James Monroe

I

Introduction

James Monroe (1758-1831), fifth president of the United States (1817-1825) and the last of the so-called Virginia dynasty of U.S. presidents. He succeeded his lifelong friends Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the nation's highest office. Monroe was a man of good intelligence, sound judgment, and highest integrity. In more than 40 years of public service, he never stinted of his energies in doing what he considered his public duty.

Monroe was president during the “Era of Good Feelings.” It was called that because there were few political battles and his Democratic-Republican Party ruled almost unopposed. It was a transitional period in which the nation's democratic institutions and capitalist economy were taking form. National identity, as opposed to narrow state interest, was growing as evidenced by the westward movement and the construction of roads and canals. People who were leaving their old colonial homes and moving west on the expanding frontier began to think of themselves not as Virginians or New Yorkers, but principally as Americans. The roads and canals, or internal improvements as they were called, were built to tie together the nation's commerce. They were considered a national priority and were often funded by Congress, whose members understood that an improved flow of commerce in any section of the country would also benefit their own constituencies.

Even though one party dominated, political debate did not disappear. Factions developed in the party over questions about tariffs (taxes on imports); the future of slavery; and how to deal with Britain and other European colonial powers. As President, Monroe consistently and successfully pursued a policy that served both to protect the United States from European interference and to foster unhampered growth of the nation and its economy. He was responsible for the Monroe Doctrine, the principle that the United States would not tolerate new colonies in the western hemisphere or interference by outside powers in the internal affairs of nations in the western hemisphere.

II

Early Life

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, one of the five children of Spence Monroe, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Jones Monroe. The family lived on a small farm at the edge of a forest in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Young Monroe walked several miles through the forest to attend the school of Parson Campbell, where John Marshall (later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States), was a fellow student and close friend. It was from Parson Campbell that Monroe learned the stern moral code that he retained throughout his life.

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When Monroe entered the College of William and Mary, he was a solemn, studious 16-year-old. But the year was 1774, and Monroe found it difficult to concentrate on his studies as Virginia and other American colonies moved closer to war with Great Britain. However, he remained at college for more than a year, during which his father died. His uncle, Judge Joseph Jones, assumed the cost of Monroe's education and became his guardian and trusted adviser.

In 1775 Monroe left college to go to war. He became a lieutenant in the Third Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army, formed that year to fight British troops. In August 1776 the regiment was ordered north to the army's main base at Harlem Heights, outside New York City. They arrived during the American retreat from Manhattan Island and fought at Harlem Heights and White Plains. Monroe accompanied the retreating army through New Jersey and across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. On December 26, 1776, at the Battle of Trenton, Monroe's captain was wounded and “the command fell on me,” as Monroe later explained, “and soon after, I was shot through by a ball which grazed my breast.”

When he had recovered from his wound, Monroe was named aide-de-camp to Major General Lord Stirling. He fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in the autumn of 1777. That winter he was with General George Washington at Valley Forge, and in June 1778 he fought in the Battle of Monmouth.

Early in 1779, Monroe, now a major, left the northern army, which was encamped outside New York City with no immediate prospect of action. He arrived in Virginia in May, armed with letters of recommendation from several prominent men, including General Washington, who said of him: “He has in every instance maintained the reputation of a brave, active, and sensible officer.” The Virginia legislature made him a lieutenant colonel and commissioned him to lead a militia regiment then being recruited. However, the unit was never formed, and for all practical purposes, Monroe's military career was over.

Instead of commanding the regiment, Monroe became an aide to Thomas Jefferson, who was then governor of Virginia. He also became Jefferson's pupil in the study of law. During this period, Monroe began to see what course his life would take. At a time when, as he expressed it, his “plan of life” was “perplexed,” he later wrote Jefferson, “you became acquainted with me and undertook the direction of my studies ... my plan of life is now fixed.”

III

Early Political Career

A

Member of the Virginia Legislature

Monroe had barely settled in Prince Edward County, Virginia, when he was elected to the state legislature in 1782. He was then 24 years old. The legislature elected him to the executive council, of which he was the youngest member. In 1783 he was elected to the Congress of the Confederation, which was then the governing body of the United States under the Articles of Confederation. There he was the youngest delegate to vote for ratification of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution.

A

1

Western Travel

Monroe served in Congress for three years. It was during this time that he first became interested in American expansion, specifically in the settlement of the Western lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River. He was chairman of two congressional committees, one that was concerned with free navigation on the Mississippi River and the other with formation of a government for the Western lands.

In 1784, during a congressional recess, Monroe journeyed through the Western territories. He went up the Hudson River, passed through the Great Lakes, visited the forts that the British still held in the Northwest Territory in violation of the Treaty of Paris, and returned by way of the Ohio River. With the information he gathered, he helped to lay the groundwork for territorial government embodied in the Northwest Ordinance enacted by Congress in 1787.

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