James Monroe

James Monroe
United States Minister to France
In office August 15, 1794 – December 9, 1796
President	George Washington
Preceded by	Gouverneur Morris
Succeeded by	Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
United States Senator from Virginia
In office November 9, 1790 – May 27, 1794
Preceded by	John Walker
Succeeded by	Stevens Thomson Mason
Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation
In office November 3, 1783 – November 7, 1786
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Henry Lee III
Personal details
Born	(1758-04-28)April 28, 1758 Monroe Hall, Virginia, British America
Died	July 4, 1831(1831-07-04) (aged 73) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Cemetery
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Elizabeth Kortright ​ ​ (m. 1786; died 1830)​
Relations	Joseph Jones (uncle) James Monroe (nephew)
Children	3, including Eliza and Maria
Education	College of William & Mary
Occupation	Politician lawyer
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	Continental Army Virginia militia
Years of service	1775–1777 (Army) 1777–1780 (Militia)
Rank	Lieutenant (Army) Major (Army) Colonel (Militia)
Unit	3rd Virginia Regiment
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War New York and New Jersey campaign Battle of Trenton (WIA) Philadelphia campaign Valley Forge Battle of Monmouth

James Monroe (/mənˈroʊ/ mən-ROH; April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party. He was the last Founding Father to serve as president as well as the last president of the Virginia dynasty. His presidency coincided with the Era of Good Feelings, concluding the First Party System era of American politics. He issued the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of limiting European colonialism in the Americas. Monroe previously served as governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, U.S. ambassador to France and Britain, the seventh secretary of state, and the eighth secretary of war.

During the

As President Jefferson's special envoy, Monroe helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, through which the United States nearly doubled in size. Monroe fell out with his longtime friend James Madison after Madison rejected the Monroe–Pinkney Treaty that Monroe negotiated with Britain. He unsuccessfully challenged Madison for the Democratic-Republican nomination in the 1808 presidential election, but he joined Madison's administration as Secretary of State in 1811. During the later stages of the War of 1812, Monroe simultaneously served as Madison's Secretary of State and Secretary of War. Monroe's wartime leadership established him as Madison's heir apparent, and he easily defeated Federalist candidate Rufus King in the 1816 presidential election.

During Monroe's tenure as president, the Federalist Party collapsed as a national political force and Monroe was re-elected, virtually unopposed, in 1820. As president, he signed the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri as a slave state and banned slavery from territories north of the 36°30′ parallel. In foreign affairs, Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams favored a policy of conciliation with Britain and a policy of expansionism against the Spanish Empire. In the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty with Spain, the United States secured Florida and established its western border with New Spain. In 1823, Monroe announced the United States' opposition to any European intervention in the recently independent countries of the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine, which became a landmark in American foreign policy. Monroe was a member of the American Colonization Society which supported the colonization of Africa by freed slaves, and Liberia's capital of Monrovia is named in his honor.

Following his retirement in 1825, Monroe was plagued by financial difficulties and died on July 4, 1831, in New York City—sharing a distinction with Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson of dying on the anniversary of U.S. independence. Historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president.

Early life and education

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in his parents' house in a wooded area of

His paternal great-great-grandfather Patrick Andrew Monroe emigrated to America from

During this phase of the American Revolution, opposition to the British government grew in the Thirteen Colonies in reaction to the "Intolerable Acts", a series of harsh laws against the Colonies in response to the Boston Tea Party. In Williamsburg, British Governor John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, dissolved the Assembly after protests by the delegates, who then decided to send a delegation to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Dunmore wanted to take advantage of the absence of the Burgesses, who had convened to Richmond, and had soldiers of the Royal Navy confiscate the weapons of the Virginian militia, which alarmed militiamen and students of the College of William & Mary, including Monroe. They marched to the Governor's Palace and demanded that Dunmore return the confiscated gunpowder. When more militiamen arrived in Williamsburg under the leadership of Patrick Henry, Dunmore agreed to pay compensation for the confiscated goods. Monroe and his fellow students were so incensed by the governor's actions that they conducted daily military drills on campus afterward.^[4] On June 24, 1775, Monroe and 24 militiamen stormed the Governor's Palace, capturing several hundred muskets and swords.^[3]

Revolutionary War service

In early 1776, about a year and a half after his enrollment, Monroe dropped out of college and joined the 3rd Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army, despite mourning the death of his brother Spence, who had died shortly before.^[3] As the fledgling army valued literacy in its officers, Monroe was commissioned with the rank of lieutenant, serving under Colonel George Weedon and later Captain William Washington. After months of training, Monroe and 700 Virginia infantrymen were called north to serve in the New York and New Jersey campaign. Monroe's regiment played a central role in the Continental Army's retreat across the Delaware River on December 7 in response to the loss of Fort Washington. In late December, Monroe took part in a surprise attack on a Hessian encampment at the Battle of Trenton. Though the attack was successful, Monroe suffered a severed artery in the battle and nearly died. In the aftermath, Washington cited Monroe and William Washington for their bravery, and promoted Monroe to captain.^[5]

After recovering for two months, Monroe returned to Virginia to recruit his own company of soldiers. Lacking the wealth to induce soldiers to join his company, Monroe instead asked his uncle to return him to the front. Monroe was assigned to the staff of General William Alexander, Lord Stirling as an auxiliary officer. At the Battle of Brandywine, he formed a close friendship with the Marquis de Lafayette, a French volunteer who encouraged him to view the war as part of a wider struggle against religious and political tyranny. Monroe served in the Philadelphia campaign and spent the winter of 1777–78 at the encampment of Valley Forge, sharing a log hut with Marshall. By late 1777, he was promoted to major and served as Lord Stirling's aide-de-camp. After serving in the Battle of Monmouth, the destitute Monroe resigned his commission in December 1778 and joined his uncle in Philadelphia. After the British captured Savannah, the Virginia legislature decided to raise four regiments, and Monroe returned to his native state, hoping to receive his own command. With letters of recommendation from Washington, Stirling, and Alexander Hamilton, Monroe received a commission as a lieutenant colonel and was expected to lead one of the regiments, but recruitment again proved to be a problem. On Jones's advice, Monroe returned to Williamsburg to study law at the College of William and Mary, becoming a protégé of Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson.^[6] Jefferson, with whom Monroe soon formed a close and lifelong friendship, advised his protégé to pursue a political career and made his library available to him, where the works of Epictetus in particular had a great influence on Monroe ^[7]

With the British increasingly focusing their operations in the Southern colonies, the Virginians moved the capital to the more defensible city of Richmond, and Monroe accompanied Jefferson to the new capital. Jefferson appointed Monroe as a military commissioner with the task of maintaining contact with the Southern Continental Army, under the command of General Johann von Kalb, and the Virginia Militia.^[8][9] At the end of 1780, the British invaded Virginia and Monroe, who had become a colonel in the meantime, was given command of a regiment for the first time, but he was still unable to raise an army due to a lack of interested recruits, Monroe returned to his home in King George County, and was not present for the British raid on Richmond. As both the Continental Army and the Virginia militia had an abundance of officers, Monroe did not serve during the Yorktown campaign, and, much to his frustration, did not take part in the Siege of Yorktown.^[9] Although Andrew Jackson served as a courier in a militia unit at age 13, Monroe is regarded as the last U.S. president who was a Revolutionary War veteran, since he served as an officer of the Continental Army and took part in combat.^[10] As a result of his service, Monroe became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.^[11][12]

Early political career

Member of Continental Congress

Monroe resumed studying law under Jefferson and continued until 1783.^[13][14] He was not particularly interested in legal theory or practice, but chose to take it up because he thought it offered "the most immediate rewards" and could ease his path to wealth, social standing, and political influence.^[14] In 1782, Monroe was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. After serving on Virginia's Executive Council,^[15] he was elected to the Fourth Congress of the Confederation in November 1783 and served in Annapolis until Congress convened in Trenton, New Jersey in June 1784. He had served a total of three years when he finally retired from that office by the rule of rotation.^[16] By that time, the government was meeting in the temporary capital of New York City. In 1784, Monroe undertook an extensive trip through Western New York and Pennsylvania to inspect the conditions in the Northwest. The tour convinced him that the United States had to pressure Britain to abandon its posts in the region and assert control of the Northwest.^[17] While serving in Congress, Monroe became an advocate for western expansion, and played a key role in the writing and passage of the Northwest Ordinance. The ordinance created the Northwest Territory, providing for federal administration of the territories West of Pennsylvania and North of the Ohio River. Another of Monroe's goals in the Confederate Congress was to negotiate American rights to free navigation on the Mississippi River.^[18] During this period, Jefferson continued to serve as a mentor to Monroe, and, at Jefferson's prompting, he befriended another prominent Virginian, James Madison.^[19]

Marriage and law practice

On February 16, 1786, Monroe married

In the 1789 election to the 1st United States Congress, anti-federalist Henry Monroe persuaded Monroe to run against Madison, and he had the Virginia legislature draw a congressional district designed to elect Monroe. During the campaign, Madison and Monroe often traveled together, and the election did nothing to diminish their friendship. In the election for Virginia's Fifth District, Madison prevailed over Monroe, taking 1,308 votes compared to Monroe's 972 votes. After this defeat, Monroe moved his family from Fredericksburg to Albemarle County, first to Charlottesville and later to the immediate neighborhood of Monticello, where he bought an estate and named it Highland.^[31] After the death of Senator William Grayson in 1790, Virginia legislators elected Monroe to serve the remainder of Grayson's term.^[32] Since the Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, met behind closed doors, the public paid little attention to it and focused on the House of Representatives. Monroe therefore requested in February 1791 that Senate sessions be held in public, but this was initially rejected and not implemented until February 1794.^[33]

During the presidency of George Washington, U.S. politics became increasingly polarized between the Anti-Administration Party, led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and the Federalists, led by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Monroe stood firmly with Jefferson in opposing Hamilton's strong central government and strong executive. The Democratic-Republican Party coalesced around Jefferson and Madison, and Monroe became one of the fledgling party's leaders in the Senate. He also helped organize opposition to John Adams in the 1792 election, though Adams defeated George Clinton to win re-election as vice president.^[34] When Monroe took part in congressional investigations into Hamilton's illegal transactions with James Reynolds in November 1792, this led to the uncovering of the first political sex scandal in the United States: The payments had been hush money to keep Hamilton's affair with Reynolds' wife secret. Hamilton never forgave Monroe for this public humiliation, which almost led to a duel between the two.^[35] Throughout 1792 and 1793, Monroe and Madison responded to Hamilton's pamphlets accusing Jefferson of undermining Washington's authority with a series of six essays. These sharply worded replies were largely penned by Monroe. As leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Monroe soon became involved in matters of foreign relations. In 1794, he emerged as an opponent of Hamilton's appointment as ambassador to the United Kingdom and a supporter of the First French Republic. Since 1791 he had taken sides with the French Revolution in several essays under the pseudonym Aratus.^[36]

Minister to France

As the 1790s progressed, the

After arriving in France, Monroe addressed the National Convention, receiving a standing ovation for his speech celebrating republicanism. Monroe's passionate and friendly message of greeting at the inaugural ceremony before the National Convention was later criticized by Jay for its sentimentality, and Washington viewed the speech as "not well devised" in terms of venue and in light of American neutrality in the First Coalition War.^[39] Monroe experienced several early diplomatic successes, including the protection of U.S. trade from French attacks. In February 1795, Monroe used his influence to secure the release of all American citizens imprisoned since the French Revolution and Adrienne de La Fayette, the wife of the Marquis de Lafayette. He had already secured the release of Thomas Paine in July 1794 and took him in, but when Paine worked on a diatribe against Washington despite Monroe's objections, they parted ways in the spring of 1796.^[40]

Months after Monroe arrived in France, the U.S. and Great Britain concluded the Jay Treaty, outraging both the French and Monroe—not fully informed about the treaty prior to its publication. Despite the undesirable effects of the Jay Treaty on Franco-American relations, Monroe won French support for U.S. navigational rights on the Mississippi River—the mouth of which was controlled by Spain—and in 1795 the U.S. and Spain signed Pinckney's Treaty. The treaty granted the U.S. limited rights to use the port of New Orleans.^[41]

Immediately after Timothy Pickering succeeded Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, who had been the only Francophile member of Washington's cabinet, in December 1795, he worked to dismiss Monroe. In 1796, Monroe sent a dispatch summarizing his response to French complaints of the Jay Treaty, but it was incomplete and did not include the French note or Monroe's written response. Pickering saw this as a sign of Monroe's unsuitability and, together with Hamilton, persuaded Washington to replace Monroe as ambassador.^[42] Washington decided Monroe was inefficient, disruptive, and failed to safeguard the national interest. He recalled Monroe in November 1796, the letter of dismissal being deliberately delayed in order to prevent his return before the presidential election.^[43] Returning to his home in Charlottesville, he resumed his dual careers as a farmer and lawyer.^[44] Jefferson and Madison urged Monroe to run for Congress, but Monroe chose to focus on state politics instead.^[45]

In 1797, Monroe published A View of the Conduct of the Executive, in the Foreign Affairs of the United States: Connected with the Mission to the French Republic, During the Years 1794, 5, and 6, which sharply attacked Washington's government and accused it of acting against America's interests. He followed the advice of his friend Robert Livingston who cautioned him to "repress every harsh and acrimonious" comment about Washington. However, he did complain that too often the U.S. government had been too close to Britain, especially regarding the Jay Treaty.^[46] Washington made notes on this copy, writing, "The truth is, Mr. Monroe was cajoled, flattered, and made to believe strange things. In return he did, or was disposed to do, whatever was pleasing to that nation, reluctantly urging the rights of his own."^[47]

Governor of Virginia and diplomat (1799–1802, 1811)

Governor of Virginia

On a party-line vote, the Virginia legislature elected Monroe as

Shortly after the end of Monroe's gubernatorial tenure, President Jefferson sent Monroe back to France to assist Ambassador Robert Livingston in negotiating the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1800 Treaty of San Ildefonso, France had acquired the territory of Louisiana from Spain; at the time, many in the U.S. believed that France had also acquired West Florida in the same treaty. The American delegation originally sought to acquire West Florida and the city of New Orleans, which controlled the trade of the Mississippi River. Determined to acquire New Orleans even if it meant war with France, Jefferson also authorized Monroe to form an alliance with the British if the French refused to sell the city.^[54]

Meeting with François Barbé-Marbois, the French foreign minister, Monroe and Livingston agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana for $15 million; the purchase became known as the Louisiana Purchase. In agreeing to the purchase, Monroe violated his instructions, which had only allowed $9 million for the purchase of New Orleans and West Florida. The French did not acknowledge that West Florida remained in Spanish possession, and the United States would claim that France had sold West Florida to the United States for several years to come. Though he had not ordered the purchase of the entire territory, Jefferson strongly supported Monroe's actions, which ensured that the United States would continue to expand to the West. Overcoming doubts about whether the Constitution authorized the purchase of foreign territory, Jefferson won congressional approval for the Louisiana Purchase, and the acquisition doubled the size of the United States. Monroe would travel to Spain in 1805 to try to win the cession of West Florida, but found that the American ambassador to Spain, Charles Pinckney, had alienated the Spanish government with crude threats of violence. In the negotiations on the outstanding territorial issues concerning New Orleans, West Florida and the Rio Grande, Monroe made no progress and was treated condescendingly, and with the support of France, Spain refused to consider relinquishing the territory.^[55]

After the resignation of

In 1806 he negotiated the Monroe–Pinkney Treaty with Great Britain. It would have extended 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 opposed. When Monroe and the British signed the new treaty in December 1806, Jefferson refused to submit it to the Senate for ratification. Although the treaty called for ten more years of trade between the United States and the British Empire and gave American merchants guarantees that would have been good for business, Jefferson was unhappy that it did not end the hated British practice of impressment and refused to give up the potential weapon of commercial warfare against Britain. The president made no attempt to obtain another treaty, and as a result, the two nations drifted from peace toward the War of 1812.^[57] Monroe was severely pained by the administration's repudiation of the treaty, and he fell out with Secretary of State James Madison.^[58]

1808 election and the Quids

On his return to Virginia in 1807, Monroe received a warm reception, and many urged him to run in the

Monroe, who had fallen out of favor with the majority of Republicans because of his candidacy, withdrew into private life for the next few years. The plan to sell his second house in Loudon County, Oak Hill, in order to renovate and expand Highland with the proceeds, failed due to the low real estate prices.^[64] After the election Monroe quickly reconciled with Jefferson, but their friendship endured further strains when Jefferson did not promote Monroe's candidacy to Congress in 1809.^[65] Monroe did not speak with Madison until 1810.^[58] Monroe devoted his attentions to farming at his Charlottesville estate, experimenting with new horticultural techniques in order to switch from tobacco, whose value was steadily declining, to wheat.^[66]

Secretary of State and Secretary of War (1811–1817)

Madison administration

In 1810, Monroe returned to the Virginia House of Delegates and was elected to another term as governor in 1811, but served only four months, as less than two months into his term, Monroe was asked on Madison's behalf if he would be willing to succeed Robert Smith as Secretary of State.^[64] In April 1811, Madison appointed Monroe to his cabinet as Secretary of State in hopes of shoring up the support of the more radical factions of the Democratic-Republicans.^[58] Madison also hoped that Monroe, an experienced diplomat with whom he had once been close friends, would improve upon Smith's performance. Madison assured Monroe that their differences regarding the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty had been a misunderstanding, and the two resumed their friendship.^[67] The Senate voted unanimously (30–0) to confirm him. On taking office, Monroe hoped to negotiate treaties with the British and French to end the attacks on American merchant ships. While the French agreed to reduce the attacks and release seized American ships, the British were less receptive to Monroe's demands.^[68] Monroe had long worked for peace with the British, but he came to favor war with Britain, joining with "war hawks" such as Speaker of the House Henry Clay. With the support of Monroe and Clay, Madison asked Congress to declare war upon the British, and Congress complied on June 18, 1812, thus beginning the War of 1812.^[69]

The war went very badly, and the Madison administration quickly sought peace, but were rejected by the British.^[70] The U.S. Navy did experience several successes after Monroe convinced Madison to allow the Navy's ships to set sail rather than remaining in port for the duration of the war.^[71] After the resignation of Secretary of War William Eustis, Madison asked Monroe to serve in dual roles as Secretary of State and Secretary of War, but opposition from the Senate limited Monroe to serving as acting Secretary of War until Brigadier General John Armstrong won Senate confirmation.^[72] Monroe and Armstrong clashed over war policy, and Armstrong blocked Monroe's hopes of being appointed to lead an invasion of Canada.^[73] When British warships appeared in the Potomac River estuary in the summer of the same year, Monroe urged that defensive measures be taken for Washington, D.C., and that a military intelligence service should be established to Chesapeake Bay, which Armstrong dismissed as unnecessary. Since there was no functioning reconnaissance, Monroe formed his own small cavalry unit and began scouting the bay until the British withdrew from it.^[74] As the war dragged on, the British offered to begin negotiations in Ghent, and the United States sent a delegation led by John Quincy Adams to conduct negotiations. Monroe allowed Adams leeway in setting terms, so long as he ended the hostilities and preserved American neutrality.^[75]

When a British fleet of 50 warships and 5,000 soldiers massed in the mouth of the Potomac, Monroe scouted the Chesapeake Bay with a troop and on August 21 sent the President a warning of the impending invasion so that Madison and his wife could flee in time and the state's assets and inhabitants could be evacuated.^[76] The British burned the U.S. Capitol and the White House on August 24, 1814, Madison removed Armstrong as Secretary of War and turned to Monroe for help, appointing him Secretary of War on September 27.^[77] Monroe resigned as Secretary of State on October 1, 1814, but no successor was ever appointed and thus from October 1814 to February 28, 1815, Monroe effectively held both Cabinet posts.^[78] Now in command of the war effort, Monroe ordered General Andrew Jackson to defend against a likely attack on New Orleans by the British, and he asked the governors of nearby states to send their militias to reinforce Jackson. He also called on Congress to draft an army of 100,000 men, increase compensation to soldiers, and establish a new national bank, the Second Bank of the United States, to ensure adequate funding for the war effort.^[79] Months after Monroe took office as Secretary of War, the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The treaty resulted in a return to the status quo ante bellum, and many outstanding issues between the United States and Britain remained. Americans celebrated the end of the war as a great victory, partly due to the news of the treaty reaching the United States shortly after Jackson's victory in the Battle of New Orleans. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the British also ended the practice of impressment. After the war, Congress authorized the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.^[80] Monroe resigned as Secretary of War in March 1815 and took over the leadership of the State Department again, emerging from the war politically strengthened and a promising presidential candidate.^[81]

Election of 1816

Monroe decided to seek the presidency in the 1816 election, and his war-time leadership had established him as Madison's heir apparent. Monroe had strong support from many in the party, but his candidacy was challenged at the 1816 Democratic-Republican

Inauguration and cabinet

Monroe's inauguration took place on March 4, 1817. As Monroe was the first president to take office during a period of peace and economic stability, the term

According to historian William Earl Weeks, "Monroe evolved a comprehensive strategy aimed at expanding the Union externally while solidifying it internally". He expanded trade and pacified relations with Great Britain while expanding the United States at the expense of the Spanish Empire, from which he obtained Florida and the recognition of a border across the continent. Faced with the breakdown of the expansionist consensus over the question of slavery, the president tried to provide both North and South with guarantees that future expansion would not tip the balance of power between slave and free states, a system that, Weeks remarks, did indeed allow the continuation of American expansion for the best of four decades.[90]

Treaties with Britain and Russia

Upon taking office, Monroe pursued warmer relations with Britain in the aftermath of the War of 1812.

In October 1817, the United States cabinet held several lengthy meetings to address the declarations of independence by former Spanish colonies in South America and the increasing piracy, particularly from Amelia Island. Piracy on the southern border with the Floridas was intensified by smugglers, slave traders, and privateers who had fled from the Spanish colonies over which the mother country had lost control.^[96] Spain had long rejected repeated American attempts to purchase Florida. However, by 1818, Spain's troubling colonial situation made the cession of Florida make sense. Spain had been exhausted by the Peninsular War in Europe and needed to rebuild its credibility and presence in its colonies. Revolutionaries in Central America and South America were beginning to demand independence. Spain was unwilling to invest further in Florida, encroached on by American settlers, and it worried about the border between New Spain and the United States. With only a minor military presence in Florida, Spain was not able to restrain the Seminole warriors who routinely crossed the border and raided American villages and farms, as well as protected southern slave refugees from slave owners and traders of the southern United States.^[97] The Seminole people were also providing sanctuary for runaway slaves, those of which the United States wanted back.^[98]

In response to Seminole attacks and their provision of aid to escaped slaves, Monroe ordered a military expedition to cross into Spanish Florida and attack the Seminoles. In this expedition, led by Andrew Jackson, the US Army displaced numerous Seminole people from their houses along with burning their towns. Jackson also seized the Spanish territorial capital of Pensacola. With the capture of Pensacola, Jackson established de facto American control of the entire territory. While Monroe supported Jackson's actions, many in Congress harshly criticized what they saw as an undeclared war. With the support of Secretary of State Adams, Monroe defended Jackson against domestic and international criticism, and the United States began negotiations with Spain.^{[98][99][100]} Monroe later fixed the government's official position in a letter from Adams to Spanish Ambassador Luis de Onís, which he edited accordingly by removing all justifications for Jackson's actions. He also emphasized that although Jackson had exceeded his orders, he had come to a new assessment of the situation on the basis of previously unknown information at the scene of the war.^[101]

Spain faced revolt in all of its American colonies and could neither govern nor defend Florida. On February 22, 1819, Spain and the United States signed the

In January 1821, Adams first expressed the idea that the American double continent should be closed to further colonization by foreign powers. The idea, which was later adopted by Monroe, was influenced by the Adams–Onís Treaty and the negotiations on border disputes in the Oregon Country. Adams emphasized that the further colonization of America, except for Canada, should be in the hands of the Americans themselves. This later became a principle in Monroe's administration. After the

For their part, the British also had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, with all the trade restrictions mercantilism imposed. In October 1823, Richard Rush, the American minister in London, corresponded with Canning to work out a common position on a potential French intervention in South America. When Monroe was presented with this correspondence, which had yielded no tangible results, in mid-October 1823, his first reaction was to accept the British offer.^[107] Adams vigorously opposed cooperation with Great Britain, contending that a statement of bilateral nature could limit United States expansion in the future. He also argued that the British were not committed to recognizing the Latin American republics and must have had imperial motivations themselves.^[108]

Two months later, the bilateral statement proposed by the British became a unilateral declaration by the United States. While Monroe thought that Spain was unlikely to re-establish its colonial empire on its own, he feared that France or the Holy Alliance might seek to establish control over the former Spanish possessions.^[103] On December 2, 1823, in his annual message to Congress, Monroe articulated what became known as the Monroe Doctrine. He first reiterated the traditional U.S. policy of neutrality with regard to European wars and conflicts. He then declared that the United States would not accept the recolonization of any country by its former European master, though he also avowed non-interference with existing European colonies in the Americas.^[109] Finally, he stated that European countries should no longer consider the Western Hemisphere open to new colonization, a jab aimed primarily at Russia, which was attempting to expand its colony on the northern Pacific Coast.^[93][104]

Domestic policy

Missouri Compromise

In the period between 1817 and 1819, Mississippi,

Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) engraved portrait of Monroe as President

As the United States continued to grow, many Americans advocated a system of

Panic of 1819

At the end of his first term of office, Monroe faced an economic crisis known as the

Constitution in 1788.^[125] The panic stemmed from declining imports and exports, and sagging agricultural prices^[122] as global markets readjusted to peacetime production and commerce in the aftermath of the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars.^[126][127] The severity of the economic downturn in the U.S. was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands,^[128][129] fueled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns.^[130][131] Monroe lacked the power to intervene directly in the economy, as banks were largely regulated by the states, and he could do little to stem the economic crisis.^[132] As a result, cuts had to be made to the state budget in the following years, primarily affecting the defense budget, whose growth to over 35% of the total budget in 1818 had already shocked the conservative republicans.^[133] Monroe's fortification program survived the cutbacks unscathed for the time being, while the target size of the standing army was reduced from 12,656 to 6,000 in May 1819. The next year, the budget for reinforcing and expanding the forts was reduced by over 70%. By 1821, the defense budget had shrunk to $5 million, about half of what it had been in 1818.^[134]

Before the onset of the Panic of 1819, some business leaders had called on Congress to increase tariff rates to address the negative balance of trade and help struggling industries.[135] As the panic spread, Monroe declined to call a special session of Congress to address the economy. When Congress finally reconvened in December 1819, Monroe requested an increase in the tariff but declined to recommend specific rates.^[136] Congress would not raise tariff rates until the passage of the Tariff of 1824.^[137] The panic resulted in high unemployment and an increase in bankruptcies and foreclosures,^[122][138] and provoked popular resentment against banking and business enterprises.^[139][140]

Native American policy

Monroe was the first president to visit the

American West and entrusted Secretary of War Calhoun with departmental responsibility for this region. In order to prevent the relentless attacks on Native American settlements that accompanied the steadily advancing westward expansion, he advocated dividing up the areas between the federal territories and the Rocky Mountains and assigning them to different tribes for settlement. The districts were each to be given a civil government and a school system. In a speech to Congress on March 30, 1824, Monroe advocated the resettlement of Native Americans living within the territory of the United States to lands beyond the western frontier where they could continue their ancestral way of life.^[141] Nonetheless, he shared Jackson and Calhoun's concerns about sovereign Indian nations, believing they were an obstacle to the West's future development. Like Washington and Jefferson, he wished to present the Natives with the benefits of American culture and Western civilization for their own good, as well as to save them from extinction.^[142]

Election of 1820

Main article: 1820 United States presidential election

Monroe announced his candidacy for a second term early on. At the

Republican Caucus on April 8, 1820, the 40 members unanimously decided not to nominate an opposing candidate to Monroe. The collapse of the Federalists left Monroe with no organized opposition at the end of his first term, and he ran for reelection unopposed,^[143] the only president other than Washington to do so. A single elector from New Hampshire, William Plumer, cast a vote for John Quincy Adams, preventing a unanimous vote in the Electoral College.^[143] He did so because he thought Monroe was incompetent. Later in the century, the story arose that he had cast his dissenting vote so that only George Washington would have the honor of unanimous election. Plumer never mentioned Washington in his speech explaining his vote to the other New Hampshire electors.^[144] Despite this broad support in the presidential election, Monroe had few loyal supporters and correspondingly little influence in the parallel elected 17th United States Congress.^[134]

Post-presidency (1825–1831)

When his presidency ended on March 4, 1825, James Monroe resided at

Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams as guests there.^[145] He devoted himself to reading, with his private library containing over 3,000 books, most of which he had acquired during his stays in Europe. Monroe began work on a book of political theory The People the Sovereigns, Being a Comparison of the Government of the United States with those of the Republics Which Have Existed Before, with the Causes of their Decadence and Fall. The work was designed to highlight the difference between governments and people of the United States and other countries, ancient and modern, to show that certain issues that produced disastrous effects in them were not present in America. In 1829, Monroe abandoned work on The People the Sovereigns after hearing George Hay's unfavorable reaction to the manuscript. Hay suggested that Monroe write an autobiography, which would be more interesting and valuable to posterity. Monroe, delighted with the idea, began working on an autobiography, but died before it could be completed.^[146]

In retirement, he was plagued by pressing financial worries. As Minister to France during the 1790s, he had had to take out substantial private loans to fulfill representative duties and diplomatic protocol due to his moderate pay. As early as 1797, he had asked Congress for an expense allowance and had been waiting in vain for a payment ever since. In the last days before handing over to Adams, Monroe wrote to Jefferson and Madison asking them to support him in his claims against Congress if necessary. He sold off his

College of William and Mary, which has opened it to the public as a historic site. Throughout his life, he was financially insolvent, which was exacerbated by his wife's poor health.^[148]

Monroe served on the

Board of Visitors for the University of Virginia under Jefferson and the second rector, James Madison, both former presidents, nearly until his death. Monroe had previously been a member of the original board of Central College (the predecessor to the University of Virginia^[149]) however the demands of the Presidency prevented him from continuing as a board member. At the annual examinations in July, he presided over the Board of Examiners. When there was considerable indiscipline among the students, Monroe suggested in a report in 1830 that military drill be added to the curriculum, but Madison refused.^[150]

Although already clearly marked by age and severely impaired by a horse accident in 1828,[151] Monroe was elected as a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829–1830. He was one of four delegates elected from the senatorial district made up of his home district of Loudoun and Fairfax County.^[152] In October 1829, he was elected by the convention to serve as the presiding officer, until his failing health required him to withdraw on December 8, after which Philip P. Barbour of Orange County was elected presiding officer.^[153]

Shortly before his death, Monroe was dealt a severe blow when his son-in-law and close advisor George Hay died on September 21, 1830, and his wife Elizabeth died just two days later.

Lafayette Place^[155] in New York City to live with his daughter Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur, who had married Samuel L. Gouverneur.^[156] On July 4, 1831, Monroe died at age 73 from heart failure and tuberculosis, thus becoming the third president to have died on Independence Day. His death came 55 years after the United States Declaration of Independence was proclaimed and five years after the deaths of 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. 27 years later, in 1858, his body was re-interred at the President's Circle in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The James Monroe Tomb is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.^[157]

Religious beliefs

"When it comes to Monroe's thoughts on religion," historian 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.[158]

Monroe was raised in a family that belonged to the

Episcopal churches. Some historians see "deistic tendencies" in his few references to an impersonal God.^[159] Unlike Jefferson, Monroe was rarely attacked as an atheist or infidel. 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".^[160]

Slavery

Monroe owned dozens of slaves. He took several slaves with him to Washington to serve at the White House from 1817 to 1825. This was typical of other slaveholding presidents.^[161]

Monroe sold his small Virginia plantation in 1783 to enter law and politics. Although he owned multiple properties over the course of his lifetime, his plantations were never profitable. Although he owned much more land and many more 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 and expensive lifestyle and often sold property (including slaves) to pay them off.^[162] The labor of Monroe's many slaves were also used to support his daughter and son-in-law, along with a ne'er-do-well brother, Andrew, and his son, James.^[163]

When Monroe was Governor of Virginia in 1800, hundreds of slaves from Virginia planned to kidnap him, take Richmond, and negotiate for their freedom. Gabriel's slave conspiracy was discovered.^[164] 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.^[165] Monroe influenced the Executive Council to pardon and sell some slaves instead of hanging them.^[166] 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.^[167] An additional 50 slaves charged for their role in the planned rebellion would be spared, as a result of pardons, acquittals, and commutations. One reason for this was influence of a letter Monroe received from Thomas Jefferson urging mercy, telling him "The other states & the world at large will for ever condemn us if we indulge a principle of revenge, or go one step beyond absolute necessity. They cannot lose sight of the rights of the two parties, & the object of the unsuccessful one." Only seven of the executions carried out against the rebels occurred after Monroe received Jefferson's letter.^[168]

During the course of his presidency, Monroe remained convinced that slavery was wrong and supported private manumission, but at the same time he insisted that any attempt to promote emancipation would cause more problems. Monroe believed that slavery had become a permanent part of southern life, and that it could only be removed on providential terms. Like so many other Upper South slaveholders, Monroe believed that a central purpose of government was to ensure "domestic tranquility" for all. Like so many other Upper South planters, he also believed that the central purpose of government was to empower planters like himself. He feared for public safety in the United States during the era of violent revolution on two fronts. First, from potential class warfare of the French Revolution in which those of the propertied classes were summarily purged in mob violence and then preemptive trials, and second, from possible racial warfare similar to that of the Haitian Revolution in which blacks, whites, then mixed-race inhabitants were indiscriminately slaughtered as events there unfolded.^{[citation needed]}

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. "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".^[169]

Monroe was active in the American Colonization Society, which supported the establishment of colonies outside of the United States for free African Americans. The society helped send several thousand freed slaves to the new colony of Liberia in Africa from 1820 to 1840. Slave owners like Monroe and Andrew Jackson wanted to prevent free blacks from encouraging slaves in the South to rebel. Liberia's capital, Monrovia, was named after President Monroe.^[170]

Legacy

Historical reputation

Polls of historians and political scientists tend to rank Monroe as an above average president.^[171][172] Monroe presided over a period in which the United States began to turn away from European affairs and towards domestic issues. His presidency saw the United States settle many of its longstanding boundary issues through an accommodation with Britain and the acquisition of Florida. Monroe also helped resolve sectional tensions through his support of the Missouri Compromise and by seeking support from all regions of the country.^[173] Political scientist Fred Greenstein argues that Monroe was a more effective executive than some of his better-known predecessors, including Madison and John Adams.^[174]

Memorials

See also: List of memorials to James Monroe

The capital of Liberia is named Monrovia after Monroe; it is the only national capital other than Washington, D.C., named after a U.S. president. Monroe is the namesake of seventeen Monroe counties.^[175] Monroe, Maine, Monroe, Michigan, Monroe, Georgia, Monroe, Connecticut, both Monroe Townships in New Jersey, and Fort Monroe are all named for him. Monroe has been depicted on U.S. currency and stamps, including a 1954 United States Postal Service 5¢ Liberty Issue postage stamp.^{[citation needed]}

Monroe was the last U.S. president to wear a powdered wig tied in a queue, a tricorne hat and knee-breeches according to the style of the late 18th century.^[176][177] That earned him the nickname "The Last Cocked Hat". He was also the last president who was not photographed.^[178]

His participation in

References

Bibliography

Main article: Bibliography of James Monroe

Secondary sources

• Ammon, Harry (1971). James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. McGraw-Hill.
  ISBN 9780070015821
  . 706 pp. standard scholarly biography
• Ammon, Harry. "James Monroe" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002) online
• Cresson, William P. James Monroe (1946). 577 pp. good scholarly biography
• Cunningham, Noble E. Jr. (1996). The Presidency of James Monroe.. 246 pp. standard scholarly survey
• Dangerfield, George (1965). The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815–1828. Harper and Rowe.
  ISBN 978-0-88133-823-2
  .
• Greenstein, Fred I. (2009). "The Political Professionalism of James Monroe". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 39 (2): 275–282.
  JSTOR 41427360
  .
• Hammond, John Craig (2019). "President, Planter, Politician: James Monroe, the Missouri Crisis, and the Politics of Slavery" (PDF). Journal of American History. 105 (3): 843–67.
  doi:10.1093/jahist/jaz002. Archived from the original
  (PDF) on November 25, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
• Hart, Gary (2005). James Monroe. Henry Holy and Co.
  ISBN 978-0-8050-6960-0
  . superficial, short, popular biography
• Haworth, Peter Daniel. "James Madison and James Monroe Historiography: A Tale of Two Divergent Bodies of Scholarship." in A Companion to James Madison and James Monroe (2013): 521–539.
• Howe, Daniel Walker (2007). What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. Oxford Univ. Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-507894-7
  . Pulitzer Prize; a sweeping interpretation of the era
• Holmes, David L. The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, May 2006, online version
• Johnson, Allen (1915). Union and Democracy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Leibiger, Stuart, ed. A Companion to James Madison and James Monroe (2012) excerpt; emphasis on historiography
• May, Ernest R. The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (1975).
• Perkins, Dexter. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823–1826 (1927).
• Poston, Brook. James Monroe: A Republican Champion. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2019.
• Pulliam, David Loyd (1901). The Constitutional Conventions of Virginia from the foundation of the Commonwealth to the present time. John T. West, Richmond.
  ISBN 978-1-2879-2059-5
  .
• 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 Archived June 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
• 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.
• Unger, Harlow G. (2009). The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness. Da Capo Press. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2015., scholarly biography.
• Weeks, William Earl (1992). John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press.
  ISBN 978-0-8131-1779-9
  .
• Wilentz, Sean (2004). "Jeffersonian Democracy and the Origins of Political Antislavery in the United States: The Missouri Crisis Revisited". The Journal of the Historical Society. 4 (3): 375–401.
  doi:10.1111/j.1529-921X.2004.00105.x
  .
• Wood, Gordon S. Empire of Liberty: A history of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)

Primary sources

• Preston, Daniel, ed. The Papers of James Monroe: Selected Correspondence and Papers (6 vol, 2006 to 2017), the major scholarly edition; in progress, with coverage to 1814.
• Writings of James Monroe, edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, ed., 7 vols. (1898–1903) online edition at Internet Archive

External links

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• United States Congress. "James Monroe (id: m000858)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• James Monroe: A Resource Guide at the Library of Congress
• American President: James Monroe (1758–1831) at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
• 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 James Monroe 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
• "Life Portrait of James Monroe", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, April 12, 1999
• Works by James Monroe at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about James Monroe at Internet Archive
• Works by James Monroe at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)