James Monroe

A

Treaty With Russia

In 1821 Tsar Alexander I of Russia decreed that all lands along the Pacific Ocean from the Bering Strait to 51° north latitude belonged to Russia and that henceforth foreign shipping would be prohibited within 160 km (100 mi) of the claimed lands. The claim bit deep into the Oregon Territory, and, on Monroe's instructions, Adams sent the Russian minister a note refusing to recognize the tsar's decree.

“We should contest the right of Russia to any territorial establishment on this continent,” wrote Adams, adding that “we should assume distinctly the principle that the American continents are no longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments.” The tsar's claim was untenable, and he backed down. In April 1824, Russia signed a treaty agreeing to form no settlements on the northwest coast south of 54°40′ north latitude, with the United States agreeing to make no settlements north of that line. The line represented the approximate boundary between Alaska, which was the only part of North America that Russia had colonized extensively, and the Oregon country, to which the United States had a claim by virtue of exploration.

Adams's note had implications that went far beyond an ultimatum to Russia alone. It had stated that the United States would oppose any new European settlement, and this idea became one of the two basic principles of the Monroe Doctrine.

B

Holy Alliance

A second threat from Europe alarmed Monroe much more than the tsar's edict. In 1823 the so-called Holy Alliance of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France had intervened in Spain, which had become a constitutional monarchy, and forced the restoration of the absolute monarchy under Ferdinand VII. Monroe believed that the alliance's next move might well be an invasion and reconquest of Spain's former Latin American colonies. The British shared this belief. In London, British Foreign Secretary George Canning proposed to the U.S. envoy, Richard Rush, that Britain and the United States issue a joint statement warning the alliance to keep hands off the former colonies in Latin America.

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Rush transmitted the proposal to Washington, and Monroe was inclined to accept it. However, Adams insisted that the time had come for the United States to act as a sovereign nation, not merely a British satellite. He wanted America to proclaim and carry out its own policy. Monroe was finally won over to this point of view. Accordingly, in a polite note to Canning, Adams rejected the offer with the excuse that, since Britain had not recognized the Latin American republics and the United States had, no joint resolution relative to them was possible. Canning affably agreed although as a matter of practical reality it would be the British navy, not the American, that would enforce the unilateral statement.

C

Monroe Doctrine

Monroe decided to include his policy statement in his annual message to Congress, delivered on December 2, 1823. The Monroe Doctrine included two paragraphs that stated explicitly the basic tenets of his foreign policy. The first, based on the diplomatic exchange with Russia, declared that the United States would oppose any further colonization by European powers in the western hemisphere. The second warned that the United States would “view any interposition” in the affairs of western hemisphere nations “for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling ... in any other manner their destiny ... as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.”

It is true that the doctrine's two principles, noncolonization and nonintervention, were not really new or original. In general form they had been expressed or hinted at by earlier presidents, especially Jefferson. They were also substantially formulated by John Quincy Adams. However, it was Monroe who explicitly proclaimed them as fundamental policy and who took final responsibility for that policy. Therefore, the doctrine that was a keystone of U.S. foreign policy for many years rightly bears his name.

D

Final Days in Office

As the election of 1824 neared, Monroe had no thought of seeking a third term. He planned to follow the precedent that Washington had set of serving two terms and then retiring. Monroe wrote to Madison that year: “The approaching election, ‘tho distant, is a circumstance that excites greatest interest in both houses, and whose effect, already sensibly felt, is still much to be dreaded. ... There being three avowed candidates in the administration is a circumstance which increases the embarrassment.” The three avowed candidates were Secretary of State Adams, Secretary of the Treasury Crawford, and Secretary of War Calhoun.

During Monroe's last year in office the Cabinet, which had functioned harmoniously throughout the administration, became infected with dissension and animosity. Monroe remained scrupulously neutral as rivalry became more and more embittered. His refusal to assume firm party leadership at this point and to use his influence to name any candidate as his successor is often blamed for the collapse of the Democratic-Republican Party into warring factions during the succeeding administration of John Quincy Adams.

On the eve of the election, Congress passed a protective tariff by a narrow margin. The tariff raised the cost of importing manufactured goods and thereby benefited the Northeast by protecting the market for the manufactures that region was beginning to produce. Western states also supported the tariff because it provided an internal market for their goods. The South bitterly opposed it, however, because that region did not have its own manufacturing industry and now had to pay more for the items it needed. This was a further indication that the Era of Good Feelings was drawing to a close.

VI

Last Years

Monroe was 67 years old when he turned over the presidency to Adams and retired to Oak Hill in Loudoun County, Virginia. But his retirement years were clouded by financial worries. He was forced to sell his estate Ash Lawn to meet his debts. Although Congress awarded him $30,000 in 1826, he never recovered from the financial burden of his long years of public service. After his wife died, Monroe sold Oak Hill and moved to New York City to live with his younger daughter, Maria Hester Gouverneur, and her husband. He died on July 4, 1831, five years after Jefferson and John Adams had died and 55 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was buried in New York City, but in 1858 his body was moved to Richmond, Virginia, and reburied in Hollywood Cemetery.

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