave Revolts (6th ed.). New York: International Publishers. pp. 219–225. ISBN 978-0-7178-0605-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=PkCwK3Uv71IC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA219#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
51. ^ Sidbury, James. "Ploughshares into swords: race, rebellion, and identity in Gabriel's Virginia, 1730–1810. ", Cambridge, 1997, pg 128.
52. ^ Scheer, Arthur. "Governor James Monroe and Southampton Slave Resistance of 1799", The Historian, Vol. 61, 1999, available on Questia
53. ^ Rodriguez, Junius. "Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia", Santa Barbara, 2007, pg 428.
54. ^ Sidbury, James. Ploughshares into Swords: Race, Rebellion, and Identity in Gabriel's Virginia, 1730–1810, Cambridge, 1997, pg 127–128.
55. ^ Morris, Thomas. " Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619–1860 ", 1996, pg 272.
56. ^ Ammon, 1990, pp 563–66
57. ^ Powell & Steinberg . "The nonprofit sector: a research handbook", Yale, 2006, pg 40.
58. ^ Ammon, 1990, pp 522–23
59. ^ Digital History, Steven Mintz. "Digital History". Digitalhistory.uh.edu. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=567. Retrieved 2010-04-20. 
60. ^ Real Life at the White House: 200 ... – Google Knihy. Books.google.cz. May 3, 2002. ISBN 978-0-415-93951-5. http://books.google.com/?id=p1unoHtahSsC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=James+Monroe++in+wig&q=James%20Monroe%20%20in%20wig. Retrieved 2010-04-20. 
61. ^ "Presidents of the United States (POTUS)". Ipl.org. http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/jqadams.html. Retrieved 2011-12-05. 

External links

Find more about James Monroe on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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	Source texts from Wikisource
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• James Monroe: A Resource Guide at the Library of Congress
• James Monroe at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• James Monroe at Find a Grave
• James Monroe at the White House
•  "James Monroe". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• American President: James Monroe (1758–1831) at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
• James Monroe Papers at the University of Mary Washington
• A Guide to the Papers of James Monroe 1778–1831 at the University of Virginia Library
• Monroe Doctrine; December 2, 1823 at the Avalon Project
• Elections for candidate Monroe, James from "A New Nation Votes" at Tufts University
• Ash Lawn-Highland, home of President James Monroe
• The James Monroe Memorial Foundation
  • The James Monroe Birthplace
• James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library
• James Monroe at C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits
• The Health and Medical History of President James Monroe at DoctorZebra
• Works by James Monroe at Project Gutenberg

Offices and distinctions

United States Senate Preceded by John Walker Senator (Class 1) from Virginia 1790–1794 Served alongside: Richard Lee, John Taylor Succeeded by Stevens Mason Diplomatic posts Preceded by Gouverneur Morris United States Minister to France 1794–1796 Succeeded by Charles Pinckney Preceded by Rufus King United States Minister to the United Kingdom 1803–1808 Succeeded by William Pinkney Political offices Preceded by James Wood Governor of Virginia 1799–1802 Succeeded by John Page Preceded by John Tyler Governor of Virginia 1811 Succeeded by George Smith Preceded by Robert Smith United States Secretary of State 1811–1817 Succeeded by John Quincy Adams Preceded by John Armstrong United States Secretary of War 1814–1815 Succeeded by William Crawford Preceded by James Madison President of the United States 1817–1825 Succeeded by John Quincy Adams Party political offices Preceded by James Madison Democratic-Republican nominee for President of the United States 1816, 1820 Succeeded by John Quincy Adams Henry Clay William Crawford Andrew Jackson¹ Notes and references 1. The Democratic-Republican Party split in the 1824 election, fielding four separate candidates.

Articles and topics related to James Monroe v t e Presidents of the United States George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler James K. Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush Barack Obama v t e Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army Secretaries at War B. Lincoln Knox Secretaries of War Knox Pickering McHenry Dexter Dearborn Eustis Armstrong Monroe W. Crawford Calhoun Barbour P. Porter Eaton Cass Poinsett Bell Spencer J. Porter Wilkins Marcy G. Crawford Conrad J. Davis Floyd Holt S. Cameron Stanton Schofield Rawlins Belknap A. Taft J. Cameron McCrary Ramsey R. Lincoln Endicott Proctor Elkins Lamont Alger Root W. Taft Wright Dickinson Stimson Garrison Baker Weeks D. Davis Good Hurley Dern Woodring Stimson Patterson Royall Secretaries of the Army Royall Gray Pace Stevens Brucker Stahr Vance Ailes Resor Froehlke Callaway Hoffmann C. Alexander Marsh Stone West Caldera White Harvey Geren McHugh Assistant Secretaries of War Scott Dana Eckert Grant Doe Meiklejohn Sanger Oliver Breckinridge Ingraham Crowell Williams Wainwright D. Davis MacNider Hurley Payne Woodring L. Johnson Patterson McCloy Petersen Under Secretaries of the Army Draper Gray Voorhees A. Alexander Bendetsen E. Johnson Slezak Finucane Milton Ailes Ignatius Resor McGiffert Beal BeLieu Staudt Augustine LaBerge Ambrose Stone Shannon Reeder Walker Rostker Dahlberg Brownlee Geren Ford Westphal v t e State Secretaries of the United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1781–1789 R. Livingston Jay Secretary of State 1789–present Jefferson Randolph Pickering J. Marshall Madison Smith Monroe Adams Clay Van Buren E. Livingston McLane Forsyth Webster Upshur Calhoun Buchanan Clayton Webster Everett Marcy Cass Black Seward Washburne Fish Evarts Blaine Frelinghuysen Bayard Blaine Foster Gresham Olney Sherman Day Hay Root Bacon Knox Bryan Lansing Colby Hughes Kellogg Stimson Hull Stettinius Byrnes G Marshall Acheson Dulles Herter Rusk Rogers Kissinger Vance Muskie Haig Shultz Baker Eagleburger Christopher Albright Powell Rice Clinton v t e United States Senators from Virginia Class 1 Grayson Walker Monroe S. Mason Taylor Venable Giles Moore Brent J. Barbour Randolph Tyler Rives Pennybacker J. Mason Willey Bowden Lewis Withers Mahone Daniel Swanson Byrd, Sr. Byrd, Jr. Trible Robb Allen Webb Class 2 Lee Taylor H. Tazewell Nicholas Moore Giles A. Mason Eppes Pleasants Taylor L. Tazewell Rives Leigh Parker Roane Archer Hunter Carlile Johnston Riddleberger J. S. Barbour Hunton Martin Glass Burch Robertson Spong Scott J. Warner M. Warner v t e Governors of Virginia Henry Jefferson Fleming Nelson Harrison Henry E. Randolph B. Randolph H. Lee Brooke Wood Monroe Page Cabell Tyler Sr. G. Smith Monroe G. Smith P. Randolph Barbour Nicholas Preston T. Randolph Pleasants Tyler Jr. Giles J. Floyd Tazewell Robertson Campbell Gilmer Patton Rutherfoord Gregory McDowell W. "EB" Smith J.B. Floyd Johnson Wise Letcher W. "EB" Smith Pierpont Wells Walker Kemper Holliday Cameron F. Lee McKinney O'Ferrall J.H. Tyler Montague Swanson Mann Stuart Davis Trinkle Byrd Pollard Peery Price Darden Tuck Battle Stanley Almond A. Harrison Godwin Holton Godwin Dalton Robb Baliles Wilder Allen Gilmore Warner Kaine McDonnell v t e Cabinet of President James Madison (1809–1817) Vice President George Clinton (1809–1812) Elbridge Gerry (1813–1814) Secretary of State Robert Smith (1809–1811) James Monroe (1811–1814, 1815–1817) Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1809–1814) George W. Campbell (1814) Alexander J. Dallas (1814–1816) William H. Crawford (1816–1817) Secretary of War William Eustis (1809–1813) John Armstrong, Jr. (1813–1814) James Monroe (1814–1815) William H. Crawford (1815–1816) Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney (1809–1811) William Pinkney (1811–1814) Richard Rush (1814–1817) Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton (1809–1813) William Jones (1813–1814) Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1814–1817) v t e Cabinet of President James Monroe (1817–1825) Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins (1817 – 1825) Secretary of State John Quincy Adams (1817 – 1825) Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford (1817 – 1825) Secretary of War John C. Calhoun (1817 – 1825) Attorney General Richard Rush (1817) William Wirt (1817 – 1825) Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1817 – 1818) Smith Thompson (1819 – 1823) Samuel L. Southard (1823 – 1825) v t e United States Ambassadors to the United Kingdom Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's 1785–1811 John Adams 1785–1788 Thomas Pinckney 1792–1796 Rufus King 1796–1803 James Monroe 1803–1807 William Pinkney 1808–1811 Jonathan Russell (chargé d'affaires) 1811–1812 Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's 1815–1893 John Quincy Adams 1815–1817 Richard Rush 1818–1825 Rufus King 1825–1826 Albert Gallatin 1826–1827 James Barbour 1828–1829 Louis McLane 1829–1831 Martin Van Buren 1831–1832 Aaron Vail (chargé d'affaires) 1832–1836 Andrew Stevenson 1836–1841 Edward Everett 1841–1845 Louis McLane 1845–1846 George Bancroft 1846–1849 Abbott Lawrence 1849–1852 Joseph R. Ingersoll 1852–1853 James Buchanan 1853–1856 George M. Dallas 1856–1861 Charles Adams, Sr. 1861–1868 Reverdy Johnson 1868–1869 John Lothrop Motley 1869–1870 Robert C. Schenck 1871–1876 Edwards Pierrepont 1876–1877 John Welsh 1877–1879 James Russell Lowell 1880–1885 Edward J. Phelps 1885–1889 Robert Todd Lincoln 1889–1893 Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's 1893–present Thomas F. Bayard, Sr. 1893–1897 John Hay 1897–1898 Joseph Choate 1899–1905 Whitelaw Reid 1905–1912 Walter Page 1913-1918 John W. Davis 1918–1921 George Harvey 1921–1923 Frank B. Kellogg 1924–1925 Alanson B. Houghton 1925–1929 Charles G. Dawes 1929–1931 Andrew W. Mellon 1932–1933 Robert Bingham 1933–1937 Joseph P. Kennedy 1938–1940 John G. Winant 1941–1946 W. Averell Harriman 1946 Lewis W. Douglas 1947–1950 Walter S. Gifford 1950–1953 Winthrop W. Aldrich 1953–1957 John Hay Whitney 1957–1961 David K. E. Bruce 1961–1969 Walter H. Annenberg 1969–1974 Elliot L. Richardson 1975–1976 Anne Armstrong 1976–1977 Kingman Brewster, Jr. 1977–1981 John J. Louis, Jr. 1981–1983 Charles H. Price II 1983–1989 Henry E. Catto, Jr. 1989–1991 Raymond G. H. Seitz 1991–1994 William J. Crowe 1994–1997 Philip Lader 1997–2001 William Stamps Farish III 2001–2004 Robert H. Tuttle 2005–2009 Louis Susman 2009– v t e United States Ambassadors to France Envoys Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, Silas Deane (substituted by John Adams in 1778) 1776–1779 Ministers Plenipotentiary Franklin 1778–85 · Jefferson 1785–89 · Short 1790–92 · Morris 1792–94 · Monroe 1794–96 · Pinckney 1796–97 · Livingston 1801–04 · Armstrong 1804–10 · Russell (chargé d'affaires) 1811 Barlow 1811–12 · Crawford 1813–15 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Gallatin 1816–23 · Brown 1824–29 · Rives 1829–32 · Harris (chargé d'affaires) 1833 · Livingston 1833–35 · Barton (chargé d'affaires) 1835 · Cass 1836–42 · King 1844–46 · Rush 1847–49 · Rives 1849–53 · Mason 1853–59 · Faulkner 1860–61 · Dayton 1861–64 · Bigelow 1865–66 · Dix 1866–69 · Washburne 1869–77 · Noyes 1877–81 · Morton 1881–85 · McLane 1885–89 · Reid 1889–92 · Coolidge 1892–93 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Eustis 1893–97 · Porter 1897–05 · McCormick 1905–07 · White 1907–09 · Bacon 1909–12 · Herrick 1912–14 · Sharp 1914–1919 · Wallace 1919–21 · Herrick 1921–29 · Edge 1929–33 · Straus 1933–36 · Bullitt 1936–40 · Leahy 1941–42 · Tuck (chargé d'affaires) 1942 · Caffery 1944–49 · Bruce 1949–52 · Dunn 1952–53 · Dillon 1953–57 · Houghton 1957–61 · Gavin 1961–62 · Bohlen 1962–68 · Shriver 1968–70 · Watson 1970–72 · Irwin 1973–74 · Rush 1974–77 · Hartman 1977–81 · Galbraith 1981–85 · Rodgers 1985–89 · Curley 1989–93 · Harriman 1993–97 · Rohatyn 1997–2000 · Leach 2001–05 · Stapleton 2005–09 · Rivkin 2009–

Authority control: LCCN: n50078822 | VIAF: 20476583 | WorldCat

Persondata
Name	Monroe, James
Alternative names
Short description	fifth President of the United States
Date of birth	1758-04-28
Place of birth	Westmoreland County, Virginia
Date of death	1831-07-04
Place of death	New York City

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