Ingles iii

“MADRE DE DIOS CAPITAL DE LA BIODIVERSIDAD DEL PERÚ.
FEAR : JAMES MONROE
FACULTY : Ecoturismo
RACE : Administration And Business International
COURSE : English III
SEMESTER : II-2014
TEACHER : Edward LIZARAZO
NAME : Edwin TITTO IQUISE
PUERTO MALDONADO
2014

Administration and business international
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INDEX
I. THE BIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................. 3
1.1. James monroe........................................................................................................... 4
1.2. Life in Brief................................................................................................................. 5
II. LIFE BEFORE THE PRESIDENCY ................................................................................ 5
2.1. The political life......................................................................................................... 5
2.2. Quick Jump into Politics ........................................................................................ 6
III. MINISTER TO FRANCE AND BRITAIN .................................................................... 7
3.1. Secretary of State and Secretary of War............................................................ 9
3.2. Era of Good Feelings............................................................................................. 10
3.3. Spanish Florida and the Monroe Doctrine....................................................... 11
IV. CAMPAIGNS AND ELECTIONS............................................................................... 12
4.1. The Campaign and Election of 1816.................................................................. 12
4.2. The Election of 1820 .............................................................................................. 13
4.3. Domestic Affairs..................................................................................................... 13
4.4. Monroe's Cabinet ................................................................................................... 14
4.5. The Panic of 1819................................................................................................... 14
4.6. The American System........................................................................................... 16
4.7. Life After the Presidency...................................................................................... 17
4.8. Impact and Legacy................................................................................................. 18
V. HIGH POLITICAL OFFICE............................................................................................. 19
VI. EASY RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE..................................................................... 20
6.1. National Tours......................................................................................................... 20
6.2. Monroe's Cabinet ................................................................................................... 21
6.3. The Missouri Compromise................................................................................... 21
6.4. The American System........................................................................................... 22
6.5. Political Parties....................................................................................................... 23
VII. SPANISH FLORIDA .................................................................................................... 24
7.1. Monroe Doctrine..................................................................................................... 26
VIII. Economic Changes.................................................................................................... 29
IX. Bibliographies............................................................................................................. 31

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I. THE BIOGRAPHY
revolutionary activities. With a group of classmates, he raided the arsenal at the
British Governor's Palace, escaping with 200 muskets and 300 swords, which
the students presented to the Virginia militia. He became an officer in the
Continental Army in early 1776 and, shortly thereafter, joined General George
Washington's army at New York. He was severely wounded at the Battle of
Trenton.
Monroe was promoted to captain and then major, and was assigned to the staff
of General William Alexander, where he served for more than a year. After
resigning his commission in the Continental Army in 1779, he was appointed
colonel in the Virginia service. In 1780, Governor Thomas Jefferson sent
Monroe to North Carolina to report on the advance of the British.
While a delegate to the Continental Congress in New York, James Monroe met
Elizabeth Kortright in 1785. They were married the following year and eventually
had three children Eliza Kortright Monroe, James Spence Monroe (who died in
infancy), and Maria Hester Monroe. Despite Monroe's many trips abroad, he
spent precious little time away from his family, since they usually accompanied
him on his travels.
The Monroes were devoted parents and gave much attention to their daughters.
James believed education was important for girls as well as boys, and his
daughters were well-educated for the era. Even after the marriages of their
daughters, James and Elizabeth remained in close contact with them and were
fond of both their sons-in-law. Indeed, for a time, Eliza and her husband lived in
the White House with her parents, and she served as White House hostess
when her mother was unwell. After Elizabeth's death in 1830, James and Eliza
moved to New York City to live with Maria and her family.
James Monroe was born in 1758
to prosperous Virginia planters. His
parents died when he was a
teenager, leaving him part of the
family farm. He enrolled at the
College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg in 1774, and almost
immediately began participating in

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1.1. James monroe
James 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.
Monroe's parents died when he was in his mid-teens, his father having passed
away in 1774 and his mother likely doing so some time earlier (though her
actual date of death is unknown). James and his siblings shared an inheritance
of land and some slaves, and he and his two brothers his sister had already
married became wards of their uncle, Joseph Jones. Jones became a mentor
and friend to James, often offering him advice and support.
In 1774, Monroe entered the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg,
Virginia. His education took place not only in the classroom but also throughout
the town, which was the capital of colonial Virginia. It was an exciting time to be
in Williamsburg. Royal Governor Dunmore had fled the capital, fearing that the
colonists were a danger to him and his family; after he left, Monroe and some of
his fellow classmates helped loot the arsenal at the Governor's Palace. They
escaped with 200 muskets and 300 swords, which they donated to the Virginia
militia. By the winter of 1776, in the wake of Lexington and Concord, Monroe
had joined the Virginia infantry. He became an officer in the Continental Army
and joined General George Washington's army in New York.
During the Revolution, Monroe fought with distinction in several important
battles, including Trenton, Monmouth, Brandywine, and Germantown. He was
severely hurt at the Battle of Trenton, suffering a near fatal wound to his
shoulder as he led a charge against enemy cannon. After recuperating, he
became a staff officer for General William Alexander. By the end of his service
with the Continental Army, he had gained the rank of major; however, because
of an excess of officers, he had little possibility of commanding soldiers in the
field. He thus resigned his commission in the Continental Army in 1779 and was
appointed colonel in the Virginia service. In 1780, Governor Thomas Jefferson
sent Monroe to North Carolina to report on the advance of the British.

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1.2. Life in Brief
James 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.
II. LIFE BEFORE THE PRESIDENCY
Born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, James Monroe
enjoyed all the advantages accruing to the son of a prosperous planter. His
father, Spence Monroe, traced his ancestry back to relative who had fought at
the side of Charles I in the English civil wars before being captured and exiled
to Virginia in 1649. His mother, Elizabeth Jones Monroe, was of Welsh heritage
but little is known about her. Beginning at the age of 11, Monroe attended a
school run by Reverend Archibald Campbell. His time at this school overlapped
with that of John Marshall, who later became the chief justice of the United
States.
2.1. The political life
In 1787, Monroe began serving in the Virginia assembly and was chosen the
following year as a delegate to the Virginia convention considering ratification of
the new U.S. Constitution. He voted against ratification, holding out for the
direct election of presidents and senators, and for the inclusion of a bill of rights.
Partly due to politicians, such as Monroe, who brought attention to the omission
of such constitutional guarantees, the Bill of Rights became the first ten
amendments of the Constitution upon ratification in 1791.
Although Monroe narrowly lost a congressional election to James Madison in
1790, the Virginia state legislature appointed him to the U.S. Senate. As a
member of that body, he allied himself with Madison and Thomas Jefferson, his
close personal friends, against the Federalist faction led by Vice President John
Adams and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.

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In 1794, President Washington sent Monroe to Paris as U.S. minister to France.
Monroe's actions as minister angered the Federalists, however, and
Washington recalled him in 1797. In 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia,
where he served three one-year terms. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson
sent him back to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe
continued to serve his government in Europe, representing the United States as
U.S. minister to Britain from 1803 to 1807, with a brief stint as special envoy to
Spain in 1805.
After he returned home, dissident Republicans nominated him to oppose James
Madison for the Democratic-Republican presidential nomination in 1808.
Monroe, however, never considered the challenge serious, and Madison won
the election easily. Monroe was once again elected governor of Virginia in
January 1811, but headed back to Washington, D.C., that April, when President
Madison named him secretary of state. Monroe served in that capacity, and
also for a time as secretary of war, until 1817.
When President Madison announced his decision to continue the custom of
serving only two terms, Monroe became the logical candidate for the
Democratic-Republicans. After some maneuvering within the party, Monroe
prevailed to win the nomination. He had little opposition during the general
election campaign. The Federalists were so out of favor with the public that a
majority had abandoned the party name altogether. They ultimately nominated
New York's Rufus King, but the result was a foregone conclusion. In the
Electoral College, Monroe carried sixteen states to King's three.
Monroe began his presidency by embarking on a presidential tour, a practice
initiated by George Washington. His trip through the northern states took fifteen
weeks, by which time more Americans had seen him than they had any other
sitting President. A newspaper in Boston described Monroe's reception there as
the beginning of a new "Era of Good Feelings" for the nation. The President
later made two similar tours, one of the Chesapeake Bay area in 1818 and one
of the South and West in 1819.
2.2. Quick Jump into Politics
After the war, Monroe studied law, taking Thomas Jefferson as his mentor. He
was elected to the Virginia Assembly in 1782 and then served on the Council of

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State, which advised the governor. Elected to the Continental Congress in
1783, Monroe worked for expanding the power of Congress, organizing
government for the western country, and protecting American navigation on the
Mississippi River.
While in New York as a member of the Continental Congress, Monroe met
Elizabeth Kortright, the daughter of Lawrence Kortright, a prominent local
merchant who had lost much of his wealth during the Revolution. She was
sixteen at the time, and Monroe was twenty-six; they married the following year,
on February 16, 1786. Having passed the Virginia bar in 1782, Monroe and his
new bride moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he practiced law.
Among the leading political figures in Virginia, Monroe exhibited an independent
streak when he voted against ratifying the U.S. Constitution as a delegate to the
state's ratification convention. He wanted a Constitution that allowed for the
direct election of senators as well as the President, and the inclusion of a strong
bill of rights. After the ratification of the new Constitution, Monroe unsuccessfully
challenged James Madison for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Monroe lost by 300 votes, yet the state legislature appointed him to the U.S.
Senate in 1790. He thereafter joined with Madison and Jefferson, with whom he
had become friendly in the mid-1780s, to oppose the Federalist policies
championed by Vice President John Adams and Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton. The three Virginians would remain lifelong friends and
allies.
III. MINISTER TO FRANCE AND BRITAIN
In 1794, President George Washington sent Monroe to Paris as U.S. minister to
France. It was an eventful appointment that lasted two years. When Thomas
Paine, the British pamphleteer and supporter of the American Revolution, was
imprisoned for having spoken against the execution of King Louis XVI, Monroe
won his release and allowed Paine to live for a time with his family at the
American minister's residence in Paris.
Monroe's tenure in France was far from easy. Revolutionary France was an
unstable place and the new minister had to tread carefully. His mission was to
uphold President Washington's policy of strict neutrality toward Britain and
France while still assuring the French that America was not favoring Britain.
This task became harder when France learned that the United States had

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signed a new accord the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. When France asked
Monroe to spell out its details, the President found himself unable to comply:
Jay had refused to send him a copy of the document. Although Monroe told the
French that the treaty did not alter their agreements, the French were convinced
that the United States now favored Britain. In the end, U.S. domestic politics
doomed Monroe's tenure in Paris. The Federalists blamed Monroe for
deteriorating relations with France, and Washington recalled him.
Out of power momentarily, Monroe returned to Virginia to practice law and
attend to his plantations. He was elected governor in 1799 and worked
vigorously in support of public education and the election of Thomas Jefferson
as President in 1800. In 1803, the victorious Jefferson sent Monroe to France
as a special envoy to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe then
served as the U.S. minister to Britain from 1803 to 1807 with a brief stint as a
special envoy to Spain in 1805. In Spain, Monroe tried to negotiate a treaty to
cede the Spanish territory along the Gulf of Mexico to the United States.
However, he soon realized that Spain had no intention of signing such a treaty
and so returned to Britain.
During his tenure in Britain, he tried to negotiate an end to impressments—the
British practice of seizing U.S. sailors and forcing them to serve in the British
Navy. Although Monroe signed a treaty with Britain in 1806 resolving some
outstanding issues, the treaty did not include a ban on impressments, and
President Jefferson did not even submit the treaty to the U.S. Senate for
consideration. Monroe was upset that Jefferson and Secretary of State James
Madison did not see the treaty as he did as a first step toward better relations
with Britain. But Jefferson and Madison knew that current political attitudes
would never support a treaty without a ban on impressments. Although this
episode caused a brief rift between the three friends, Monroe recognized that
the President had to take domestic politics into account when considering his
foreign policy options.
Following his return home in 1808, Monroe was tapped by dissident
Republicans to oppose Madison for the Democratic-Republican presidential
nomination. Although Monroe allowed himself to be nominated, he never
considered his challenge to Madison seriously and stressed that he differed with
Madison only with respect to foreign affairs; in all other areas, the two saw eye-

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to-eye. Madison easily won the 1808 presidential election. Three years later, in
January 1811, Monroe was once again elected governor of Virginia, though he
did not serve for long; that April, Madison named him secretary of state.
3.1. Secretary of State and Secretary of War
As the nation's chief diplomat, Monroe focused on relations with Britain and
France. The two European countries were at war with one another and their
fighting infringed upon U.S. shipping and trade. The United States wanted
France and Britain to respect American commercial interests as befitted those
of a neutral country. Although both nations targeted American trade, the
Madison administration concentrated primarily on Britain because of its frequent
practice of seizing U.S. sailors and forcing them to serve in the British navy.
The United States declared war on Britain in June 1812, but the war was far
from popular. Many New Englanders found that it disrupted their access to
European markets. Additional numbers thought that neutrality rights were not a
sufficient reason to go to war. However, Madison and Monroe both believed that
the United States needed to resist British depredations by force of arms.
From the beginning, the war was a disaster for the United States. The army was
unequipped and unprepared, and the initial military actions resulted in defeat.
When Madison's secretary of war resigned, Monroe took over the office on a
temporary basis, from December 1812 to February 1813; he would do so again
from August 1814 until March 1815. Monroe was well suited to the demands of
the post because of his understanding of the military and his strong
organizational skills. He helped reorganize the army and brought new energy to
the war effort.
In August 1814, when British troops appeared at the mouth of the Potomac
River, Monroe led a scouting party to report on their advance. He sent word to
Madison warning that the British were marching toward Washington, D.C. As
British troops headed toward the capital, Monroe stayed in the city to help with
its evacuation. After the British attacked Washington and burned most of the
government buildings, Monroe returned to the city. Madison then placed him in
charge of its defenses.
Monroe's popularity rose after the war, due to his tireless service in Madison's
cabinet. A new generation of war veterans would remember his leadership with

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fondness and respect, leaving him well-positioned to receive the Democratic-
Republican nomination for President in the 1816 election.
3.2. Era of Good Feelings
At the beginning of Monroe's presidency, the nation had much to feel good
about. It had declared victory in the War of 1812 and its economy was booming,
allowing the administration to turn its attention toward domestic issues. The
economy was booming. The organized opposition, in the form of the
Federalists, had faded largely from sight, although the government had adopted
many Federalist programs, including protective tariffs and a national bank. The
President, moreover, was personable, extremely popular, and interested in
reaching out to all the regions of the country.
Monroe faced his first crisis as President with the Panic of 1819, which resulted
in high unemployment as well as increased foreclosures and bankruptcies.
Some critics derided Monroe for not responding more forcefully to the
depression. Although he believed that such troubles were natural for a maturing
economy and that the situation would soon turn around, he could do little to
alleviate their short-term effects.
Monroe's second crisis came the same year, when the entrance of Missouri to
the Union as a slave state threatened to disrupt the legislative balance between
North and South. Congress preserved that equilibrium, negotiating a
compromise in which Massachusetts allowed its northernmost counties to apply
for admission to the Union as the new free state of Maine. The Missouri
Compromise also called for the prohibition of slavery in the western territories of
the Louisiana Purchase above the 36/30' north latitude line. Monroe worked in
support of the compromise and, after ascertaining that the provisions were
constitutional, signed the bill.
In trying to sustain the "Era of Good Feelings," Monroe had hoped to preside
over the decline of political parties. However, his administration offered only a
brief respite from divisive partisan politics. The rancor surrounding the 1824
presidential election was a reminder that strong feelings still animated American
political life even without the existence of two distinct parties. In fact, the
Monroe presidency stood at the forefront of a transition from the first party
system of the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists to the second party
system of the Democrats and the Whigs.

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3.3. Spanish Florida and the Monroe Doctrine
In 1818, President Monroe sent General Andrew Jackson to Spanish Florida to
subdue the Seminole Indians, who were raiding American settlements. Liberally
interpreting his vague instructions, Jackson led his troops deep into areas of
Florida under the control of Spain and captured two Spanish forts. In addition to
securing greater protection for American settlements, the mission pointed out
the vulnerability of Spanish rule in Florida. Monroe and his secretary of state,
John Quincy Adams, used that vulnerability to pressure Spain into selling
Florida to the United States.
As Spain's dominion in the America's continued to disintegrate, revolutions
throughout its colonies brought independence to Argentina, Peru, Chile,
Colombia, and Mexico. When European powers threatened to form an alliance
to help Spain regain its lost domains, Monroe, with the prodding of Secretary of
State Adams, declared that America would resist European intervention in the
Western Hemisphere. Announced in the President's message to Congress on
December 2, 1823, the Monroe Doctrine thus became a cornerstone of
American foreign policy.
Leaving Washington after a lifetime of public service, Monroe and his wife
retired to their estate in Loudoun County, Virginia. Monroe returned to private

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life deeply in debt and spent many of his later years trying to resolve his
financial problems. He petitioned the government to repay him for past services,
with the government eventually providing a portion of the amount he sought.
After his wife died in 1830, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his
daughter. He died there on July 4, 1831.
IV. CAMPAIGNS AND ELECTIONS
4.1. The Campaign and Election of 1816
When James Madison announced his decision to continue the custom of
serving only two terms as President, James Monroe stood in a commanding
position for the Democratic-Republican nomination as Madison's heir apparent.
He encountered opposition, however, as some people chafed at the prospect of
yet another President from Virginia of the first four Presidents, three had been
from the Commonwealth.
Monroe's main opposition came from William H. Crawford, a former senator
from Georgia who had also served in Madison's cabinet. Although Crawford had
a lot of support in Congress, he lacked a national constituency. By contrast,
Monroe had great support throughout the country. Crawford held back from
waging a full campaign for the nomination for fear of alienating Monroe and
losing the possibility of a cabinet seat following a Monroe victory. When
Republicans in Congress caucused to choose their presidential nominee, they
selected Monroe by a vote of 65 to 54. They also nominated New York
Governor Daniel D. Tompkins to run as vice-president.
The Federalists, who had all but disappeared as a political entity in the
aftermath of the War of 1812, did not formally nominate a presidential
candidate. Federalist opposition to the war and public perceptions of the party
as unpatriotic and possibly treasonous led most members to abandon the party
name altogether. The opposition candidate with whom old-time Federalists
identified and informally endorsed was Rufus King of New York, who had had a
long and distinguished public career.
Before the election, a few of King's supporters restated Monroe's diplomatic
failures, but few newspapers openly criticized Monroe or suggested that King
would make a better President. In fact, Monroe's popularity carried the day. He
was respected as the "last framer" of the Constitution, even though he had
opposed its ratification. Supporters also painted him as the man who had fought

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alongside General Washington and as the last of the Revolutionary generation
to be President of the United States. Monroe ended up winning a majority of
electoral votes in sixteen states: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and
Virginia. King won only three states: Connecticut, Delaware, and
Massachusetts. The total Electoral College vote came in at 183 for Monroe and
34 for King.
4.2. The Election of 1820
After four years in office, Monroe's renomination was such a foregone
conclusion that few Democratic-Republicans attended the congressional
nominating caucus in April 1820. Not wanting to embarrass the President with
only a handful of votes, the caucus declined to make a formal nomination.
Neither did the few remaining Federalists bother to endorse an opponent. As a
result, Monroe and Vice President Tompkins ran unopposed.
This was the first time since the election of President Washington that a
presidential election went uncontested. Even former President John Adams,
founder of the Federalist Party, came out of retirement to serve as a Monroe
elector in Massachusetts. Only one of the electors, Governor William Plumer of
New Hampshire, did not vote for Monroe, casting a vote for Secretary of State
John Quincy Adams instead.
4.3. Domestic Affairs
At the beginning of Monroe's presidency, Americans were feeling generally
optimistic. The nation had declared victory in the War of 1812 and the economy
was booming, allowing Monroe to turn his attention toward domestic issues.
The new President, moreover, was personable, extremely popular, and
interested in reaching out to all the regions of the country.
Prior to moving into the still damaged Executive Mansion, which was burned by
the British during the War of 1812, President James Monroe revived the
presidential tour of the country, which was first undertaken by George
Washington. The stated reason for the tour was to inspect defense fortifications,
but it also allowed Monroe to reach out to Americans throughout the nation and
exhibit his relaxed and affable personality. In June 1817, Monroe began his first

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tour of the North, traveling up the coast to Portland, Maine. From there, he
turned west to Detroit and then southeast back to Washington, D.C. The trip
took fifteen weeks and allowed Monroe to come in contact with more people
than any previous sitting President. Everywhere he went, he was praised and
applauded. The Boston Columbian Centinel described his reception in
Massachusetts as the beginning of an "Era of Good Feelings" for the nation—a
phrase that is now often used to describe Monroe's presidency.
The first tour was such a success that Monroe embarked on two others—one of
the Chesapeake Bay area in 1818 and one of the South and West in 1819.
Although those trips did not match the enthusiasm of the first, they gave Monroe
an opportunity to reach out to different regions of the country. All three tours
helped familiarize the people with their President, and Monroe's endearing
personality won many converts.
4.4. Monroe's Cabinet
One of Monroe's first acts as President was to put together his cabinet. Wanting
to assemble a group of advisers from different regions of the country, he turned
to New England native John Quincy Adams as his secretary of state. Adams
had a long diplomatic career, and with their similar backgrounds in foreign
affairs the two men established a good working relationship. Monroe then chose
William H. Crawford from Georgia as secretary of treasury and sought out a
westerner to serve as secretary of war. Unable to persuade his first choices, he
picked to John C. Calhoun from South Carolina. Monroe turned to an old friend,
William Wirt, to be his attorney general and decided to keep Benjamin
Crowninshield as secretary of the navy.
Monroe's cabinet has often been noted as an exceptionally strong one. The
President assembled a group of intelligent and talented men who were very
good administrators. He then gave them a lot of freedom to do their jobs.
Although he encouraged debate and solicited advice from his cabinet, there
was never any doubt that he was firmly in charge. He made the final decisions
and expected his cabinet to support and implement them.
4.5. The Panic of 1819
Two years into his presidency, Monroe faced an economic crisis known as the
Panic of 1819. It was the first major depression to hit the country since the
1780s. The panic stemmed from declining imports and exports, and sagging

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agricultural prices. A number of state banks suspended payment on their notes
and declared bankruptcy, with the Second Bank of the United States shifting to
more conservative policies. The result was high unemployment and an increase
in bankruptcies and foreclosures.
Although some critics derided Monroe for not responding more forcefully to the
economic downturn, he could do little to alleviate its short-term effects. The
power to change economic policies rested with the states and the Bank of the
United States. In addition, Monroe believed that depressions were natural
features of a maturing economy and that the U.S. economy would soon
rebound from the panic (and indeed it did—the depression ended by 1823).
Monroe did support the policy proposed by Secretary of Treasury William
Crawford to relax payment terms on mortgages for lands purchased from the
federal government.
Early in 1819, settlers in the Missouri Territory applied for admission to the
Union. Approximately 16 percent of the Missouri settlers were enslaved blacks,
and most of the white settlers either owned slaves or hoped to become slave
owners in the future. Congressional debate on Missouri exploded when
Congressman James Tallmadge, Jr. of New York attached two amendments to
the statehood bill. The first barred new slaves from entering the state; the
second emancipated all Missouri slaves born after admission upon their 25th
birthday. In other words, the Tallmadge amendments would admit Missouri only
as a free state.
The North held a small majority in the House of Representatives in 1819, and
the South controlled a bare majority in the Senate. Voting on the Tallmadge
amendments was strictly sectional: the amendments passed in the House but
lost in the Senate. The House refused to admit Missouri as a slave state and
the Senate insisted upon it. Monroe, along with many congressional leaders,
understood the volatile nature of the debate and the strong regional divide over
slavery.
However, he thought it was unconstitutional to place special restrictions on the
admission of one state, as the Tallmadge amendments did, and threatened to
veto any bill including such restrictions. Monroe feared that the dispute would
divide the Union and worked in support of a compromise package in Congress.

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However, he did not forcefully inject himself into the process because he did not
want to be accused of meddling in congressional affairs.
A new Congress convened in the winter of 1819, allowing legislators to reach
an accord that settled the dispute. Massachusetts allowed its far northern
counties to apply for admission to the Union as the free, or non-slave, state of
Maine, thus offsetting fears that the South would gain votes in the Senate with
the admission of Missouri. Additionally, it was agreed after much behind-the-
scenes deal-making that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state in return
for the South's willingness to outlaw slavery in western territories above the
36/30' north latitude line. That line would open present-day Arkansas and
Oklahoma to slavery but would forbid it throughout the rest of the Louisiana
Territory land that would eventually be organized into nine states. Monroe
signed the bill on March 6, 1820, after he was satisfied that the provisions were,
indeed, constitutional.
4.6. The American System
As the United States continued to grow, many Americans advocated a system
of internal improvements to help the country develop. Monroe thought this a
good idea; he believed that the young nation needed an improved
infrastructure, including a transportation network to grow and thrive
economically. However, he did not think that the Constitution said anything
about the authority to build, maintain, and operate a national transportation
system. He therefore urged Congress to introduce a constitutional amendment
granting it such power. Congress never acted on his suggestion because many
legislators thought they already had the implied authority to enact such
measures.
The issue came to a head when Congress passed a bill in 1822 to repair the
Cumberland Road, or National Road, and equip it with a system of tolls. This
great national road ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to the town of Wheeling in
western Virginia. Monroe vetoed the bill, however; it was his contention that the
states through which the road passed should undertake the setting up and
collecting of tolls because Congress lacked the authority to do so. Yet after
discussing the issue with many people, including some justices of the U.S.
Supreme Court, the President changed his mind. In 1824, he signed an internal

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improvements bill that allocated money for surveys and estimates for the
proposed roads. In 1825, he signed a bill that extended the Cumberland Road
from Wheeling to Zanesville, Ohio.
4.7. Life After the Presidency
Monroe decided to follow the precedent set by Washington, Jefferson, and
Madison and serve only two terms as President. His decision meant that an
incumbent would not be running for the post in 1824. During the last few years
of Monroe's tenure, some of his initiatives were defeated or delayed simply
because of the maneuverings of those looking forward to the 1824 election. The
main contenders during that campaign season were Secretary of State John
Quincy Adams, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Secretary of Treasury
William H. Crawford, Representative Henry Clay, and Senator Andrew Jackson.
Monroe declared his intention to remain neutral during the election and did not
endorse any candidate.
Following the inauguration of John Quincy Adams as President in 1825, Monroe
remained in the White House for three weeks because his wife was too ill to
travel. The couple then retired to their estate, Oak Hill, in Loudoun County,
Virginia. Monroe was glad to be relieved of the exhausting duties of the
presidency. At Oak Hill, he enjoyed spending time with his family and
overseeing the activities of his farm.
During much of his later life, Monroe worked to resolve his financial difficulties.
He had long served publicly in positions that paid mediocre salaries and
demanded expenditures for entertaining and protocol. Consequently, Monroe
was deeply in debt when he left the presidency. For the next several years, he
spent much of his time pressing the federal government for tens of thousands of
dollars due him from past services. Eventually the federal government repaid
Monroe a portion of the funds he desired, allowing him to pay off his debts and
leave his children a respectable inheritance.
In 1826, Monroe accepted appointment to the Board of Visitors of the University
of Virginia. He was deeply committed to the university founded by his friend
Thomas Jefferson and served on the board until he became too ill to continue.
In 1829, he became president of the Virginia Constitutional Convention.
After struggling to complete a book comparing the U.S. government to the
governments of ancient and modern nations, he abandoned the project and

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started work on his autobiography. It became the major focus of his later years,
but he never completed it. Following his wife's death in 1830, Monroe, age
seventy-two, moved to New York City to live with his daughter and son-in-law.
In the early spring of 1831, Monroe's health steadily declined. He died that year
on July 4, in New York City. Monroe was the third of the first five Presidents to
die on the Fourth of July; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had died on that
day five years earlier. Thousands of mourners followed his hearse up Broadway
in Manhattan to the Gouverneur family vault in Marble Cemetery, while church
bells tolled and guns fired at Fort Columbus. Monroe's body was later moved to
Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
4.8. Impact and Legacy
James Monroe came to the presidency as one of the most qualified men ever to
assume the office. His resume included service in the Revolutionary War, the
Continental Congress, and the U.S. Senate. Monroe also served as governor of
Virginia, filled numerous diplomatic posts, and held two cabinet appointments.
His success as a politician was the result of hard work and a steady and
thoughtful manner. He was noted for his integrity, frankness, and affable
personality, and he impressed those whom he met with his lack of pretension.
As President, Monroe saw the country through a transition period in which it
turned away from European affairs and toward U.S. domestic issues.
During the negotiations that resulted in the Missouri Compromise, his adroit
backstage maneuverings help the country avoid a sectional crisis. His
administration had a number of successes in foreign affairs, including the
acquisition of Florida, the settlement of boundary issues with Britain, and the
fashioning of the Monroe Doctrine. The President's relationship with his
secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, was vital in each of these cases. The
two men had a respect and admiration for each other that led to a successful
working rapport. In fact, Monroe had an ability to assemble great minds and
then allow them the freedom to work. Scholars have long regarded his cabinet
as an exceptionally strong one.
As President, Monroe occasionally suffers from comparison to the other
members of the Virginia Dynasty George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and
James Madison. Indeed, he was not a renaissance man like Jefferson; his
overwhelming interest and passion was politics. But he was a deliberate thinker

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and had the ability to look at issues from all sides, encouraging debate from his
advisers. President Monroe was a great advocate of nationalism and reached
out to all the regions of the country. In foreign policy, he put the nation on an
independent course, no longer tied to the mast of European policy. Although the
nation would have to wait until Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) to see a significant
increase in presidential power over domestic affairs, Monroe's aggressive and
successful conduct of foreign policy undoubtedly strengthened the presidency
itself.
V. HIGH POLITICAL OFFICE
In 1787, Monroe began serving in the Virginia assembly and was chosen the
following year as a delegate to the Virginia convention considering ratification of
the new U.S. Constitution. He voted against ratification, holding out for the
direct election of presidents and senators, and for the inclusion of a bill of rights.
Partly due to politicians, such as Monroe, who brought attention to the omission
of such constitutional guarantees, the Bill of Rights became the first ten
amendments of the Constitution upon ratification in 1791.
Although Monroe narrowly lost a congressional election to James Madison in
1790, the Virginia state legislature appointed him to the U.S. Senate. As a
member of that body, he allied himself with Madison and Thomas Jefferson, his
close personal friends, against the Federalist faction led by Vice President John
Adams and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
In 1794, President Washington sent Monroe to Paris as U.S. minister to France.
Monroe's actions as minister angered the Federalists, however, and
Washington recalled him in 1797. In 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia,
where he served three one-year terms. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson
sent him back to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe
continued to serve his government in Europe, representing the United States as
U.S. minister to Britain from 1803 to 1807, with a brief stint as special envoy to
Spain in 1805.
After he returned home, dissident Republicans nominated him to oppose James
Madison for the Democratic-Republican presidential nomination in 1808.
Monroe, however, never considered the challenge serious, and Madison won
the election easily. Monroe was once again elected governor of Virginia in

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January 1811, but headed back to Washington, D.C., that April, when President
Madison named him secretary of state. Monroe served in that capacity, and
also for a time as secretary of war, until 1817.
VI. EASY RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
6.1. National Tours
Prior to moving into the still damaged Executive Mansion, which was burned by
the British during the War of 1812, President James Monroe revived the
presidential tour of the country, which was first undertaken by George
Washington. The stated reason for the tour was to inspect defense fortifications,
but it also allowed Monroe to reach out to Americans throughout the nation and
exhibit his relaxed and affable personality. In June 1817, Monroe began his first
tour of the North, traveling up the coast to Portland, Maine. From there, he
turned west to Detroit and then southeast back to Washington, D.C. The trip
took fifteen weeks and allowed Monroe to come in contact with more people
than any previous sitting President. Everywhere he went, he was praised and
applauded. The Boston Columbian Centinel described his reception in
Massachusetts as the beginning of an "Era of Good Feelings" for the nation a
phrase that is now often used to describe Monroe's presidency.

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The first tour was such a success that Monroe embarked on two others one of
the Chesapeake Bay area in 1818 and one of the South and West in 1819.
Although those trips did not match the enthusiasm of the first, they gave Monroe
an opportunity to reach out to different regions of the country. All three tours
helped familiarize the people with their President, and Monroe's endearing
personality won many converts.
6.2. Monroe's Cabinet
One of Monroe's first acts as President was to put together his cabinet. Wanting
to assemble a group of advisers from different regions of the country, he turned
to New England native John Quincy Adams as his secretary of state. Adams
had a long diplomatic career, and with their similar backgrounds in foreign
affairs the two men established a good working relationship. Monroe then chose
William H. Crawford from Georgia as secretary of treasury and sought out a
westerner to serve as secretary of war. Unable to persuade his first choices, he
picked to John C. Calhoun from South Carolina. Monroe turned to an old friend,
William Wirt, to be his attorney general and decided to keep Benjamin
Crowninshield as secretary of the navy.
Monroe's cabinet has often been noted as an exceptionally strong one. The
President assembled a group of intelligent and talented men who were very
good administrators. He then gave them a lot of freedom to do their jobs.
Although he encouraged debate and solicited advice from his cabinet, there
was never any doubt that he was firmly in charge. He made the final decisions
and expected his cabinet to support and implement them.
6.3. The Missouri Compromise
Early in 1819, settlers in the Missouri Territory applied for admission to the
Union. Approximately 16 percent of the Missouri settlers were enslaved blacks,
and most of the white settlers either owned slaves or hoped to become slave
owners in the future. Congressional debate on Missouri exploded when
Congressman James Tallmadge, Jr. of New York attached two amendments to
the statehood bill. The first barred new slaves from entering the state; the
second emancipated all Missouri slaves born after admission upon their 25th
birthday. In other words, the Tallmadge amendments would admit Missouri only
as a free state.

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The North held a small majority in the House of Representatives in 1819, and
the South controlled a bare majority in the Senate. Voting on the Tallmadge
amendments was strictly sectional: the amendments passed in the House but
lost in the Senate. The House refused to admit Missouri as a slave state and
the Senate insisted upon it. Monroe, along with many congressional leaders,
understood the volatile nature of the debate and the strong regional divide over
slavery.
However, he thought it was unconstitutional to place special restrictions on the
admission of one state, as the Tallmadge amendments did, and threatened to
veto any bill including such restrictions. Monroe feared that the dispute would
divide the Union and worked in support of a compromise package in Congress.
However, he did not forcefully inject himself into the process because he did not
want to be accused of meddling in congressional affairs.
A new Congress convened in the winter of 1819, allowing legislators to reach
an accord that settled the dispute. Massachusetts allowed its far northern
counties to apply for admission to the Union as the free, or non-slave, state of
Maine, thus offsetting fears that the South would gain votes in the Senate with
the admission of Missouri. Additionally, it was agreed after much behind-the-
scenes deal making that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state in return
for the South's willingness to outlaw slavery in western territories above the
36/30' north latitude line. That line would open present-day Arkansas and
Oklahoma to slavery but would forbid it throughout the rest of the Louisiana
Territory land that would eventually be organized into nine states. Monroe
signed the bill on March 6, 1820, after he was satisfied that the provisions were,
indeed, constitutional.
6.4. The American System
As the United States continued to grow, many Americans advocated a system
of internal improvements to help the country develop. Monroe thought this a
good idea; he believed that the young nation needed an improved
infrastructure, including a transportation network to grow and thrive
economically. However, he did not think that the Constitution said anything
about the authority to build, maintain, and operate a national transportation

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system. He therefore urged Congress to introduce a constitutional amendment
granting it such power. Congress never acted on his suggestion because many
legislators thought they already had the implied authority to enact such
measures.
The issue came to a head when Congress passed a bill in 1822 to repair the
Cumberland Road, or National Road, and equip it with a system of tolls. This
great national road ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to the town of Wheeling in
western Virginia. Monroe vetoed the bill, however; it was his contention that the
states through which the road passed should undertake the setting up and
collecting of tolls because Congress lacked the authority to do so. Yet after
discussing the issue with many people, including some justices of the U.S.
Supreme Court, the President changed his mind. In 1824, he signed an internal
improvements bill that allocated money for surveys and estimates for the
proposed roads. In 1825, he signed a bill that extended the Cumberland Road
from Wheeling to Zanesville, Ohio.
6.5. Political Parties
After the War of 1812, the Federalists were mostly discredited because of their
opposition to the conflict. Although the government had enacted much of their
program, such as the national bank and a protective tariff, they could not mount
a serious challenge to Monroe.
As President, Monroe encouraged the decline of the parties, believing that the
government could operate without them. His tenure was not without
partisanship, however; although Monroe talked about ridding American politics
of party affiliation, he was unwilling to appoint any Federalists to his cabinet,
believing the ideological differences were just too great. In some ways, the
absence of a party system increased his difficulties as President. Without
parties, he could not rely on a presumed loyalty to help accomplish his goals.
With clear divides over issues and the existence of many different factions,
Monroe had to create coalitions and build consensus to get his programs
enacted.
Even without the existence of two clear parties, the evident partisanship in
American politics reached new heights during the presidential election of 1824.

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In fact, during the last few years of his presidency, some of Monroe's policies
were hampered by the political aspirations of congressmen and by even his
own cabinet members. So instead of presiding over the decline of political
parties, the Monroe presidency helped to foster a transition from the first party
system of the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists to the second party
system of the Democrats and the Whigs.
In the realm of foreign affairs, James Monroe sought to improve the country's
international reputation and assert its independence. By virtue of his solid
working relationship with Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the two men
successfully pursued an aggressive foreign policy, especially with regard to
European intervention in the Americas.
In its early days, the Monroe administration wanted to improve relations with
Britain. Toward that end, it negotiated two important accords with Britain that
resolved border disputes held over from the War of 1812. The Rush-Bagot
Treaty of 1817, named after acting Secretary of State Richard Rush and
Charles Bagot, the British minister, demilitarized the Great Lakes, limiting each
country to one 100-ton vessel armed with a single 18-pound cannon on Lake
Chaplain and Lake Ontario. The Convention of 1818 fixed the present U.S.-
Canadian border from Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains at the 49th parallel.
The accords also established a joint U.S.-British occupation of Oregon for the
next ten years.
VII. SPANISH FLORIDA
For years, southern plantation owners and white farmers in Georgia, Alabama,
and South Carolina had lost runaway slaves to the Florida swamps. Seminole
and Creek Indians offered refuge to these slaves and led raids against white
settlers in the border regions. The U.S. government could do little about the
problem because the swamps lay deep within Spanish Florida. If the United
States moved decisively against the Seminoles, it would risk war with Spain.
Although the United States had tried to convince Spain to cede the territory on
various occasions (including during Monroe's stint as special envoy to Spain in
1805), its efforts had failed.
With the end of the War of 1812, the U.S. government turned its attention to the
raids. President Monroe sent General Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of

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New Orleans, to the Florida border in 1818 to stop the incursions. Liberally
interpreting his vague instructions, Jackson's troops invaded Florida, captured a
Spanish fort at St. Marks, took control of Pensacola, and deposed the Spanish
governor. He also executed two British citizens whom he accused of having
incited the Seminoles to raid American settlements.
The invasion of Florida caused quite a stir in Washington, D.C. Although
Jackson said he had acted within the bounds of his instructions, Secretary of
War John C. Calhoun disagreed and urged Monroe to reprimand Jackson for
acting without specific authority. In addition, foreign diplomats and some
congressmen demanded that Jackson be repudiated and punished for his
unauthorized invasion. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams came to
Jackson's defense, stating that Jackson's measures were, in fact, authorized as
part of his orders to end the Indian raids. Monroe ultimately agreed with Adams.
To the administration, the entire affair illustrated the lack of control Spain had
over the region. Secretary of State Adams thought that he could use the
occasion to pressure Spain to sell all of Florida to the United States.
Preoccupied with revolts throughout its Latin American empire, Spain
understood that the United States could seize the territory at will. Adams
convinced Spain to sell Florida to the United States and to drop its claims to the
Louisiana Territory and Oregon. In return, the United States agreed to relinquish
its claims on Texas and assume responsibility for $5 million that the Spanish
government owed American citizens. The resulting treaty, known as the Adams-
Onís Treaty of 1819 named after John Quincy Adams and Luis de Onís, the
Spanish minister was hailed as a great success.
Questions about the Florida raids resurfaced during Jackson's presidency. In
1830, a rift opened up between President Jackson and his vice president, John
C. Calhoun. One of the issues involved Jackson's prior conduct in Florida and
Calhoun's reaction as secretary of war. At the time of the invasion, Jackson
claimed that he had received secret instructions from Monroe to occupy Florida.
Weeks before his death, Monroe wrote a letter disclaiming any knowledge of
the secret instructions that Jackson claimed he had received.

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7.1. Monroe Doctrine
During much of his administration, Monroe was engaged in diplomacy with
Spain regarding its Latin American colonies. These lands had begun to break
free from Spain in the early 1800s, gaining the sympathy of the United States,
which viewed these later revolutions as reminiscent of its own struggle against
Britain. Although many in Congress were eager to recognize the independence
of the Latin American colonies, the President feared that doing so might risk war
with Spain and its allies. It was not until March 1822 that Monroe officially
recognized the countries of Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico.
At the same time, rumors abounded that Spain's allies might help the once vast
empire reclaim its lost colonies. To counter the planned move, Britain proposed
a joint U.S.-British declaration against European intervention in the Western
Hemisphere. Secretary of State Adams convinced Monroe that if the United
States issued a joint statement, it would look like the United States was simply
adopting Britain's policy without formulating one tailored to its own interests.
The United States, he argued, should devise its own strategy to address
European intervention in the Western Hemisphere.
On December 2, 1823, in his annual message to Congress, President Monroe
addressed the subject in three parts. He first reiterated the traditional U.S.
policy of neutrality with regard to European wars and conflicts. He then declared
that the United States would not accept the recolonization of any country by its
former European master, though he also avowed non-interference with existing
European colonies in the Americas. Finally, he stated that European countries
should no longer consider the Western Hemisphere open to new colonization, a
jab aimed primarily at Russia, which was attempting to expand its colony on the
northern Pacific Coast.
This statement, which in the 1850s came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine,
sounded tough, but most countries knew that America had little ability to back it
up with force. Nevertheless, because Britain had also favored Monroe's policy,
the United States was able to "free ride" on the back of the Royal Navy. In
addition, London had extracted a promise from Paris that France would not
assist Spain in the recovery of its colonies.
The Monroe Doctrine constituted the first significant policy statement by the
United States on the future of the Western Hemisphere. As befitting the leader
of a nation founded on the principles of republican government, Monroe saw the
United States as a model and protector to the new Latin American republics.

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His declared intention to resist further European encroachment in the Western
Hemisphere was the foundation of U.S. policy in Latin America during the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries and remains one of Monroe's lasting
achievements.
Monroe decided to follow the precedent set by Washington, Jefferson, and
Madison and serve only two terms as President. His decision meant that an
incumbent would not be running for the post in 1824. During the last few years
of Monroe's tenure, some of his initiatives were defeated or delayed simply
because of the maneuverings of those looking forward to the 1824 election. The
main contenders during that campaign season were Secretary of State John
Quincy Adams, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Secretary of Treasury
William H. Crawford, Representative Henry Clay, and Senator Andrew Jackson.
Monroe declared his intention to remain neutral during the election and did not
endorse any candidate.
Following the inauguration of John Quincy Adams as President in 1825, Monroe
remained in the White House for three weeks because his wife was too ill to
travel. The couple then retired to their estate, Oak Hill, in Loudoun County,
Virginia. Monroe was glad to be relieved of the exhausting duties of the
presidency. At Oak Hill, he enjoyed spending time with his family and
overseeing the activities of his farm.
During much of his later life, Monroe worked to resolve his financial difficulties.
He had long served publicly in positions that paid mediocre salaries and
demanded expenditures for entertaining and protocol. Consequently, Monroe
was deeply in debt when he left the presidency. For the next several years, he
spent much of his time pressing the federal government for tens of thousands of
dollars due him from past services. Eventually the federal government repaid
Monroe a portion of the funds he desired, allowing him to pay off his debts and
leave his children a respectable inheritance.
In 1826, Monroe accepted appointment to the Board of Visitors of the University
of Virginia. He was deeply committed to the university—founded by his friend
Thomas Jefferson—and served on the board until he became too ill to continue.
In 1829, he became president of the Virginia Constitutional Convention.
After struggling to complete a book comparing the U.S. government to the
governments of ancient and modern nations, he abandoned the project and

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started work on his autobiography. It became the major focus of his later years,
but he never completed it. Following his wife's death in 1830, Monroe, age
seventy-two, moved to New York City to live with his daughter and son-in-law.
In the early spring of 1831, Monroe's health steadily declined. He died that year
on July 4, in New York City. Monroe was the third of the first five Presidents to
die on the Fourth of July; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had died on that
day five years earlier. Thousands of mourners followed his hearse up Broadway
in Manhattan to the Gouverneur family vault in Marble Cemetery, while church
bells tolled and guns fired at Fort Columbus. Monroe's body was later moved to
Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
While a delegate to the Continental Congress in New York, James Monroe met
Elizabeth Kortright in 1785. They were married the following year and eventually
had three children—Eliza Kortright Monroe, James Spence Monroe (who died in
infancy), and Maria Hester Monroe. Despite Monroe's many trips abroad, he
spent precious little time away from his family, since they usually accompanied
him on his travels.
The Monroes were devoted parents and gave much attention to their daughters.
James believed education was important for girls as well as boys, and his
daughters were well-educated for the era. Even after the marriages of their
daughters, James and Elizabeth remained in close contact with them and were
fond of both their sons-in-law. Indeed, for a time, Eliza and her husband lived in
the White House with her parents, and she served as White House hostess
when her mother was unwell. After Elizabeth's death in 1830, James and Eliza
moved to New York City to live with Maria and her family.
During Monroe's presidency, five new states had joined the Union: Mississippi
(1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), and Missouri (1821).
Twenty-five percent of the American population was living west of the
Appalachians by 1820. According to the Land Act of 1820, farmers could buy
eighty acres at $1.25 per acre with a down-payment of $100 in cash. At such
prices, nearly 3.5 million acres of land were purchased in 1820 alone, although
not all of these sales reflected actual settlement. Land speculation in the West
was uncontrolled, as wealthy investors bought giant tracts for resale to farmers

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and migrants. For these western settlers, the major political issues reflected
their need for easy credit to clear the land, good transportation routes to move
their products to market, debt relief, and cheap manufactured goods for them to
consume.
Although the new states gave a western slant to American politics, most of the
settlers still tended to identify with the regions from which they had recently
migrated. Importantly, most Americans still thought of themselves as Americans
first. With this strongly nationalist temperament, most Americans were swept up
in the changes in transportation that began to revolutionize travel and the
movement of goods, as well as by the effects of the so-called market revolution.
By 1820, there were sixty steamboats on the Mississippi River alone; dozens
more operated on the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. James Monroe was
the first President to travel on a steamboat, which he did in 1817. That year,
Monroe's first as President, the New York legislature authorized funding to build
a canal linking the Hudson River with Lake Erie, thus opening a continuous
water route connecting the Northwest to New York City. The Erie Canal, a giant
ditch stretching 364 miles from Albany to Buffalo that was completed in 1825,
was built by thousands of Irish immigrants, local farm boys, and convict
laborers.
VIII. Economic Changes
In New England, a new system of factories, using steam-driven looms, began
employing thousands of local farm girls in the production of cloth. In the New
England countryside, moreover, farmers began raising livestock and consuming
store-bought goods such as sugar, salt, coffee, sacks of western flour,
silverware, and dishes. Urban centers of industry were also being transformed.
New York City, for example, became the center of a national market of ready-
made clothes in the 1820s. The city's manufacturing success was built upon the
new supplies of cheap cloth, an expanding supply of female labor, and the
emergence of southern and western markets that were accessible via coastal
and overland trade routes. Thousands of women worked in sewing to crudely
assemble "Negro cottons" for shipment to southern planters as slave clothing.
By 1825, shoemakers in Massachusetts manufactured barrels of shoes—
uniform in size for shipment to the slave South.

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Below the Mason-Dixon surveyor's line, which separated the borders of the
slave South from the North, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 had
revolutionized southern agriculture. By the mid-1820s, cotton and plantation
slavery were beginning to dominate the most fertile lands stretching from
Georgia to Mississippi. Wealthy planters lived in richly furnished plantation
mansions and had begun to create a lifestyle of white mastery over black slaves
that shaped every aspect of southern life.
As the market revolution transformed subsistence farmers into commercial
farmers who specialized in crops for sale, the average size of the American
family began to decline from 6.4 children to 4.9 children; this was especially
noticeable in the more commercialized farming areas of the North. Also, women
began to labor more intensively in new kinds of household work. Store-
purchased white flour and new iron stoves created demands for home-baked
cakes, pies, and other fancy goods that had rarely graced the subsistence
farmer's table prior to 1820. More and more farm families kept cleaner houses,
painted them, and forbade spitting tobacco on parlor floors.
James Monroe came to the presidency as one of the most qualified men ever to
assume the office. His resume included service in the Revolutionary War, the
Continental Congress, and the U.S. Senate. Monroe also served as governor of
Virginia, filled numerous diplomatic posts, and held two cabinet appointments.
His success as a politician was the result of hard work and a steady and
thoughtful manner. He was noted for his integrity, frankness, and affable
personality, and he impressed those whom he met with his lack of pretension.
As President, Monroe saw the country through a transition period in which it
turned away from European affairs and toward U.S. domestic issues.
During the negotiations that resulted in the Missouri Compromise, his adroit
backstage maneuverings help the country avoid a sectional crisis. His
administration had a number of successes in foreign affairs, including the
acquisition of Florida, the settlement of boundary issues with Britain, and the
fashioning of the Monroe Doctrine. The President's relationship with his
secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, was vital in each of these cases. The
two men had a respect and admiration for each other that led to a successful
working rapport. In fact, Monroe had an ability to assemble great minds and

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then allow them the freedom to work. Scholars have long regarded his cabinet
as an exceptionally strong one.
As President, Monroe occasionally suffers from comparison to the other
members of the Virginia Dynasty George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and
James Madison. Indeed, he was not a renaissance man like Jefferson; his
overwhelming interest and passion was politics. But he was a deliberate thinker
and had the ability to look at issues from all sides, encouraging debate from his
advisers. President Monroe was a great advocate of nationalism and reached
out to all the regions of the country. In foreign policy, he put the nation on an
independent course, no longer tied to the mast of European policy. Although the
nation would have to wait until Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) to see a significant
increase in presidential power over domestic affairs, Monroe's aggressive and
successful conduct of foreign policy undoubtedly strengthened the presidency
itself.
IX. Bibliographies
 http://www.mcnbiografias.com/app-bio/do/show?key=monroe-james
 http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/351/files/2011/08/Political-
Profesisonalism-of-James-Monroe.pdf
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe_Tomb
 http://www.edhistorica.com/pdfs/ladoctrinamonroe.pdf

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 http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=23

Ingles iii

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