James Monroe
| |
| James Monroe 5th President of the United States | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 28, 1758 |
| Died | July 4, 1831 |
| Term | 1817-1825 |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican |
| Vice President | Daniel D. Tompkins |
| Preceded by | James Madison |
| Succeeded by | John Quincy Adams |
James Monroe was the 5th president of the United States and a lieutenant in the American Revolutionary War. He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on April 28, 1758. He served two terms as president from 1817-1825.
Monroe was one of the most conservative presidents in American history, and was nearly re-elected by unanimous consent (reportedly one elector withheld his vote out of deference to the unanimous consent given to President George Washington). Perhaps Monroe's most famous legacy is the Monroe Doctrine, which instructed European powers to stop colonizing the Americas. His reason for this was conservative: the European and American systems were fundamentally different, and thus Europe should not colonize America anymore or even interfere in our Hemisphere. To this day presidents continue to cite the Monroe Doctrine whenever a European country tries to do something over here.
The "Era of Good Feelings" overtook the nation under Monroe's conservative leadership. The economy prospered. Monroe vetoed an appropriation for road repairs in the Cumberland Road Bill (1822), stating that "congress does not possess the power under the constitution to pass such a law."[1] With this conservative in the White House, the House rejected most spending bills on internal projects.
The U.S. Senate was evenly split during the Monroe Administration: 11 free states and 11 slave states (Delaware and Kentucky were slave states). Monroe peacefully resolved the difficult dispute over slavery in new states with the Missouri Compromise: admit one free state (Maine) to balance one new slave state (Missouri), and ban slavery above a certain latitude (36 degrees, 30 minutes) in the new Louisiana Territory.
Monroe's presidency also oversaw Spain ceding Florida to the United States. [2]
Background
Monroe had served in the American Revolution, and led the charge at the Battle of Trenton. He was hit by a musket ball in his shoulder, striking an artery. After he recovered, he continued to fight for the Patriots.[3]
As an anti-Federalist, he opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution in the absence of a Bill of Rights.
He served as Senator and also Governor of Virginia. He was the Secretary of State in the Administration of Thomas Jefferson, where Monroe negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.
Monroe was Secretary of War under President James Madison during the war of 1812.
In His Own Words
When elected President, James Monroe declared in his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817:
- I enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed.
President Monroe declared in his First Annual Message to Congress in 1817:
- For advantages so numerous and highly important it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity.
Monroe died on July 4, 1831 in New York City.
