James Monroe

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James Monroe, 1758-born James Monroe (1758-1831) was an American statesman, advocate, and Founding Father who served as the country's fifth president from 1817 to 1825.

Monroe, the last president of the Virginia dynasty, was a member of the Democratic Republic of Good Feelings; his reign coincided with the Age of Good Feelings.

He is perhaps best known for launching the Monroe Doctrine, which was a movement in the United States against European colonialism.

He served as the governor of Virginia, as a member of the United States Senate, the US ambassador to France and Britain, the eighth Secretary of State, and Britain's eighth Secretary of War. Monroe, a descendant of a planter family in Westmoreland, Virginia, served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1780 to 1783, after studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783.

Monroe, a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, has opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution.

Early life

In a wooded area of Westmoreland County, Virginia, James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758. The marked location is just one mile from Monroe Hall, Virginia, which is today's unincorporated neighborhood. In 1979, the James Monroe Family Home Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Spence Monroe (1727-1774), a moderately wealthy planter and slave owner who also practiced carpentry, was a moderately wealthy planter and slave owner who also practiced carpentry. Elizabeth Jones, (1730–1772) married Spence Monroe in 1752, and they had five children: Elizabeth, James Spence, Andrew, and Joseph Jones.

Patrick Andrew Monroe, his paternal great-grandfather, immigrated from Scotland in the mid-century and was a member of Clan Munro, an ancient Scottish clan. In 1650, he patented a large tract of property in Washington Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia. James Jones' mother was the daughter of James Jones, who immigrated from Wales and settled in King George County, Virginia. Jones, a wealthy architect, was a wealthy architect. French Huguenot immigrants, who immigrated to Virginia in 1700, were also among James Monroe's ancestors.

Monroe was enrolled in Campbelltown Academy, the county's only lone school. He attended this school for only 11 weeks a year, because his hands were relying on the farm. During this period, Monroe began a lifelong friendship with John Marshall, an older classmate. Monroe's mother died in 1772 and his father two years later. Despite inheriting slaves from both of his parents, the 16-year-old Monroe was forced to withdraw from school to help his younger brothers. Joseph Jones, Joseph Jones, Jr., Joseph Jones, a childless father, became Monroe and his siblings' surrogate father. Jones, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, led Monroe to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he was enrolled in the College of William and Mary. Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Washington were among the many Virginians introduced to Monroe by Jones. In 1774, opposition to the British government grew in the Thirteen Colonies in reaction to the "Intolerable Acts," and Virginia sent a delegation to the First Continental Congress. Monroe became involved in the rebellion against Lord Dunmore, Virginia's colonial governor, and was instrumental in the governor's Palace's wrangling.

Monroe dropped out of college and joined the Continental Army's 3rd Virginia Regiment in early 1776, about a year and a half after his enrollment. Monroe was promoted to lieutenant as the fledgling army admired literacy among its troops under Captain William Washington. Monroe and 700 Virginia infantrymen were called north to serve in the New York and New Jersey campaigns after months of preparation. George Washington, a New York City soldier, led the army in a retrenchment from New Jersey to Pennsylvania shortly after the Virginians returned from New York City. In late December, Monroe participated in a surprise assault on a Hessian encampment at the Battle of Trenton. Despite being successful, Monroe suffered a broken artery in the fight and nearly died. Washington praised Monroe and William Washington for their bravery, and promoted Monroe to captain. Monroe returned to Virginia to recruit his own army of troops after his wounds were treated. His participation in the war was commemorated in John Trumbull's painting The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776, as well as Emanuel Leutze's 1851 Washington Crossing the Delaware.

Monroe instead begged his uncle to return him to the front after being unable to motivate soldiers to join his army. Monroe was posted to the service of General William Alexander, Lord Stirling. During this period, he developed a close friendship with Marquis de Lafayette, a French soldier who urged him to see the war as part of a larger movement against religious and political tyranny. Monroe fought in the Philadelphia campaign and spent the winter of 1777-78 at the encampment of Valley Forge, sharing a log cabin with Marshall. The destitute Monroe resigned his position in December 1778 and joined his uncle in Philadelphia after serving in Monmouth. After the British enslaved Savannah, the Virginia legislature decided to raise four regiments, and Monroe returned to his home state in the hopes of obtaining his own command. Monroe was given a commission as a lieutenant colonel and was supposed to command one of the regiments after receiving letters of recommendation from Washington, Stirling, and Alexander Hamilton, but recruiting proved to be a challenge once more. Monroe returned to Williamsburg to study law, becoming a protege of Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson, according to Jones' advice.

With the British increasingly focusing on Southern colonies, the Virginians migrated the capital to Richmond, the more defensible city of Richmond, and Monroe followed Jefferson to the new capital. Jefferson kept control of its army as governor of Virginia, and named Monroe a colonel. Monroe established a messenger network to coordinate with the Continental Army and other state militias. Monroe went back to King George County, and thus was not present for the British raid of Richmond, but was unable to raise an army due to a shortage of interested recruits. Monroe did not serve during the Yorktown campaign, contributing to his inability to participate in the Siege of Yorktown. Despite Andrew Jackson's service in a militia unit at the age of 13, Monroe is the last United States president who was not an officer of the Continental Army and served in combat. Monroe became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati as a result of his service.

Monroe revived learning law under Jefferson's tenure, which continued until 1783. He was not particularly interested in legal theory or practice, but decided to take it because it offered "the most immediate benefits" and could have a positive influence on his career, social standing, and political influence. Monroe was accepted into the Virginia bar and spent time in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

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Early political career

In 1782, Monroe was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He was elected to the Confederation in November 1783 and served in Annapolis until Congress convened in Trenton, New Jersey, in June 1784. He had been in office for a total of three years when he finally resigned from that office by the rule of rotation. The government was still meeting in New York City's temporary capital by that time. Monroe undertook a lengthy trip across Western New York and Pennsylvania in 1784 to investigate the Northwest's weather. The tour convinced him that the US had to convince Britain to abandon its posts in the region and regain control of the Northwest. Monroe became a promoter of western expansion while serving in Congress and was instrumental in the creation and adoption of the Northwest Ordinance. The charter established the Northwest Territory, which provided for federal control of the territories located west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River. Jefferson continued to serve as a mentor to Monroe during this period, and at Jefferson's behest, he befriended James Madison, a prominent Virginian.

Monroe resigned from congress in 1786 to concentrate on his legal career, and he became an attorney for the state. Monroe was elected to another term in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1787. Despite being outspoken in his desire to reform the Articles, he was unable to attend the Philadelphia Convention due to his work commitments. Monroe was a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788. The fight over the ratification of the ratified Constitution in Virginia involved more than a simple clash between federalists and anti-federalists. Virginians had a wide variety of views on the merits of the proposed reform in national government. Leading supporters in Washington and Madison were Patrick Henry and George Mason, respectively; leading critics were George Mason and Patrick Henry. Many that occupied the middle ground in the ideological war became the central figures. These "federalists for Changes," led by Monroe and Edmund Pendleton, protested the absence of a bill of rights and worried about handing over taxation authority to the central government. The Virginia convention ratified the constitution by a narrow margin after Madison changed himself and promised to pass a bill of rights, though Monroe voted against it. Virginia was the tenth state to ratify the Constitution, and all thirteen states eventually ratified the treat.

Henry and other anti-federalists hoped to elect a Congress that would amend the Constitution to strip the majority of the power away from it (commit suicide on [its] own authority), as Madison put it. Monroe ran against Madison for a seat in the First Congress, and the Virginia legislature created a congressional district destined to elect Monroe. During the campaign, Madison and Monroe travelled together, and the election did not destroy their friendship. Madison's Fifth District won by a massive vote over Monroe, garnering 1,308 votes in comparison to Monroe's 972. Following his remission, Monroe returned to his legal positions and started his farm in Charlottesville. After Senator William Grayson's death in 1790, Virginia legislators selected Monroe to serve the remainder of Grayson's term.

During George Washington's presidency, U.S. politics became more divided between Secretary of State Jefferson and the Federalists, led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Monroe voted in favor of Hamilton's strong central government and solid executive. Around Jefferson and Madison, the Democratic-Republican Party coalesced, and Monroe became one of the fledgling party's leaders in the Senate. He also aided in the 1792 election in the resistance to John Adams, although Adams defeated George Clinton to re-elect him as vice president. The French Revolutionary Wars ruled US foreign policy as the 1790s began, with British and French raids both threatening US exports with Europe. Monroe, like most Jeffersonians, supported the French Revolution, but Hamilton's followers more sympathized with Britain. In 1794, eager to find a way to avoid war between the two nations, Washington named Monroe as his minister (ambassador) to France. He also appointed anglophile Federalist John Jay as his British minister to Britain.

Monroe spoke at the National Convention in France, receiving a standing ovation for his address in France honoring republicanism. He had several early diplomatic triumphs, including the shielding of the US trade from French attacks. Thomas Paine and Adrienne de La Fayette, the wife of the Marquis de Lafayette, were also able to obtain the release of Thomas Paine and Adrienne de La Fayette. The Jay Treaty was signed in France months after Monroe arrived in France, outraging both the French and Monroe who were not fully aware of the treaty at the time of its publication. Despite the undesirable effects of the Jay Treaty on Franco-American relations, Monroe received French support for US navigational rights on the Mississippi River, the mouth of which was run by Spain, and in 1795, the United States and Spain signed Pinckney's Treaty. The treaty gave the United States limited rights to use New Orleans' port.

Monroe was found to be inefficient and disruptive, and it was not in accordance with the national interest. In November 1796, he recalled Monroe. He resumed his dual careers as both a farmer and attorney, returning to Charlottesville. Jefferson and Madison urged Monroe to run for Congress, but Monroe instead stayed on state politics.

In 1798, Monroe published A View of the Executive's Behavior in the Foreign Affairs of the United States: The Mission to the French Republic is linked to the mission to the French Republic, which is a book published in 1798. It was a long fight for his tenure as Minister of France. He followed Robert Livingston's advice that he should "repress every inflammatory and acrimonious" remark about Washington. However, he did argue that the US government had been too close to Britain, particularly in the case of the Jay Treaty. "Mr. Monroe was cajoled, flattered, and led to believe bizarre things," Washington wrote on this paper. He did, or was able to do, whatever was pleasing to the country, but he was reluctantly requesting the rights of his own."

James Reynolds and Jacob Clingman were arrested in November 1792 for counterfeiting and speculating in Revolutionary War veterans' unpaid back pay. The charges were investigated by Then-Senator Monroe and congressmen Frederick Muhlenberg and Abraham Venable. Alexander Hamilton had been making payments to James Reynolds, and they suspected Hamilton of being complicit in the crimes. Hamilton denied being involved in the financial crimes, but admitted that he'd made payments to Reynolds, and that he'd had an affair with Reynolds' wife, Maria. James Reynolds had discovered him and was blackmailing him. He wrote letters to prove his tale. The investigators immediately dismissed the matter, and Monroe promised Hamilton that they would keep the matter private.

Jacob Clingman told Maria about the fact that she had a mate with Hamilton and denied it, saying the letters had been forged to conceal the dishonesty. This was Clingman's first visit to Monroe. Monroe added the interview to his notes and sent the entire set to a friend, possibly Thomas Jefferson, for safe keeping. The secretary who was in possession of the investigation made copies and gave them to scandal writer James Callender, but unfortunately, he didn't have to do so.

Callender released charges against Hamilton five years later, shortly after Monroe was recalled from France. Hamilton and his wife feared this was revenge on Monroe's part for the recall and approached him via letter. Hamilton accused Monroe of lying in a subsequent meeting between the two of them, where Hamilton had suggested that they each carry a "second" badge, and threatened him to a duel. Although such confrontations were usually hot air, Monroe replied, "I am ready, get your pistols." Hamilton's seconds arrived, and an agreement was made to provide Hamilton with information about what had happened with the investigation.

Hamilton was not satisfied with the subsequent explanations, and the two were still angry at the end of a letter exchange, and they threatened duels. Monroe selected Aaron Burr as his second in second. Burr served as a negotiator between the two groups, despite their respective being "childish" and eventually settling cases.

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