Professor Dave here, I wanna tell you about
James Monroe.
Born into the planter class, James Monroe
fought in the Revolution under Washington,
and saw combat during the disastrous Battle
of Long Island, which was the first – and
nearly last – major battle of the War.
He crossed the Delaware with Washington on
Christmas Eve, 1776, and is depicted holding
the American flag in John Trumbull’s famous
painting, “Washington Crossing the Delaware.”
He was wounded the next morning during the
Battle of Trenton with a musket ball shot
to his shoulder.
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 considering ratification of the
new Constitution, Monroe opposed ratification.
He claimed it gave too much power to the Federal
government.
But he took an active part in the new government,
and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate of
the first United States Congress, where he
joined Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans.
He rose to national prominence as a diplomat
in France when he negotiated the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803.
During the War of 1812, Monroe held both the
critical roles of Secretary of State and the
Secretary of War under President James Madison,
the only man ever to hold both positions simultaneously.
Facing little opposition from the disorganized
Federalist Party, Monroe was easily elected
president in 1816, as the Federalist candidate
only carried three states.
President Monroe bought Florida from Spain
for five million dollars, and embarked on
a tour of the country that was generally well
received.
He largely ignored party lines in making appointments
to lower posts, which reduced old political
tensions.
He made two long national tours in 1817 to
build national trust, thus inaugurating the
“Era of Good Feelings”, which lasted through
his administration.
With the ratification of the Treaty of 1818,
the United States resolved boundary issues
with Britain, and the country extended from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, giving America
harbor and fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest,
while jointly occupying the Oregon Country.
It represented America’s first determined
attempt at creating an “American global
empire.”
But a dispute over the admission of Missouri
to the union embroiled the country in 1820,
threatening national unity.
On February 3rd, 1819, New York Congressman
James Tallmadge Jr. submitted two amendments
to Missouri’s request for statehood.
The first proposed to federally prohibit further
slave migration into Missouri; the second
would require all slave offspring, born after
statehood, to be freed at 25 years of age.
At issue among southern legislators was intrusion
by their northern free state colleagues regarding
slave labor.
Northern critics objected to the expansion
of slavery into the Louisiana Purchase territory
because of the three-fifths rule, which counted
slaves as three-fifths of a person in the
states’ population, even though they had
no right to vote.
The slave-holding states were acutely aware
that maintaining a balance between free and
slave states was necessary to ensure political
equilibrium in the US Senate.
With the Senate evenly split, both sections
possessing 11 states, the admission of Missouri
would give the South a two-seat advantage
in the Senate and chip away at the North’s
House majority.
The South sought to enlist Missouri to maintain
Southern political preeminence and ensure
the security of slavery.
The Missouri question ended in stalemate on
March 4th, 1819 as the House sustained the
Northern anti-slavery position, while the
Senate blocked a slave-restricted Missouri
statehood.
But when Maine applied for statehood as a
free state, the Senate quickly made Maine’s
admission a condition for Missouri’s admission
as a slave state, with Illinois Senator Jesse
B. Thomas adding a provision excluding slavery
from all land north of the 36 30’ parallel.
The combined measures passed the Senate, but
were voted down in the House by Northern representatives
who held out for a free Missouri.
Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky,
in a desperate bid to break the deadlock,
divided the Senate bills.
Clay and his allies succeeded in pressuring
half the House Southerners to allow the Illinois
provision while persuading Northern House
members to allow admission of Missouri as
a slave state.
The Missouri Compromise was passed on March
2nd, 1820.
Thus, a national crisis was averted, though
only temporarily.
The collapse of the Federalists left Monroe
with no organized opposition at the end of
his first term, and he ran for reelection
unopposed, which has never occurred since.
A single elector from New Hampshire cast a
vote for John Quincy Adams in order to preserve
Washington’s legacy as the only recipient
of a unanimous Electoral College vote.
After the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815, most
of Spain and Portugal’s colonies in Latin
America revolted and declared independence.
Americans welcomed this development as a validation
of the spirit of self-governance.
However, there was a Russian claim to the
Pacific Coast down to the 51st Parallel while
European pressures mounted to have Latin America
returned to its previous colonial status.
On December 2nd, 1823, in his annual report
to Congress, Monroe formally announced American
opposition to any foreign intervention in
the recently independent countries of the
Americas, stating that the Americas should
be free from future European colonization
and free from any foreign interference in
sovereign nations’ affairs.
He further stated the United States’ intent
to stay neutral in European affairs, but also
that he would consider any attempts at new
colonies or interference with independent
nations in the Americas as hostile acts toward
the United States.
Monroe stated that since stable governments
had been established in Argentina, Colombia,
Chile, and Mexico, the policy of the United
States was to uphold republican institutions,
seek treaties of commerce on a most-favored-nation
basis with free nations, and oppose any attempts
to return them to colonial status.
The articulation of an “American system”
distinct from that of Europe was a basic tenet
of Monroe’s policy toward Latin America
and he was proud that the United States was
the first nation to recognize the freed colonies
in support of “liberty and humanity.”
This proclamation became known as the Monroe
Doctrine, a landmark in American foreign policy.
Although it is Monroe’s most famous contribution
to American history, the statement was actually
written by his Secretary of State, John Quincy
Adams.
Monroe and Adams realized that American recognition
would not protect the new independent countries
from military attempts to restore Spain’s
power.
Britain proposed that they and the United
States jointly declare their opposition to
European intervention, as the British also
opposed any re-conquest of Latin America and
suggested that the US join in proclaiming
a “hands off” policy.
Ex-presidents Jefferson and Madison urged
Monroe to accept the offer, but Adams advised
caution, saying it would be better “to avow
our principles explicitly to Russia and France,
than to come... in the wake of the British
man-of-war.”
Monroe accepted Adams’ advice and proclaimed
that not only must Latin America be left alone,
but warned Russia not to encroach southward
on the Pacific coast.
“The American continents,” he stated,
“by the free and independent condition which
they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European Power.”
The Monroe Doctrine held that any future foreign
effort to gain further political control in
the hemisphere or to violate the independence
of existing states would be treated as an
act of hostility.
It is to Monroe and Adams’ great credit
that there have been few serious European
attempts at intervention since.
Monroe’s presidency was the end of an era;
not only was he the last of the Founding Fathers
but his Presidency marked the end of the first
period of American presidential history.
He was the last U.S. President to wear a powdered
wig, knee-breeches, and tri-cornered hat,
earning him the nickname “Last Cocked Hat.”
He was also the last of the Virginia slave
holding Founding Fathers.
Yet as President, he alone tried to make restitution
by providing passage back to the West Coast
of Africa for the freed descendants of kidnapped
Africans.
They founded a new nation named Liberia and
named its capital Monrovia in gratitude.
Following his retirement in 1825, Monroe died
in New York City on July 4th, 1831, becoming
the third president to die on Independence
Day.
His presidency was a tremendous success and
historians have rated him highly.
