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JAMES MONROE (1758-1831)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 738 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:MONROE (1758-1831)  , fifth See also:president of the See also:United States, was See also:born on See also:Monroe's See also:creek, a tributary of the See also:Potomac See also:river, in Westmoreland See also:county, See also:Virginia, on the 28th of See also:April 1758 . His See also:father, See also:Spence Monroe, was of Scotch, and his See also:mother, See also:Elizabeth See also:Jones, was of Welsh descent . At the See also:age of sixteen he entered the See also:College of See also:William and See also:Mary, See also:Williams-See also:burg, Virginia, but in 1776 he See also:left college to take See also:part in the See also:War for See also:Independence: He enlisted in the Third Virginia See also:regiment, in which he became a See also:lieutenant, and subsequently took part in the battles of Harlem Heights, See also:White Plains, Trenton (where he was wounded), See also:Brandywine, See also:Germantown, and See also:Monmouth . In See also:November 1777 he was appointed volunteer aide-de-See also:camp to William See also:Alexander (" See also:Lord See also:Stirling "), with the See also:rank of See also:major, and thereby lost his rank in the See also:Continental See also:line; but in the following See also:year, at See also:Washington's solicitation, he received a See also:commission as lieutenant-See also:colonel in a new regiment to be raised in Virginia . In 178o he began the study of See also:law under See also:Thomas See also:Jefferson, then See also:governor of Virginia, and between the two there See also:developed an intimacy and a sympathy that had a powerful See also:influence upon Monroe's later career . In 1782 he was elected to the Virginia See also:House of Delegates, and though only twenty-four years of age he was chosen a member of the governor's See also:council . He served in the See also:Congress of the See also:Con-federation from 1783 to 1786 and was there conspicuous for his vigorous insistence upon the right of the United States to the See also:navigation of the See also:Mississippi River, and for his See also:attempt, in 1785, to secure for the weak Congress the See also:power to regulate See also:commerce, in See also:order to remove one of the See also:great defects in the existing central See also:government . On retiring from Congress he began the practice of law at Fredericksburg, Virginia, was chosen a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1787, and in 1788 was a member of the See also:state See also:convention which ratified for Virginia the Federal constitution . In 1790 he was elected to the United States See also:senate to fill the vacancy caused by the See also:death of William Grayson, and although in this See also:body he vigorously opposed Washington's See also:administration, Washington on the 27th of May 1794 nominated him as See also:minister to See also:France . It was the See also:hope of the administration that Monroe's well-known See also:French sympathies would secure for him a favourable reception, and that his See also:appointment would also conciliate the See also:friends of France in the United States . His warm reception in France and his enthusiastic Republicanism, however, displeased the Federalists at See also:home; he did nothing, moreover, to reconcile the French to the See also:Jay treaty (see JAY, See also:JOHN), which they regarded as a violation of the French treaty of See also:alliance of 1778 and as a possible casus See also:belli . The administration therefore decided that he was unable to represent his government properly and See also:late in 1796 recalled him .

Monroe returned to See also:

America in the See also:spring of 1797, and in the following See also:December published a See also:defence of his course in a pamphlet of 500 pages entitled A View of the Conduct of the Executive in the See also:Foreign Affairs of the United States, and printed in See also:Philadelphia by See also:Benjamin See also:Franklin See also:Bache (1769–1798) . Washington seems never to have forgiven Monroe for this, though Monroe's See also:opinion of Washington and Jay underwent a See also:change in his later years . In 1799 Monroe was chosen governor of Virginia and was twice re-elected, serving until 1802 . At this See also:time there was much uneasiness in the United States as a result of See also:Spain's restoration of See also:Louisiana to France by the See also:secret treaty of See also:San Ildefonso, in See also:October 1800; and the subsequent withdrawal of the " right of See also:deposit " at New See also:Orleans by the See also:Spanish See also:intendant greatly increased this feeling and led to much talk of war . Resolved upon peaceful See also:measures, President Jefferson in See also:January 1803 appointed Monroe See also:envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France to aid See also:Robert R . See also:Livingston, the See also:resident minister, in obtaining by See also:purchase the territory at the mouth of the Mississippi, including the See also:island of New Orleans, and at the same time authorized him to co-operate with See also:Charles See also:Pinckney, the minister at See also:Madrid, in securing from Spain the cession of See also:East and See also:West See also:Florida . On the 18th of April Monroe was further commissioned as the See also:regular minister to Great See also:Britain . He joined Livingston in See also:Paris on the 12th of April, after the negotiations were well under way; and the two ministers, on finding See also:Napoleon willing In 1816 Monroe was chosen president of the United States; he received 183 electoral votes, and See also:Rufus See also:King, his Federalist opponent, 34 . In 1820 he was re-elected, receiving all the electoral votes but one, which William Plumer (1759–1850) of New See also:Hampshire See also:cast for John See also:Quincy See also:Adams, in order, it is said, that no one might See also:share with Washington the See also:honour of a unanimous See also:election . The See also:chief events of his administration, which has been called the " era of See also:good feeling," were the See also:Seminole War (1817–18); the acquisition of the Floridas from Spain (1819–21); the "See also:Missouri See also:Compromise " (182o), by which the first conflict over See also:slavery under the constitution was peacefully adjusted; the See also:veto of the See also:Cumberland Road See also:Bill (1822)1 on constitutional grounds; and—most 1 The Cumberland (or See also:National) Road from Cumberland, Mary-See also:land, to See also:Wheeling, West Virginia, was projected in 18o6, by an See also:appropriation of 1819 was extended to the See also:Ohio River, by an See also:act of 1825 (signed by Monroe on the last See also:day of his See also:term of See also:office) was continued to See also:Zanesville, and by an act of 1829 was extended west-See also:ward from Zanesville . The appropriation of 1806 for the construction of the road had brought into national politics the question of the authority of the Federal government to make " See also:internal improvements." The bill vetoed by Monroe would in effect have given to the Federal government See also:jurisdiction over the road; and in his elaborate memorandum (May 4, 1822) accompanying his veto See also:message, Monroe discussed at length the constitutional questions involved, argued that the Federal government was empowered by the Constitution to appropriate See also:money for " internal improvements," and in See also:concert with the states through which a road was to pass might supervise the construction of such a road, but might not exercise jurisdiction over it, and advocated the See also:adoption of an See also:amendment to the constitution giving larger power to the Federal government " confined to great national See also:works only, since, if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse, and might be productive of evil." For the See also:history of the Cumberland Road, see See also:Archer B . Hulbert, The Cumberland Road (See also:Cleveland, Ohio, 1904) .

II intimately connected with Monroe's name—the enunciation in the presidential message of the 2nd of December 1823 of what has since been known as the Monroe See also:

Doctrine (q.v.), which has profoundly influenced the foreign policy of the United States . On the expiration of his second term he retired to his home at See also:Oak See also:Hill, See also:Loudoun county, Virginia . In 1826 he became a See also:regent of the university of Virginia, and in 1829 was a member of the convention called to amend the state constitution . Having neglected his private affairs and incurred large expenditures during his See also:missions to See also:Europe, he experienced considerable pecuniary embarrassment in his later years, and was compelled to ask Congress to reimburse him for his expenses in the public service . Congress finally (in 1826) authorized the See also:payment of $30,000 to him, and after his death appropriated a small amount for the purchase of his papers from his heirs . He died in New See also:York See also:City on the 4th of See also:July 1831, while visiting his daughter, Mrs See also:Samuel L . Gouverneur . In 1858, the centennial year of his See also:birth, his remains were reinterred with impressive ceremonies at See also:Richmond, Virginia . Jefferson, See also:Madison, John Quincy Adams, See also:Calhoun, and See also:Benton all speak loudly in Monroe's praise; but he suffers by comparison with the greater statesmen of his time . Possessing none of their brilliance, he had, nevertheless, to use the words of . John Quincy Adams, " a mind . . . See also:sound in its ultimate judgments, and See also:firm in its final conclusions." See also:Schouler points out that like Washington and See also:Lincoln he was " conspicuous .

. . for patient considerateness to all sides." Monroe was about six feet tall, but, being stoop-shouldered and rather ungainly seemed less; his eyes, a greyish See also:

blue, were deep-set and kindly; his See also:face was delicate, naturally refined, and prematurely lined . The best-known portrait, that by See also:Vanderlyn, is in the New York City See also:Hall . Monroe was married in 1786 to Elizabeth Kortwright (1768–1830) of New York, and at his death was survived by two daughters . See The Writings of See also:James Monroe (7 vols., New York, 1898–1903), edited by S . M . See also:Hamilton; See also:Daniel C . See also:Gilman, James Monroe (See also:Boston, 1883), in the " See also:American Statesman See also:Series "; J . R . Irelan, History of the See also:Life, Administration and Times of James Monroe, being vol. v. of his See also:Republic (See also:Chicago, 1887) ; John Quincy Adams, The Lives of James Madison and James Monroe (See also:Buffalo, 185o) ; B . W . See also:Bond, jun., Monroe's See also:Mission to France, 1794–1796 (See also:Baltimore, 1907) ; See also:Henry Adams, History of the United States (9 vols., New York, 1889-1891), containing a full but unsympathetic See also:account of Monroe's career as a diplomatist; and James Schouler, History of the United States, vols. ii. and iii . (New York, 1894), which estimates his public services highly .

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