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The most important violation was the French takeover of Mexico during the American Civil War; at war's end the U.S. sent a combat army to the border and the French went home.
The most important violation was the French takeover of Mexico during the American Civil War; at war's end the U.S. sent a combat army to the border and the French went home.
==Slavery==
As governor of Virginia from 1799 to 1802, Monroe took a cautious position regarding a slave uprising in Southampton County in October 1799. Monroe took pains to see that the charged rebels received proper legal treatment before they were executed, demonstrating a marked concern for their legal rights. He conducted an exhaustive investigation into the incident and saw to it the slaves involved received a fair trial.
Monroe's governorship is best known for the violent suppression of "Gabriel's slave conspiracy" in 1800, in which freedom-seeking slaves from Henrico and neighboring counties plotted to burn the capital, Richmond, kill its white slaveholders, and kidnap Governor Monroe. The rebellion was quickly crushed, and over 30 blacks were executed in its aftermath. Monroe again took an unpopular position in supporting fair trials and attempting to explain and justify slave actions.
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 extreme chagrin of states' rights proponents, he was even willing to accept the federal government's financial assistance in emancipating and deporting the slaves. 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."
Although he opposed abolition, Monroe was a leading supporter of African colonization proposals as vice president of the Richmond branch of the American Colonization Society, and the capital of [[Liberia]] was named Monrovia after him. He favored gradual, compensated emancipation. In the final analysis, Monroe was a planter and a slave owner who believed in the eventual peaceful end of slavery.<ref> Arthur Scherr, "Governor James Monroe and the Southampton Slave Resistance of 1799," Historian; 1999 61(3): 557-578 in [[EBSCO]]; Douglas R. Egerton, ''Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802'' (1993).</ref>
==Retirement and Legacy==
==Retirement and Legacy==
Turning the presidency over to Adams on March 4, 1825, Monroe retired to his plantation, operated by slaves and an overseer, in Loudoun County, Virginia. Tobacco farming was unprofitable and he struggled to get out of debt. Elected to Virginia's constitutional convention in 1829, he opposed the widening of the franchise but took little part in the debates over other questions. With land preices depressed Monroe could not pay his debts and he lost all his real estate. In declining health, he moved in with his daughter in New York City in 1830, where he died on July 4, 1831. He was universally mourned.
Turning the presidency over to Adams on March 4, 1825, Monroe retired to his plantation, operated by slaves and an overseer, in Loudoun County, Virginia. Tobacco farming was unprofitable and he struggled to get out of debt. Elected to Virginia's constitutional convention in 1829, he opposed the widening of the franchise but took little part in the debates over other questions. With land prices depressed Monroe could not pay his debts and he lost all his real estate. In declining health, he moved in with his daughter in New York City in 1830, where he died on July 4, 1831. He was universally mourned.
His greatest legacy was the Monroe Doctrine, which still shapes American policies.
His greatest legacy was the Monroe Doctrine, which still shapes American policies.