Monroe, James

James (1758-1831), the fifth president of the United States. He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The Monroes were a family of Scottish cavaliers. Monroe entered William and Mary College, but left to enlist in the Continental Army. From that time on he was almost continually in public life. He entered the army as a lieutenant. He served in the battles of Harlem Heights, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. In 1778 he returned to Virginia to enlist recruits. With the return of peace he studied law. An acquaintance with Jefferson ripened into a lifelong friendship. In fact Monroe's future career was due largely, we may say chiefly, to the patronage of Jefferson and Madison. He served in the legislature of his native state and in the Congress of the Confederation. He was active in paving the way for a convention to draw up a new national constitution. He joined Patrick Henry in 1778 in opposing the adoption of that constitution, however, fearing that it gave the central government too much authority. Two years later he was elected to the United States Senate. He opposed Washington's administration. In 1794 he was sent as a minister to France. He next served as governor of Virginia. In 1803 Jefferson sent him to Paris as a special envoy, to cooperate with Robert R. Livingston, our minister, in the purchase of Louisiana. He was also minister to England and to Spain. He then reentered the legislature of Virginia and was again governor. He was appointed secretary of state by President Madison whom he succeeded by a sort of political inheritance in the presidential office. He was inaugurated in March, 1817.

Monroe was a man of mild manners, tall, energetic, not particularly aggressive. In 1820 he received the vote of the electoral college for a second term with but one dissenting voice. The principal events of his administration were the purchase of Florida from Spain in 1819, the stirring up of strife by the passage of the Missouri Compromise, and the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine. Monroe was a man of fair ability, the best of intentions, and of uncompromising integrity. As stated, he was an officeholder. After retiring from the presidency he even served as a justice of the peace. At the last he was a member of the convention that revised the state constitution of Virginia. His remains rest at Richmond.

See Presidents