James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, was a quiet and dignified man who rarely smiled. Though generally soft spoken and polite, he was prone to mood swings and sudden fits of anger. He was average looking, approximately 6 feet tall, compact, and muscular, with broad shoulders and a rugged face. Simple in his manner and rather awkward in his speech, he lacked the polishing of the aristocracy. Though it is generally acknowledged as the "era of good feeling," the years of Monroe's Presidency saw the first real eruption of the slavery issue when Missouri petitioned Congress for admission into the Union as a slave state in 1819. The "Missouri Compromise" admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery north of parallel 36 30' in the Louisiana Territory. President Monroe doubted whether the compromise was constitutional, but supported it in order to preserve the balance of power in Congress and ultimately the Union. Perhaps the most important contribution of the Monroe Administration, however, was the declaration of foreign policy which bares his name. The Monroe Doctrine declared the United States' neutrality in all European conflicts and advised the nations of Europe that any attempt to establish new colonies in the Americas or to interfere in the affairs of already existing independent American nations would be seen as an "unfriendly act" toward the United States. The "Monroe Doctrine" became the cornerstone of American foreign policy for many years to come.
James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758 in Westmorland County, Virginia. He was the eldest of five children born to Elizabeth and Spence Monroe, a Virginia farmer of modest means. He enrolled in the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia at the age of sixteen, but left after only two years to join the Continental Army in 1774. As a Lieutenant in the Colonial forces, James Monroe fought under General Washington at Harlem Heights, White Plains, and Trenton, where was wounded in the shoulder and promoted for bravery to the rank of Captain. In the following years of the war he commanded troops at Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. When he left the war in 1780 he had reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1780 Monroe left the army to study law under Thomas Jefferson who was then Governor of Virginia. In 1782 James Monroe was elected to the Virginia Assembly, where he was appointed to the executive council. Monroe was elected to be a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress and served three terms, from 1783 to 1786. In Congress, he was considered an expert on frontier issues and was sent on two fact-finding missions in the Ohio Valley. Monroe returned to Congress to stress the importance of establishing the rights of the Western states to free navigation of the Mississippi River.
James Monroe met Elizabeth Kartright during the Continental Congress meeting in 1785. The two were married in 1786. They had two daughters and a son who died in boyhood.
Upon retiring from Congress, Monroe returned to Virginia and began practicing law in Fredricksburg. In 1787 he was again elected to the Virginia Assembly, and in 1788 he served at Virginia's convention to ratify the Federal Constitution. Following the lead of Patrick Henry, James Monroe opposed Virginia's ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Monroe opposed the power of direct taxation allowed for in the Constitution and protested its lack of a bill of rights. He feared that the division of the legislative and executive branches would be a source of constant conflict between the state and federal levels of government that would tear the new nation apart. Monroe also objected to the unrestricted term of the President allowed for in the Constitution, as it meant that there was nothing to stop a President from becoming king. Monroe's opposition to the Constitution was eventually won over by James Madison, but Monroe's apprehensions about the document were never completely resolved.
In 1790 James Monroe took a seat in the Senate, replacing the recently deceased William Grayson. While in the Senate, Monroe began to build up a reputation as an Anti-Federalist and as a critic of the Washington Administration.
In spite of Monroe's well-known opposition to Washington's policy of neutrality in the war between Britain and France, or perhaps more accurately, because of it, President Washington appointed James Monroe ambassador to France in 1794. Washington did not tell Monroe that John Jay's simultaneous mission to Britain was to arrange a commerce treaty. On leaving for France, Monroe was told that he was to assure the French of the Untied States' commitment to neutrality and to refrain from establishing a commerce treaty. Monroe's role, unknown to him, was to quell French suspicion of an American treaty with Britain (which was indeed underway). Not only was Monroe's outspoken support for the French more than President Washington had counted on, but the attempt to conceal treaty negotiation with Britain failed. Monroe was recalled in 1796. "A View of the Conduct of the Executive in the Foreign Affairs of the United States as Connected with the Mission to the French Republic During the Years 1794-1796," a pamphlet in which Monroe defended his conduct and severely criticized President Washington, was published upon Monroe's return from France.
In 1799 James Monroe became governor of Virginia and served three terms. In 1803 President Jefferson appointed James Monroe minister to France. As minister to France, Monroe was to help Robert Livingston, already stationed in France, arrange the purchase of New Orleans from Napoleon. When Monroe arrived in France he found Napoleon willing to sell not only New Orleans, but the entire region up to present day Montana for $15,000,000 Monroe and Livingston sealed the deal without waiting for authorization from President Jefferson or from Congress. The "Louisiana Purchase," as it became known, more than doubled the territory of the United States.
From 1804 to 1807 James Monroe served as minister to Spain and Britain, where he negotiated a number of treaties that were later rejected at home. President Jefferson's rejection of a treaty with Britain over sea rights, which Monroe had engineered, caused a brief falling out between the two men.
Monroe returned to the Virginia Assembly in 1897, and in 1810 he was re-elected governor of Virginia. From 1811 to 1817 Monroe Served as Secretary of State under President Madison, simultaneously taking on the duties of Secretary of War from 1814 to 1815. In 1817 the Democratic- Republican James Monroe beat Federalist Rufus King for the Presidency. James Monroe became the fifth President of the United States on March 4, 1817.
In 1819, when Missouri petitioned Congress for admission into the Union, it did so as a slave state. The Northern states blocked Missouri's entrance into the Union, and the Southern states threatened secession unless Missouri was admitted. Finally a compromise was reached when Maine petitioned for entry into the Union. The "Missouri Compromise" admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state, while admitting Maine to the Union as a free state. The compromise also prohibited slavery north of parallel 36 30' in the Louisiana Territory. President Monroe had doubts as to whether the agreement was Constitutional, but he agreed to do it in order to preserve the balance of power in Congress and to salvage the splintered states.
In 1817 President Monroe signed the Rush-Baggot Agreement which limited the number of British ships on the great lakes and demilitarized the Canadian border. In 1819 Monroe's Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, negotiated a treaty with Spain that made Florida a U.S. territory.
James Monroe was enthusiastically elected to a second term as President of the United States in 1820. Only one electoral vote was cast against him, and this was by John Quincy Adams who wanted to preserve George Washington's distinction as the only President ever to get a unanimous vote.
The success of the American Revolution inspired other colonial revolts. In 1823 several small colonies in Latin America succeeded in overthrowing Spanish rule. Britain approached the United States and suggested an alliance between the two nations in resisting European intrusion in Latin America. Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison advised President Monroe to accept Britain's offer, while Secretary of State John Quincy Adams advised the President to make an independent declaration against further European intrusion in the Western Hemisphere. Despite a weak military, which was incapable of enforcing any such declaration, President Monroe listened to Adams, and on December 2, 1823 issued a statement promising that the United States would stay out of European conflicts and conflicts between European nations and their existing colonies. The letter went on to advise the nations of Europe that any attempt to establish new colonies in the Americas or to interfere in the affairs of already existing independent American nations would be seen as an "unfriendly act" toward the United States. The "Monroe Doctrine," as the letter became known, was President James Monroe's most important contribution to the history of the United States, and it was to become the cornerstone of American foreign policy for many years to come.
James Monroe left office on March 4, 1825 and returned to Virginia. He left retirement briefly in 1829 to help Virginia revise its constitution. In his retirement he ran into financial troubles and was forced to live with one of his daughters and her husband in New York City, where he died on July 4, 1831.
