Remembering James Monroe
There was a third President who expired on the 4th of July (the other two being John Adams and Thomas Jefferson), that being James Monroe, the 5th President of the United States. Monroe died on July 4, 1831 (181 years and 1 day ago) at his daughter's home in New York City at the age of 73. Like many Presidents of his generation, he left the Presidency much poorer financially than he entered it.
Probably the most sycophantic biography of a President that I've ever read is The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness by Harlow Gillis Unger, but despite the author's hero worship of his subject, I was tremendously impressed by all that Monroe accomplished in his life. He became man of the house as a teenager when his father Spencer Monroe died in 1774. He went to college, but left to fight in the Revolutionary War where he was wounded in action. He was a member of the Virginia Congress, a US Senator, Governor of Virgina, Ambassador to France and later Great Britain. And while his nation was at war, he was asked to hold down the two most important cabinet positions simultaneously: Secretary of State and Secretary of War. I'm not sure if I believe much of what is spun by Unger, for example how he and his wife Elizabeth engineered the release of the Marquis
de Lafayette from a French prison, or that he led the nation out of the War of 1812 while Madison cowered. But I do believe that there were no flies on James Monroe. I am especially impressed at how he kept his friendship with James Madison even when both were on opposite sides of a hot political issue.
The Federalist Party had spent their political capital by guessing wrong on the subject of war with England, so Monroe faced little opposition from the fractured Federalists in the election of 1816. He was easily elected, winning over 80 percent of the electoral vote and becoming the last president during the First Party System era of American politics. As president, he tried to ease partisan tensions and embarked on a tour of the country. According to Unger and others, Monroe was well received everywhere. He went on to preside over the "Era of Good Feelings". Despite a couple of speed bumps in his first term (like the Panic of 1819 and a dispute over the admission of Missouri) Monroe won near-unanimous reelection. In 1823, he announced the Monroe Doctrine, which has become a fixture in American foreign policy.
When his presidency ended on March 4, 1825, James Monroe resided at Monroe Hill, what is now part of the grounds of the University of Virginia. He had sold the family farm in the first year of his presidency to the new college. He served on the college's Board of Visitors under the first rector Thomas Jefferson and under the second rector James Madison.
Monroe had racked up many debts during his years of public life. He sold off his Highland Plantation (now called Ash Lawn-Highland and now owned by his alma mater, the College of William and Mary). He and his wife lived at Oak Hill, near Leesburg, Virginia, until Elizabeth's death on September 23, 1830. In August 1825, the Monroes had received the Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams as guests there.
When Elizabeth died, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his daughter Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur. (Maria was the first child of a President to have a wedding in the White House.) Monroe's health began to slowly fail by the end of the 1820s and John Quincy Adams visited him in New York in April 1831. Adams found him alert and eager to discuss the situation in Europe, but in ill health. Adams cut the visit short when he thought he was tiring Monroe.
Monroe died from heart failure and tuberculosis on July 4, 1831, becoming the third president in a row who died on Independence Day. It is said that his last words were about his longtime friend James Madison. He said "I regret that I should leave this world without again beholding him."
Probably the most sycophantic biography of a President that I've ever read is The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness by Harlow Gillis Unger, but despite the author's hero worship of his subject, I was tremendously impressed by all that Monroe accomplished in his life. He became man of the house as a teenager when his father Spencer Monroe died in 1774. He went to college, but left to fight in the Revolutionary War where he was wounded in action. He was a member of the Virginia Congress, a US Senator, Governor of Virgina, Ambassador to France and later Great Britain. And while his nation was at war, he was asked to hold down the two most important cabinet positions simultaneously: Secretary of State and Secretary of War. I'm not sure if I believe much of what is spun by Unger, for example how he and his wife Elizabeth engineered the release of the Marquis
de Lafayette from a French prison, or that he led the nation out of the War of 1812 while Madison cowered. But I do believe that there were no flies on James Monroe. I am especially impressed at how he kept his friendship with James Madison even when both were on opposite sides of a hot political issue.
The Federalist Party had spent their political capital by guessing wrong on the subject of war with England, so Monroe faced little opposition from the fractured Federalists in the election of 1816. He was easily elected, winning over 80 percent of the electoral vote and becoming the last president during the First Party System era of American politics. As president, he tried to ease partisan tensions and embarked on a tour of the country. According to Unger and others, Monroe was well received everywhere. He went on to preside over the "Era of Good Feelings". Despite a couple of speed bumps in his first term (like the Panic of 1819 and a dispute over the admission of Missouri) Monroe won near-unanimous reelection. In 1823, he announced the Monroe Doctrine, which has become a fixture in American foreign policy.
When his presidency ended on March 4, 1825, James Monroe resided at Monroe Hill, what is now part of the grounds of the University of Virginia. He had sold the family farm in the first year of his presidency to the new college. He served on the college's Board of Visitors under the first rector Thomas Jefferson and under the second rector James Madison.
Monroe had racked up many debts during his years of public life. He sold off his Highland Plantation (now called Ash Lawn-Highland and now owned by his alma mater, the College of William and Mary). He and his wife lived at Oak Hill, near Leesburg, Virginia, until Elizabeth's death on September 23, 1830. In August 1825, the Monroes had received the Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams as guests there.
When Elizabeth died, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his daughter Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur. (Maria was the first child of a President to have a wedding in the White House.) Monroe's health began to slowly fail by the end of the 1820s and John Quincy Adams visited him in New York in April 1831. Adams found him alert and eager to discuss the situation in Europe, but in ill health. Adams cut the visit short when he thought he was tiring Monroe.
Monroe died from heart failure and tuberculosis on July 4, 1831, becoming the third president in a row who died on Independence Day. It is said that his last words were about his longtime friend James Madison. He said "I regret that I should leave this world without again beholding him."