James Monroe

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, to Spence and Elizabeth Monroe.⁠[1]

His father, Spence Monroe, was of Scottish descent and his mother, Elizabeth Jones Monroe, of Welsh descent; the family owned about 600 acres (240 hectares) in Virginia.⁠[2]

As a boy he attended a school run by the Reverend Archibald Campbell, where John Marshall was also a student.⁠[3]

In June 1774 Monroe began his studies at the College of William and Mary. His father died the same year, and he inherited the farm in Westmoreland County.⁠[1]

After his parents died in his mid-teens, he and his brothers became wards of their uncle Joseph Jones, who also became his mentor.⁠[3]

In 1775 he took part in revolutionary activities in Williamsburg.⁠[4]

In February 1776 Monroe was commissioned a lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Infantry. He fought at the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16 and the Battle of White Plains on October 28, and was wounded at the Battle of Trenton on December 26.⁠[1]

He was promoted to captain in July 1777, became aide-de-camp to General Stirling on August 11, fought at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 and the Battle of Germantown on October 4, and was promoted to major on November 20. From January to June 1778 he was at Valley Forge, and on June 28, 1778, he fought at the Battle of Monmouth.⁠[1]

On December 20, 1778, he resigned from the Continental Army. From August 15 to December 15, 1779, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia State Line, assigned to Williamsburg.⁠[1]

In January 1780 Monroe began studying law with Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. He had earlier been governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state and vice president.Open the full entry. From June to August that year he accompanied the army in North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state in the South Atlantic region of the United States; its capital is Raleigh and its largest city is Charlotte. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on November 21, 1789, becoming the 12th state, and its population in the 2020 census was 10,439,388.Open the full entry as an observer for Governor Jefferson.⁠[1]

On April 4, 1782, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates from King George County; he was admitted to the bar in June and appointed to Virginia’s Council of State on June 7. On June 6, 1783, he was elected to the Continental Congress, where his term ended on October 13, 1786.⁠[1]

On February 16, 1786, Monroe married Elizabeth Kortright in New York. In April that year he lost an election to the Virginia House of Delegates; in October he settled in Fredericksburg and opened a law office. In April 1787 he was elected to the House of Delegates from Spotsylvania County.⁠[1]

He practiced law, including a term as Commonwealth attorney at Fredericksburg.⁠[4]

From June 2 to 27, 1788, Monroe sat in Virginia’s convention on ratifying the Constitution and voted against ratification.⁠[1]

In October 1788 he bought a farm in Albemarle County and became a resident there. On February 2, 1789, he lost a House of Representatives election to James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison (1751–1836) was the fourth president of the United States, serving from 1809 to 1817. He helped frame the Constitution, co-wrote The Federalist and guided the Bill of Rights through Congress, and earlier served as a U.S. representative and secretary of state.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

On November 9, 1790, Monroe was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1793 he bought another farm in Albemarle County, later named Highland.⁠[1]

He bought about 1,000 acres at Thomas Jefferson’s urging.⁠[5]

On May 28, 1794, Monroe was appointed minister to France; his mission ended on December 30, 1796.⁠[1]

George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington (1732–1799) was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Earlier he commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787.Open the full entry sent him to France, where he secured Thomas Paine’s release; his tenure ended after the Jay Treaty strained relations with France.⁠[3]

In August 1797 Monroe returned to Charlottesville, began building a house at Highland and resumed his law practice; on November 23, 1799, he took up residence at Highland.⁠[1]

On December 17, 1799, Monroe was elected governor of Virginia; his term ended on December 9, 1802.⁠[1]

He took part in the suppression of the Virginia slave conspiracy of 1800.⁠[4]

Monroe was appointed minister extraordinary to France on January 12, 1803, minister extraordinary to Spain on March 2 and minister to Great Britain on April 18; on April 30 he signed the Louisiana Purchase treaty.⁠[1]

Under President Thomas Jefferson he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase.⁠[3]

From January 1 to May 26, 1805, Monroe was in Madrid for treaty negotiations. On December 31, 1806, he signed a treaty with Great Britain that President Jefferson did not accept; his mission to Great Britain ended in November 1807.⁠[1]

The treaty omitted a ban on impressment, and Jefferson did not submit it to the Senate, causing a brief rift among the Virginia allies.⁠[3]

On January 21, 1808, dissident Republicans in Virginia nominated Monroe for president. That year he acquired Oak HillOak Hill Capital PartnersOak Hill Capital Partners is a U.S. private equity firm focused on the North American middle market; it grew out of investor Robert M. Bass’s family office, and Bass has long been its lead investor.Open the full entry in Loudoun County.⁠[1]

He challenged James Madison for the 1808 nomination but did not pursue it seriously.⁠[3]

In April 1810 Monroe was elected to the House of Delegates from Albemarle County; on January 18, 1811, he was again elected governor of Virginia, and on April 2 President Madison appointed him secretary of state.⁠[1][3]

Monroe was acting secretary of war from December 19, 1812, to February 5, 1813; on August 27, 1814, he was appointed secretary of war while continuing as secretary of state, and he resigned as secretary of war on March 15, 1815.⁠[1]

During the War of 1812 he reorganized the army and helped defend Washington after the British burned government buildings there in 1814; his wartime service raised his popularity and positioned him for the 1816 Democratic-Republican presidential nomination.⁠[3]

In 1816 Republicans in Congress chose Monroe over William H. Crawford by a caucus vote of 65 to 54; his running mate was New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins.⁠[6]

In the election Monroe received 183 electoral votes to 34 for the Federalist candidate, Rufus King; Monroe won a majority of electoral votes in 16 states, while King carried ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a U.S. state in the New England region. Its capital is Hartford and its largest city is Bridgeport (2010 census). It entered the Union on January 9, 1788, as the 5th state, and had a population of 3,605,944 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic region on the East Coast, with its capital at Dover and Wilmington as its largest city. On December 7, 1787, it became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, entering the Union as the 1st state, and it had a population of 989,948 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry and MassachusettsMassachusettsMassachusetts (officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital and largest city is Boston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on February 6, 1788, the sixth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 7,029,917.Open the full entry.⁠[6][7]

Monroe was inaugurated as president on March 4, 1817. In his first cabinet John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was an American diplomat and politician who served as secretary of state from 1817 to 1825 and as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829, and afterwards sat in the House of Representatives until his death.Open the full entry was secretary of state, William H. Crawford secretary of the treasury and John C. Calhoun secretary of war; all three remained in the second term.⁠[1][8]

His administration is known as the Era of Good Feelings.⁠[2]

In April 1817 the Rush-Bagot Treaty between the United States and Great Britain was signed; from June to September Monroe toured the northern states, and on October 6 he presided at the laying of the cornerstone of the University of Virginia.⁠[1]

The biography by the Papers of James Monroe lists among the events of his eight-year presidency the strengthening of national borders after the War of 1812, the first major depression since the Revolution, the admission of five states, the organization of two federal territories, the debate over support for South American revolutionaries and the rise of the second party system.⁠[4]

In April and May 1818 Andrew JacksonAndrew JacksonAndrew Jackson (1767–1845) was an American soldier and politician who served as President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, after leading U.S. forces to victory at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.Open the full entry invaded FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, and on October 20 the United States and Great Britain concluded a treaty on the U.S.-Canadian border. On February 25, 1819, Monroe signed the Adams-Onís Treaty; from April to July that year he toured the southern states.⁠[1]

The Missouri Compromise was approved on March 6, 1820. It admitted MissouriMissouriMissouri is a state of the United States bounded on the east by the Mississippi River; its capital is Jefferson City, its largest city is Kansas City, and its second-largest is St. Louis. It was admitted to the Union on August 10, 1821, as the 24th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,154,913.Open the full entry as a slave state and MaineMaineMaine is a state in the northeastern United States, bordered by Canada and New Hampshire; its capital is Augusta and its largest city is Portland. It entered the Union on March 15, 1820, as the 23rd state, and had a population of 1,362,359 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry as a free state to keep the balance between slave and free states, and prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30′ in the rest of the Louisiana Territory.⁠[9]

The 36°30′ prohibition was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and in 1857 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.⁠[9]

In the 1820 election Monroe and Tompkins ran unopposed, the first uncontested presidential election since George Washington’s; one elector, William Plumer of New Hampshire, voted for John Quincy Adams, the only electoral vote not cast for Monroe.⁠[6]

Monroe was inaugurated for his second term on March 5, 1821.⁠[1]

On March 8, 1822, Monroe recommended recognition of the new South American republics.⁠[1]

Earlier in 1823 British Foreign Minister George Canning had proposed a joint U.S.-British declaration to deter other powers from intervening in Central and South America; John Quincy Adams opposed cooperating with Britain, arguing that a bilateral statement could limit future U.S. expansion and that Britain had its own imperial motives. The proposal became a unilateral U.S. declaration.⁠[10]

On December 2, 1823, in his seventh annual message to Congress, Monroe set out U.S. policy on the new political order in the Americas, declaring that the American continents “are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” The doctrine rested on three concepts, separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe, non-colonization and non-intervention, and the United States pledged not to interfere in European affairs or in existing European colonies in the Americas.⁠[10][11]

In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt’s Roosevelt Corollary claimed for the United States an “international police power” in the hemisphere, later used to justify sending Marines to Santo Domingo in 1904, Nicaragua in 1911 and Haiti in 1915; during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 the doctrine was invoked when John F. Kennedy imposed a naval and air quarantine.⁠[11]

Monroe’s presidency ended on March 4, 1825, and around March 25 he retired to Oak Hill.⁠[1]

Neglect of his private affairs and heavy expenses during his European missions and presidency left him deeply in debt. Congress authorized $30,000 for him in 1826; after he pressed further claims, Congress paid another $30,000 in 1831.⁠[8]

Monroe was appointed to the board of visitors of Central College, later the University of Virginia, in October 1816; on August 1, 1826, he was appointed to the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors, filling Thomas Jefferson’s place after Jefferson’s death.⁠[1][4]

On October 24, 1826, he declined appointment as a delegate to the convention of American nations in Panama; in January and December 1827 he declined candidacies for governor of Virginia and for vice president.⁠[1]

From October 5 to December 12, 1829, he served as president of the Virginia constitutional convention, his last public office.⁠[1][4]

His son-in-law George Hay died on September 21, 1830, and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, on September 23. In October 1830 Monroe moved to New York City, where he lived in the home of his daughter Maria.⁠[1][8]

Monroe resigned from the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors on May 14, 1831, and died in New York City on July 4, aged 73. Like Thomas Jefferson and John AdamsJohn AdamsJohn Adams (1735–1826) was the first vice president (1789–1797) and the second president (1797–1801) of the United States. Earlier he served in the Continental Congress, was a signer of the Treaty of Paris and became the first American minister to Great Britain.Open the full entry, he died on July 4.⁠[1][2][8]

After his death Congress appropriated a small sum to buy his papers from his heirs.⁠[8]

In 1858, the centennial of his birth, Monroe’s remains were brought back from New York City to Virginia and reinterred with ceremonies in Richmond.⁠[8][12]

The tomb stands in the Monroe Circle of Hollywood Cemetery, donated by the Hollywood Company; it is a cast-iron crypt designed in 1858 by the German-born and German-trained architect Alfred Lybrock, shaped somewhat like a Gothic temple and conceived to be painted to resemble stone.⁠[12]

Elizabeth Kortright was born on June 30, 1768. The couple’s daughter Eliza was born in December 1786 and married George Hay on September 28, 1808; their son, James Spence Monroe, was born in May 1799 and died on September 28, 1800; their daughter Maria Hester Monroe was born on April 8, 1802, and married Samuel Gouverneur on March 9, 1820.⁠[1]

Monroe was the head of an extended family that included children, siblings, friends’ children, enslaved people, employees and other dependents.⁠[4]

Highland was a working plantation where enslaved men, women and children carried out most of the production and maintenance.⁠[5]

Jay Winston Johns bought the property from the heirs of the Rev. John E. Massey in 1930 and left it to William & Mary by his will in 1974; in 2016 William & Mary restored Monroe’s original name, Highland.⁠[5]

After a change in the site’s administration in 2012, researchers re-examined the property and in 2016 found the foundation of the 1799 main house just below ground. Tree-ring dating and architectural evidence showed that the small white house long thought to be a surviving wing of Monroe’s home was a separate guesthouse built around 1818 by the enslaved craftsmen Peter Mallory and George (probably surnamed Williams); the main house probably burned in late 1829.⁠[5]

Liberia was created in 1821 as a haven for freed slaves, and its capital, Monrovia, was named after Monroe, who had supported the repatriation of Black Americans to Africa.⁠[8]

The Miller Center lists his nicknames as “The Last Cocked Hat” and “Era-of-Good-Feelings President.”⁠[13]

The Britannica authors, Samuel Flagg Bemis and others, judge that Monroe “suffers by comparison” with greater contemporaries; they note that Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams and other statesmen praised him, and attribute part of his popularity to his being the last of the Revolutionary generation. John Quincy Adams described him as having “a mind…sound in its ultimate judgments, and firm in its final conclusions.”⁠[8]

The Papers of James Monroe biography sees his eight-year presidency as marking the end of the early republic and the start of the Jackson era.⁠[4]

James Monroe’s Highland: Official website: https://highland.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[14]