James Monroe, the fourth of the first five presidents to hail from Virginia, was born in 1758. His family was not wealthy. They were middle class tobacco farmers. Monroe interrupted his college studies to join the Revolution in Washington's army. He was wounded in the Battle of Trenton. The great turning point in his life came after the end of the war almost by accident, through the study of law and his Virginia contacts. Monroe studied law under Thomas Jefferson and became his aid when Jefferson was governor.
