On New
Year's Day, 1825, at the last of his annual White House
receptions, President James Monroe made a pleasing impression
upon a Virginia lady who shook his hand:
"He
is tall and well formed. His dress plain and in the old
style.... His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank,
honest expression of his eye ... I think he well deserves the
encomium passed upon him by the great Jefferson, who said,
'Monroe was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out
there would not be a spot on it.' "
Born in
Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758, Monroe attended the
College of William and Mary, fought with distinction in the
Continental Army, and practiced law in Fredericksburg,
Virginia.
As a
youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in the
Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, and in
1790, an advocate of Jeffersonian policies, was elected United
States Senator. As Minister to France in 1794-1796, he
displayed strong sympathies for the French cause; later, with
Robert R. Livingston, he helped negotiate the Louisiana
Purchase.
His
ambition and energy, together with the backing of President
Madison, made him the Republican choice for the Presidency in
1816. With little Federalist opposition, he easily won
re-election in 1820.
Monroe
made unusually strong Cabinet choices, naming a Southerner,
John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a northerner, John
Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State. Only Henry Clay's refusal
kept Monroe from adding an outstanding Westerner.
Early in
his administration, Monroe undertook a goodwill tour. At
Boston, his visit was hailed as the beginning of an "Era
of Good Feelings." Unfortunately these "good
feelings" did not endure, although Monroe, his popularity
undiminished, followed nationalist policies.
Across
the facade of nationalism, ugly sectional cracks appeared. A
painful economic depression undoubtedly increased the dismay
of the people of the Missouri Territory in 1819 when their
application for admission to the Union as a slave state
failed. An amended bill for gradually eliminating slavery in
Missouri precipitated two years of bitter debate in Congress.
The
Missouri Compromise bill resolved the struggle, pairing
Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and
barring slavery north and west of Missouri forever.
In
foreign affairs Monroe proclaimed the fundamental policy that
bears his name, responding to the threat that the more
conservative governments in Europe might try to aid Spain in
winning back her former Latin American colonies. Monroe did
not begin formally to recognize the young sister republics
until 1822, after ascertaining that Congress would vote
appropriations for diplomatic missions. He and Secretary of
State John Quincy Adams wished to avoid trouble with Spain
until it had ceded the Floridas, as was done in 1821.
Great
Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed reconquest of
Latin America and suggested that the United States join in
proclaiming "hands off." Ex-Presidents Jefferson and
Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Secretary
Adams advised, "It would be more candid ... to avow our
principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as
a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war."
Monroe
accepted Adams's advice. Not only must Latin America be left
alone, he warned, but also Russia must not 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." Some 20 years after Monroe died in
1831, this became known as the Monroe Doctrine.
-
James
Monroe