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
- The Enslaved Households of President James MonroeConsidered the last “Founding Father” president, Monroe was born in 1758 into an affluent, slave owning family in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
- James MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825) and the last President from the Founding Fathers.
- James Monroe: Journal of the American RevolutionResearch and articles related to James Monroe from the Journal of the American Revolution.
- James Monroe: Miller CenterJames Monroe was the last American President of the “Virginia Dynasty”—of the first five men who held that position, four hailed from Virginia. Monroe also had a long and distinguished public career as a soldier, diplomat, governor, senator, and cabinet official. His presidency, which began in 1817 and lasted until 1825, encompassed what came to be called the "Era of Good Feelings." One of his lasting achievements was the Monroe Doctrine, which became a major tenet of U.S. foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere.
Reference, Archives, & Primary Sources
- James Monroe: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on James Monroe. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
- James Monroe Land GrantA land grant signed by President James Monroe from May 1818.
- James Monroe PapersThe James Monroe Papers at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress consist of approximately 5,200 items dating from 1758 to 1839.
- Papers of James MonroeJames Monroe (1758-1831) was the fifth President of the United States. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. As an anti-federalist delegate to the Virginia convention that considered ratification of the United States Constitution, Monroe opposed ratification, claiming it gave too much power to the central government.
Streaming Media
- Monroe Hill - Remembering James MonroeUnearths 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.
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.