THE 5TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
James Monroe served as President of the United States from 1817 to 1825 and was the last of the Founding Fathers to serve.
President James Monroe left a favorable impression on a Virginia lady who shook his hand on New Year’s Day, 1825, at the last of his yearly White House receptions:
“He’s tall and well-built. His attire was simple and traditional…. His demeanor was solemn and respectful. His eye, with its clear and honest look… I believe he fully deserves Jefferson’s praise, which stated, “Monroe was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out, there would not be a stain on it.”
Monroe was born in 1758 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and attended the College of William & Mary before serving in the Continental Army and practicing law in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
He joined the anti-Federalists in the Virginia Convention that adopted the Constitution as a young politician, and in 1790, as a supporter of Jeffersonian ideals, he was elected to the United States Senate. He had strong sympathies for the French cause as Minister to France from 1794 to 1796 and later helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with Robert R. Livingston.
His ambition and enthusiasm, combined with President Madison’s support, made him the Republican nominee for President in 1816. In 1820, he comfortably gained re-election with little Federalist opposition.
Monroe named a Southerner, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a northerner, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State, in an unusually powerful Cabinet. Only Henry Clay’s reluctance prevented Monroe from bringing in a great Westerner.
Monroe went on a goodwill trip early in his presidency. His arrival in Boston was heralded as the start of an “Era of Good Feelings.” Unfortunately, despite Monroe’s undiminished popularity, these “positive emotions” did not last, and he continued to support nationalist measures.
Ugly segmental cracks appeared throughout the nationalism’s exterior. When the Missouri Territory’s candidacy for admission to the Union as a slave state was denied in 1819, it was definitely exacerbated by a devastating economic crisis. A modified law calling for the gradual abolition of slavery in Missouri sparked a two-year Congressional discussion.
The Missouri Compromise bill put an end to the conflict, uniting Missouri as a slave state with Maine as a free state and permanently prohibiting slavery north and west of Missouri.
In international affairs, Monroe announced the fundamental strategy that bears his name in response to the possibility that more conservative European nations could try to help Spain reclaim its old Latin American territories. Monroe would not formally recognize the young sister republics until 1822, after confirming that Congress would vote on diplomatic mission expenditures. He and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wanted to wait until Spain had ceded the Floridas to the United States, which it did in 1821.
With its powerful navy, the United Kingdom opposed the reconquest of Latin America and recommended that the United States join it in declaring “hands-off.” “It would be more frank… to avow our ideas clearly to Russia and France than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war,” Secretary Adams suggested.
Monroe took Adams’ counsel to heart. Not only must Latin America be left alone, but Russia must not intrude on the Pacific coast from the south, he warned. “By the free and independent status which they have adopted and maintain,” he remarked, “the American continents are no longer to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power.” This became known as the Monroe Doctrine 20 years after Monroe’s death in 1831.
Learn more about James Monroe’s spouse, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.
