5. JAMES MONROE 1817-1825
On New Year's Day, 1825, at the last of his annual White House
receptions, President James Monroe made a pleasing impression
upon a Virginia lady who shook his hand:
"He is tall and well formed. His dress plain and in the old
style.... His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank,
honest expression of his eye ... I think he well deserves the
encomium passed upon him by the great Jefferson, who said,
'Monroe was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out
there would not be a spot on it.' "
Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758, Monroe
attended the College of William and Mary, fought with
distinction in the Continental Army, and practiced law in
Fredericksburg, Virginia.
As a youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in
the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, and in
1790, an advocate of Jeffersonian policies, was elected United
States Senator. As Minister to France in 1794-1796, he displayed
strong sympathies for the French cause; later, with Robert R.
Livingston, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase.
His ambition and energy, together with the backing of
President Madison, made him the Republican choice for the
Presidency in 1816. With little Federalist opposition, he easily
won re-election in 1820.
Monroe made unusually strong Cabinet choices, naming a
Southerner, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a
northerner, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State. Only Henry
Clay's refusal kept Monroe from adding an outstanding Westerner.
Early in his administration, Monroe undertook a goodwill
tour. At Boston, his visit was hailed as the beginning of an
"Era of Good Feelings." Unfortunately these "good feelings" did
not endure, although Monroe, his popularity undiminished,
followed nationalist policies.
Across the facade of nationalism, ugly sectional cracks
appeared. A painful economic depression undoubtedly increased
the dismay of the people of the Missouri Territory in 1819 when
their application for admission to the Union as a slave state
failed. An amended bill for gradually eliminating slavery in
Missouri precipitated two years of bitter debate in Congress.
The Missouri Compromise bill resolved the struggle, pairing
Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and barring
slavery north and west of Missouri forever.
In foreign affairs Monroe proclaimed the fundamental policy
that bears his name, responding to the threat that the more
conservative governments in Europe might try to aid Spain in
winning back her former Latin American colonies. Monroe did not
begin formally to recognize the young sister republics until
1822, after ascertaining that Congress would vote appropriations
for diplomatic missions. He and Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams wished to avoid trouble with Spain until it had ceded the
Floridas, as was done in 1821.
Great Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed
reconquest of Latin America and suggested that the United States
join in proclaiming "hands off." Ex-Presidents Jefferson and
Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Secretary
Adams advised, "It would be more candid ... to avow our
principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a
cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war."
Monroe accepted Adams's advice. Not only must Latin America
be left alone, he warned, but also Russia must not encroach
southward on the Pacific coast. ". . . the American continents,"
he stated, "by the free and independent condition which they
have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered
as subjects for future colonization by any European Power." Some
20 years after Monroe died in 1831, this became known as the
Monroe Doctrine.
NOTES:
White House web site: JAMES MONROE
"On New Year's Day, 1825, at the last of his annual White
House receptions, President James Monroe made a pleasing
impression upon a Virginia lady who shook his hand:
'He is tall and well formed. His dress plain and in the old
style.... His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank,
honest expression of his eye ... I think he well deserves the
encomium passed upon him by the great Jefferson, who said,
"Monroe was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out
there would not be a spot on it."'
Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758, Monroe
attended the College of William and Mary, fought with
distinction in the Continental Army, and practiced law in
Fredericksburg, Virginia.
As a youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in
the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, and in
1790, an advocate of Jeffersonian policies, was elected United
States Senator. As Minister to France in 1794-1796, he displayed
strong sympathies for the French cause; later, with Robert R.
Livingston, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase."
In the summer of 1814, when the British were readying their
forces to attack and burn the nation's capital, Secretary of
State James Monroe took the Declaration of Independence from
Washington, DC to a temporary hiding place across the Potomac in
Virginia: a barn owned by Ed Batterson. From there, others moved
the document to the home of Reverend Littlejohn in Leesburg VA.
Roy Richard Thomas July 2007
"His ambition and energy, together with the backing of
President Madison, made him the Republican choice for the
Presidency in 1816. With little Federalist opposition, he easily
won re-election in 1820.
Monroe made unusually strong Cabinet choices, naming a
Southerner, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a
northerner, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State. Only Henry
Clay's refusal kept Monroe from adding an outstanding Westerner.
Early in his administration, Monroe undertook a goodwill
tour. At Boston, his visit was hailed as the beginning of an
"Era of Good Feelings." Unfortunately these "good feelings" did
not endure, although Monroe, his popularity undiminished,
followed nationalist policies.
Across the facade of nationalism, ugly sectional cracks
appeared. A painful economic depression undoubtedly increased
the dismay of the people of the Missouri Territory in 1819 when
their application for admission to the Union as a slave state
failed. An amended bill for gradually eliminating slavery in
Missouri precipitated two years of bitter debate in Congress.
The Missouri Compromise bill resolved the struggle, pairing
Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and barring
slavery north and west of Missouri forever.
In foreign affairs Monroe proclaimed the fundamental policy
that bears his name, responding to the threat that the more
conservative governments in Europe might try to aid Spain in
winning back her former Latin American colonies. Monroe did not
begin formally to recognize the young sister republics until
1822, after ascertaining that Congress would vote appropriations
for diplomatic missions. He and Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams wished to avoid trouble with Spain until it had ceded the
Floridas, as was done in 1821.
Great Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed
reconquest of Latin America and suggested that the United States
join in proclaiming 'hands off.' Ex-Presidents Jefferson and
Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Secretary
Adams advised, "It would be more candid ... to avow our
principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a
cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war.'
Monroe accepted Adams's advice. Not only must Latin America
be left alone, he warned, but also Russia must not encroach
southward on the Pacific coast. '. . . the American continents,'
he stated, 'by the free and independent condition which they
have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered
as subjects for future colonization by any European Power.' Some
20 years after Monroe died in 1831, this policy became known as
the Monroe Doctrine."
