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 MALDONADO2014

Administration and business international 2014

INDEXI. 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............................................................................................................32

Edwin TITTO IQUISE 2


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.

Edwin TITTO IQUISE

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

3


I.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.

I.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.

II.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.

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.



II.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

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

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-

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.

III.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

fondness and respect, leaving him well-positioned to receive the Democratic-

Republican nomination for President in the 1816 election.

III.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.
















III.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

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

IV.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

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.

IV.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.

IV.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

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.

IV.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.

IV.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

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.

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.

IV.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

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.

IV.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

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.

IV.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

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

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


















VI.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.

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.

VI.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.

VI.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.

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.

VI.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

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.

VI.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.

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

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.

VII.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.

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

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

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.

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



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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe_Tomb

http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/351/files/2011/08/Political-Profesisonalism-of-James-Monroe.pdf

http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/351/files/2011/08/Political-Profesisonalism-of-James-Monroe.pdf

http://www.mcnbiografias.com/app-bio/do/show?key=monroe-james


http://www.edhistorica.com/pdfs/ladoctrinamonroe.pdf http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=23


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

http://www.edhistorica.com/pdfs/ladoctrinamonroe.pdf

ingles iii

Documents

political life

james monroe faculty

monroe doctrine

monroes cabinet

business international

ecoturismo race

easy race

secretary of state