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U.S. Presidents & Presidency: Monroe

A topic guide covering the Presidents of the United States. This is an ongoing project. As such, additional individuals will be added over time.

James Monroe

James Monroe served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 - 1825.  Prior to serving as president, he was the seventh secretary of State under Madison, and the governor of Virginia. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.

Monroe is considered the last "Founding Father" to own enslaved individuals. While Monroe "believed that abolishing slavery was probably necessary to ensure the survival of the country," he also held the view that African Americans would not remain in the United States (White House History). 

Monroe died on July 4, 1831 in New York City. 

Resources

Reference, Archives, & Primary Sources

Monroe Hill - Remembering James Monroe

"Monroe Hill" unearths the history of the site that contains the last remaining structures of the late 18th century southern plantation. These surviving structures are silent witnesses to Monroe's struggle as a farmer and a politician from the late 1780's until the laying of the cornerstone at the University of Virginia on October 6, 1817.

Source: Kanopy

Perspectives

The Presidency of James Monroe

Filled with new insights and fresh interpretations, this is the richest study yet published on the presidency of James Monroe, the last Revolutionary War hero to ascend to that august office. Noble Cunningham's history of the fifth presidency (1817-25) shows a young nation beset by growing pains and led by a cautious politician who had neither the learning nor the intellect of Jefferson or Madison, but whose actions strengthened both the United States and the presidency itself. Cunningham makes clear that the mislabelled "era of good feelings" had more than its share of crises, including those resulting from revolutions in Latin America, Spanish possession of Florida, the depression of 1819, and the controversy over slavery in Missouri. Monroe, he shows, successfully defused these potentially explosive situations, most notably by negotiating the 1820 Missouri Compromise and announcing in 1823 what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, a document that still guides American policy in the western hemisphere. Cunningham effectively places these actions within the context of Monroe's life and times and sheds new light on the inner workings of his cabinet and his relations with Congress. In addition, he features the prominent roles of two future presidents: John Quincy Adams as secretary of state and Andrew Jackson as the controversial general whose actions in the Seminole War created a headache for the administration. Though substantially informed by previous scholarship, Cunningham writes largely from the abundant primary source materials of the era to provide an illuminating new look at a president and a nation on the brink of greatness.

Founding Rivals

The Amazing True Story of the Election That Saved the Constitution In 1789, James Madison and James Monroe ran against each other for Congress--the only time that two future presidents have contested a congressional seat. But what was at stake, as author Chris DeRose reveals in Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation, was more than personal ambition. This was a race that determined the future of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the very definition of the United States of America. Friends and political allies for most of their lives, Madison was the Constitution's principal author, Monroe one of its leading opponents. Monroe thought the Constitution gave the federal government too much power and failed to guarantee fundamental rights. Madison believed that without the Constitution, the United States would not survive. It was the most important congressional race in American history, more important than all but a few presidential elections, and yet it is one that historians have virtually ignored. In Founding Rivals, DeRose, himself a political strategist who has fought campaigns in Madison and Monroe's district, relives the campaign, retraces the candidates' footsteps, and offers the first insightful, comprehensive history of this high-stakes political battle. DeRose reveals: How Madison's election ensured the passage of a Bill of Rights--and how Monroe's election would have ensured its failure How Madison came from behind to win a narrow victory (by a margin of only 336 votes) in a district gerrymandered against him How the Bill of Rights emerged as a campaign promise to Virginia's evangelical Christians Why Madison's defeat might have led to a new Constitutional Convention--and the breakup of the United States Founding Rivals tells the extraordinary, neglected story of two of America's most important Founding Fathers. Brought to life by unparalleled research, it is one of the most provocative books of American political history you will read this year.

The Unfinished Nation-Pressures From Within

The War of 1812 magnified the need for a stronger national government. Explore the patterns of growth and expansion in the early 19th century. Learn about President James Monroe's 'Era of Good Feelings,' the Missouri Compromise, and the Monroe Doctrine.

Source: Films on Demand