Presidency of James Monroe

Monroe (circa 1819)

The UGH BORING!!!!!! I WOULD RATHER READ A 2000 PAGE BOOK! began on March 4, 1817, when James Monroe was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1825. Monroe, the fifth United States president, took office after winning the 1816 presidential election by an overwhelming margin over Federalist Rufus King. This election was the last in which the Federalists fielded a presidential candidate, and Monroe was unopposed in the 1820 presidential election. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was succeeded by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams.

As president, he sought to ease partisan tensions, embarking on a tour of the country that was generally well received. His presidency ushered in what was known as the "Era of Good Feelings." The U.S. had a new sense of confidence from its various victories during the War of 1812 and was growing quickly and offering new opportunities to its citizens. This swell of nationalism subsided some when the Panic of 1819 struck and a dispute over the admission of Missouri embroiled the country in 1820, though Monroe still won near-unanimous reelection in 1820. Monroe brought a pragmatic approach to politics and an unpretentious capacity for hard work to his presidency. He visited well over 100 communities, traveling from Maine to Georgia and well into the West. Monroe was seen by more Americans than any previous president, and his travels were reported on in detail in the local and national press.

With the ratification of the Treaty of 1818, under the successful diplomacy of Secretary of State Adams, the United States extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, giving the United States harbor and fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest. The United States and Britain jointly occupied the Oregon Country. In addition to the acquisition of Florida, the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty secured the border of the United States along the 42nd Parallel to the Pacific Ocean and represented the first determined attempt at creating an "American global empire". His administration supported the founding of colonies in Africa for freed slaves that would eventually form the nation of Liberia, whose capital, Monrovia, is named in his honor. In 1823, he announced the United States' opposition to any European intervention in the recently independent countries of the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine, which became a landmark in American foreign policy.

Monroe was the last president called a Founding Father of the United States, and also the last president of the "Virginia Dynasty", a term sometimes used to describe the fact that four of the nation's first five presidents were from Virginia. Polls of historians and political scientists have generally ranked Monroe as an above-average president.

Election of 1816

1816 electoral vote results.

Main article: United States presidential election, 1816

Monroe's war-time leadership in the Madison administration had established him as the Democratic-Republican heir apparent, but not all party leaders supported Monroe's candidacy. Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford had the support of numerous Southern and Western Congressmen, many of whom were wary of Madison and Monroe's support for the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. New York Democratic-Republicans resisted the possibility of another Virginian winning the presidency, and they backed the candidacy of Governor Daniel D. Tompkins. Though Crawford desired the nomination, he did not strongly oppose Monroe's candidacy, as he hoped to position himself to succeed Monroe in 1820 or 1824. In the congressional nominating caucus held in March 1816, Monroe defeated Crawford in a 65-to-54 vote. Tompkins won the party's vice presidential nomination.

The moribund Federalists nominated Rufus King as their presidential nominee, but the party offered little opposition following the conclusion of the War of 1812, which they had opposed. Some opponents of Monroe tried to recruit DeWitt Clinton to run, but he declined to enter the race. Monroe received 183 of the 217 electoral votes, winning every state but Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. In the concurrent congressional elections, Democratic-Republicans picked up several seats in the House of Representatives, leaving them with control of over three quarters of the chamber.

First inauguration

Monroe's first presidential inauguration was held on Tuesday, March 4, 1817, in front of the Old Brick Capitol in Washington D.C. The Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office. Monroe was the first president to take the oath of office and deliver an inaugural address outdoors. As the White House was not ready to be occupied due to damage suffered in the War of 1812, Monroe and his wife would live in their private residence until September 1817.

Administration

The Monroe cabinet
Office	Name	Term
President	James Monroe	1817–1825
Vice President	Daniel D. Tompkins	1817–1825
Secretary of State	Richard Rush	1817
John Quincy Adams	1817–1825
Secretary of the Treasury	William H. Crawford	1817–1825
Secretary of War	John C. Calhoun	1817–1825
Attorney General	Richard Rush	1817
William Wirt	1817–1825
Secretary of the Navy	Benjamin Crowninshield	1817–1818
	Smith Thompson	1819–1823
Samuel L. Southard	1823–1825

Monroe presiding over a cabinet meeting in 1823.

Monroe appointed a geographically-balanced cabinet, through which he led the executive branch. At Monroe's request, Crawford continued to serve as Treasury Secretary. Monroe also chose to retain Benjamin Crowninshield of Massachusetts as Secretary of the Navy and Richard Rush of Pennsylvania as Attorney General. Recognizing Northern discontent at the continuation of the Virginia dynasty, Monroe chose John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts as Secretary of State, making Adams the early favorite to eventually succeed Monroe. An experienced diplomat, Adams had abandoned the Federalist Party in 1807 in support of Thomas Jefferson's foreign policy, and Monroe hoped that the appointment would encourage the defection of more Federalists. Monroe offered the position of Secretary of War to Henry Clay of Kentucky, but Clay was only willing to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of State. Monroe's decision to appoint Adams to the latter position alienated Clay, and Clay would oppose many of the administration's policies. After General Andrew Jackson or Governor Isaac Shelby declined appointment as Secretary of War, Monroe turned to South Carolina Congressman John C. Calhoun, leaving the Cabinet without a prominent Westerner. In late 1817, Rush was appointed as the ambassador to Britain, and William Wirt succeeded him as Attorney General. With the exception of the Crowninshield, Monroe's cabinet appointees remained in place for the remainder of Monroe's presidency. Monroe also retained Postmaster General Return J. Meigs Jr., who served until John McLean took his place in 1823.

Judicial appointments

Main article: List of federal judges appointed by James Monroe

In September 1823, Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson received a recess appointment from President Monroe to a seat on the Supreme Court vacated by Henry Brockholst Livingston. Officially nominated for the same seat on December 5, 1823, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9. Thompson was Monroe's lone appointment to the Supreme Court, though Monroe also appointed 21 judges to United States district courts during his presidency.

Domestic affairs

Democratic-Republican Party dominance

Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square (1819) by John Lewis Kimmel exemplifies the spirit of the "Era of Good Feelings"

Monroe sought to establish a non-party system, but he believed that the best way to do this was to prevent a resurgence by the Federalist Party. He sought to strengthen the Democratic-Republican Party by avoiding divisive policies and welcoming ex-Federalists into the fold, with the ultimate goal being the dissolution of the Federalists. He made two long national tours to build national trust. At Boston, his 1817 visit was hailed as the beginning of an "Era of Good Feelings." Frequent stops on these tours allowed innumerable ceremonies of welcome and expressions of good will. The Federalists continued to fade away during his administration; it maintained its vitality and organizational integrity in Delaware and a few localities, but lacked influence in national politics. Lacking serious opposition, the Democratic-Republican Party's congressional caucus stopped meeting, and for practical purposes the Democratic-Republican Party stopped operating.

Panic of 1819

Two years into his presidency, Monroe faced an economic crisis known as the Panic of 1819, the first major depression to hit the country since the ratification of the Constitution in 1788. The panic stemmed from declining imports and exports, and sagging agricultural prices as global markets readjusted to peacetime production and commerce in the aftermath of the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars. The severity of the economic downturn in the U.S. was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands, fueled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns. The Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) failed to restrict inflation until late 1818, when the directors of the B.U.S. took overdue steps to curtail credit. Branches were ordered to accept no bills but their own, to present all state bank notes for payment at once, and to renew no personal notes or mortgages.

Before the onset of the Panic of 1819, some business leaders had called on Congress to increase tariff rates to address the negative balance of trade and help struggling industries. However, as the panic spread, Monroe declined to call a special session of Congress to address the economy. When Congress finally reconvened in December 1819, Monroe requested an increase in the tariff but declined to recommend specific rates. Congress would not raise tariff rates until the passage of the Tariff of 1824.

The panic resulted in high unemployment and an increase in bankruptcies and foreclosures, and provoked popular resentment against banking and business enterprises. It also exacerbated tensions within the Democratic-Republican Party and aggravated sectional tensions as northerners pressed for higher tariffs while southerners abandoned their support of nationalistic economic programs.

Missouri Compromise

Main article: Missouri Compromise

Beginning in 1818, Clay and territorial delegate John Scott sought the admission of Missouri Territory as a state. The House failed to act on the bill before Congress adjourned in April, but took up the issue again after Congress reconvened in December 1818. During these proceedings, Congressman James Tallmadge, Jr. of New York "tossed a bombshell into the Era of Good Feelings" by offering amendments (known collectively as the Tallmadge Amendment) prohibiting the further introduction of slaves into Missouri, and requiring that all children subsequently therein of slave parents should be free at the age of twenty-five years. The amendments sparked the first major national slavery debate since the ratification of the Constitution, and instantly exposed the sectional polarization over the issue of slavery. Northern Democratic-Republicans formed a coalition across partisan lines with remnants of the Federalists in support of the exclusion of slavery from Missouri, while Southern Democratic-Republicans were almost unanimously against such a restriction. Northerners focused their arguments on the immorality of slavery, while Southerners focused their attacks on the purported unconstitutionality of banning slavery within a state.

The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in the unorganized territory of the Great Plains (upper dark green), but permitted it in Missouri (yellow) and the Arkansas Territory (lower blue area).

The bill, with Tallmadge’s amendments, passed the House in a mostly sectional vote, though ten free state congressmen joined with the slave state congressmen in opposing at least one of the provisions of the bill. The measure then went to the Senate, where both amendments were rejected. A House–Senate conference committee was unable to resolve the disagreements on the bill, and so the whole measure was lost. Congress took up the issue again when it reconvened in December 1819. Monroe, himself a slaveowner, threatened to veto any bill that restricted slavery in Missouri. Monroe did not become publicly involved in the debate over Missouri, but he played a surreptitious role through his connections to members of Congress and journalists. He supported the efforts of Senator James Barbour and other Southern Congressmen to win the admission of Missouri as a slave state by simultaneously admitting the free state of Maine, which was at the time a part of Massachusetts. In February 1820, Congressman Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed a compromise, in which admit Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, but slavery would be excluded in the remaining territories north of the parallel 36°30′ north. Like many other Southern leaders, Monroe came to view Thomas's proposal as a reasonable compromise that would defuse stirrings of disunion. The Senate passed a bill that included Thomas's territorial restriction on slavery, and which also provided for the admittance Maine and Missouri. The House approved the Senate bill in a narrow vote, and after deliberating with his cabinet, Monroe signed the legislation into law in April 1820.

The question of the final admission of Missouri came up again in November 1820. The Missouri constitution included a provision that barred free blacks from entering the state, which deeply offended many northerners. Through the influence of Clay, an act of admission was finally passed, upon the condition that the exclusionary clause of the Missouri constitution should "never be construed to authorize the passage of any law" impairing the privileges and immunities of any U.S. citizen. This deliberately ambiguous provision is sometimes known as the Second Missouri Compromise. It was a bitter pill for many to swallow and the admission of new states as free or slave became a major issue until the abolition of slavery.

Internal improvements

BEP engraved portrait of Monroe as President.

As the United States continued to grow, many Americans advocated a system of internal improvements to help the country develop. Federal assistance for such projects evolved slowly and haphazardly—the product of contentious congressional factions and an executive branch generally concerned with avoiding unconstitutional federal intrusions into state affairs. Monroe 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 authorized Congress to build, maintain, and operate a national transportation system. Monroe repeatedly urged Congress to pass an amendment allowing Congress the power to finance internal improvements, but Congress never acted on his proposal, in part because many congressmen believed that the Constitution did in fact authorize the federal financing of internal improvements.

In 1822, Congress passed a bill authorizing the collection of tolls on the Cumberland Road, with the tolls being used to finance repairs on the road. Adhering to stated position regarding internal improvements, Monroe vetoed the bill. In an elaborate essay, Monroe set forth his constitutional views on the subject. Congress might appropriate money, he admitted, but it might not undertake the actual construction of national works nor assume jurisdiction over them. In 1823, Monroe proposed that Congress work with the states to build a system of canals to connect the rivers leading to the Atlantic Ocean with the western territories of the United States, and he eventually signed a bill providing for investment in the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Company. Monroe's call for canals was inspired by the impending completion of the Erie Canal, which would link New York City with the Great Lakes.

In 1824, the Supreme Court ruled in Gibbons v. Ogden that the Constitution's Commerce Clause gave the federal government the authority to . Shortly thereafter, Congress passed two important laws that, together, marked the beginning of the federal government's continuous involvement in civil works. The General Survey Act authorized the president to have surveys made of routes for roads and canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail." The president assigned responsibility for the surveys to the Army Corps of Engineers. The second act, passed a month later, appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles. Subsequently, the act was amended to include other rivers such as the Missouri. This work, too, was given to the Corps of Engineers—the only formally trained body of engineers in the new republic and, as part of the nation's small army, available to serve the wishes of Congress and the executive branch.

Other issues and events

Monroe took a close interest in the Western American frontier, which was overseen by Secretary of War Calhoun. Calhoun organized an expedition to the Yellowstone River to extend American influence in and knowledge of the northwest region of the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition suffered several setbacks, though the efforts of scientists such as Edwin James advanced U.S. knowledge of the flora and fauna of the region.

In late 1818, the House of Representatives appointed a committee to investigate the Second Bank of the United States. The committee found "a series of improprieties on the part of the directors, not perhaps equaled in the history of any other moneyed institution. Shortly afterwards, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland. In a major defeat for states' rights advocates, the Supreme Court forbid states from taxing B.U.S. branches. The decision fed the popular disdain for the B.U.S. and aroused fears about the growing reach of federal power.

The federal government had taken control of the Yazoo lands from Georgia in the Compact of 1802; as part of that agreement, President Jefferson promised to remove Native Americans from the region. Georgians pressed Monroe to remove the remaining Native Americans to regions west of the Mississippi River, but the Native Americans rejected the Monroe administration's offers to purchase their land. As Monroe was unwilling to forcibly evict the Native American tribes, he took no major actions regarding Indian removal.

Foreign affairs

Spanish Florida

Seminole Wars

Further information: Seminole Wars § First Seminole War

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams

General Andrew Jackson

Spain facing a troubling colonial situation in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. It had had been exhausted by the Peninsular War against Napoleon, and revolutionaries in Central America and South America were beginning to demand independence. The United States had taken control of part of West Florida in 1810, and American settlers encroached on Spanish territory in West Florida, East Florida, and New Spain. With a minor military presence in the Floridas, Spain was not able to restrain the Seminole warriors who routinely conducted cross-border raids on American villages and farms and protected southern slave refugees. Acquisition of the Floridas was a long-held goal of Monroe, Adams, and other leading Democratic-Republicans, as authority over the region would consolidate U.S. control of its southeastern lands against British and Spanish influence.

To stop the Seminole Indians based in Florida from raiding Georgia settlements and offering havens for runaway slaves, the U.S. Army led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory. In early 1818, Monroe ordered General Andrew Jackson to the Georgia–Florida border to defend against Seminole attacks. Monroe authorized Jackson to attack Seminole encampments in Spanish Florida, but not Spanish settlements themselves. In what became known as the First Seminole War, Jackson crossed over into Spanish territory and attacked the Spanish fort at St. Marks. He also executed two British subjects whom he accused of having incited the Seminoles to raid American settlements. Jackson claimed that the attack on the fort was necessary as the Spanish were providing aid to the Seminoles. After taking the fort St. Marks, Jackson moved on the Spanish position at Pensacola, capturing the fort in May 1818.

In a letter to Jackson, Monroe reprimanded the general for exceeding his orders, but also acknowledged that Jackson may have been justified given the circumstances in the war against the Seminoles. Though he had not authorized Jackson's attacks on Spanish posts, Monroe recognized that Jackson's campaign left the United States with a stronger hand in ongoing negotiations over the purchase of the Floridas, as it showed that Spain was unable to defend the Floridas. The Monroe administration restored the Floridas to Spain, but requested that Spain increase efforts to prevent Seminole raids. Some in Monroe's cabinet, among them Secretary of War John Calhoun, wanted the aggressive general court-martialed, or at least reprimanded. Secretary of State Adams alone took the ground that Jackson's acts were justified by the incompetence of Spanish authority to police its own territory, arguing that Spain had allowed East Florida to become "a derelict open to the occupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them." His arguments, along with the restoration of the Floridas, convinced the British and Spanish not to retaliate against the United States for Jackson's conduct.

News of Jackson's exploits caused consternation in Washington and ignited a congressional investigation. Clay attacked Jackson's actions and proposed that his colleagues officially censure the general. Even many who generally supported Jackson worried about the consequences of allowing a general to make war without the consent of Congress. Dominated by Democratic-Republicans, the 15th Congress was generally expansionist and supportive of the popular Jackson. Ulterior political agendas of many congressmen dismantled partisan and sectional coalitions, so that Jackson's opponents argued weakly and became easily discredited. After much debate, the House of Representatives voted down all resolutions that condemned Jackson, thus implicitly endorsing the military intervention. Jackson's actions in the First Seminole War would be the subject of ongoing controversy in subsequent years, as Jackson claimed that Monroe had secretly ordered him to attack the Spanish settlements, a claim that Monroe denied.

Acquisition of Florida

Main article: Adams–Onís Treaty

Map showing the results of the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819.

Negotiations over the purchase of the Floridas began in early 1818. Don Luis de Onís, the Spanish Minister at Washington, suspended negotiations after Jackson attacked Spanish settlements, but he resumed his talks with Secretary of State Adams after the U.S. restored the territories. On February 22, 1819, Spain and the United States signed the Adams–Onís Treaty, which ceded the Floridas in return for the assumption by the United States of claims of American citizens against Spain to an amount not exceeding $5,000,000. The treaty also contained a definition of the boundary between Spanish and American possessions on the North American continent. Beginning at the mouth of the Sabine River the line ran along that river to the 32nd parallel, then due north to the Red River, which it followed to the 100th meridian, due north to the Arkansas River, and along that river to its source, then north to the 42nd parallel, which it followed to the Pacific Ocean. The United States renounced all claims to the west and south of this boundary, while Spain surrendered its claim to Oregon Country. Spanish delay in relinquishing control of the Floridas led some congressmen to call for war, but Spain peacefully transferred control of the Floridas in February 1821.

Treaties with Great Britain

Near the beginning of Monroe's first term, the administration negotiated two important accords with Great Britain that resolved border disputes held over from the War of 1812. The Rush-Bagot Treaty, signed in April 1817, regulated naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, demilitarizing the border between the U.S. and British North America. Under the leadership of Monroe and Secretary of State Adams, the U.S. reached two treaties to secure the northern border and prevent further colonization of North America. The Treaty of 1818, signed in October 1818, fixed the present Canada–United States border from Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains at the 49th parallel. Britain ceded all of Rupert's Land south of the 49th parallel and east of the Continental Divide, including all of the Red River Colony south of that latitude, while the U.S. ceded the northernmost edge of the Missouri Territory above the 49th parallel. The treaty also established a joint U.S.–British occupation of Oregon Country for the next ten years. Together, the Rush-Bagot Treaty and the Treaty of 1818 marked an important turning point in Anglo–American and American–Canadian relations, although they did not solve all outstanding issues.

Latin America

Engagement

See also: Latin American wars of independence

Countries in Latin America by date of independence

Monroe was deeply sympathetic to the Latin American revolutionary movements against Spain. He was determined that the United States should never repeat the policies of the Washington administration during the French Revolution, when the nation had failed to demonstrate its sympathy for the aspirations of peoples seeking to establish republican governments. He did not envisage military involvement but only the provision of moral support, as he believed that a direct American intervention would provoke other European powers into assisting Spain. However, Monroe initially refused to recognize the Latin American governments due to ongoing negotiations with Spain over Florida.

In March 1822, Monroe officially recognized the countries of Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico. Secretary of State Adams, under Monroe's supervision, wrote the instructions for the ministers (ambassadors) to these new countries. They declared that the policy of the United States was to uphold republican institutions and to seek treaties of commerce on a most-favored-nation basis. The United States would support inter-American congresses dedicated to the development of economic and political institutions fundamentally differing from those prevailing in Europe. Monroe took pride as the United States was the first nation to extend recognition and to set an example to the rest of the world for its support of the "cause of liberty and humanity". In 1824, the U.S. and Gran Colombia reached the Anderson–Gual Treaty, a general convention of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce that represented the first treaty the United States entered into with another country in the Americas. Between 1820 and 1830, the number of U.S. consuls assigned to foreign countries would double, with much of that growth coming in Latin America. These consuls would help merchants expand U.S. trade in the Western Hemisphere.

Monroe Doctrine

Main article: Monroe Doctrine

The British had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, with all the trade restrictions mercantilism imposed. In October 1823, Ambassador Rush informed Secretary of State Adams that Foreign Secretary George Canning was proposing a joint declaration to deter any other power from intervening in Central and South America. Canning was motivated in part by a French invasion that restored King Ferdinand VII of Spain to power. Britain feared that either France or the "Holy Alliance" of Austria-Hungary, Prussia, and Russia would help Spain regain control of its colonies, and sought American cooperation in opposing such an intervention. Monroe and Adams deliberated the British proposal extensively, and Monroe conferred with former presidents Jefferson and Madison. Monroe was at first inclined to accept Canning's proposal, and Madison and Jefferson both shared this view. Adams, however, vigorously opposed cooperation with Great Britain, contending that a statement of bilateral nature could limit United States expansion in the future. Additionally, Adams and Monroe shared a reluctance to appear as a junior partner in any alliance. Rather than responding to Canning's alliance offer, Monroe decided to issue a statement regarding Latin America in his 1823 Annual Message to Congress. He met with the cabinet in a series of meetings to formulate his administration's official policy regarding European intervention in Latin America. Adams in particular played a major role in these cabinet meetings, and the Secretary of State convinced Monroe to avoid antagonizing the members of the Holy Alliance with unduly belligerent language.

Monroe's annual message was read by both houses of Congress on December 2, 1823. In it, he articulated what became known as the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine reiterated the traditional U.S. policy of neutrality with regard to European wars and conflicts, but declared that the United States would not accept the recolonization of any country by its former European master. 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. However, Monroe avowed non-interference with existing European colonies in the Americas.

The Monroe Doctrine was well received in the United States and Britain, while Russia, French, and Austrian leaders privately denounced it. The European powers knew that the Americans had little ability to back up the Monroe Doctrine with force, but the United States was able to "free ride" on the strength of the British Royal Navy. In addition, London had extracted a promise from Paris that France would not assist Spain in the recovery of its colonies. Nonetheless, the Monroe Doctrine constituted the first significant policy statement by the United States on the future of the Western Hemisphere.

Russo-American Treaty

In the 18th century, Russia had established Russian America on the Pacific coast. In 1821, Tsar Alexander I issued an edict declaring Russia's sovereignty over the North American Pacific coast north of the 51st parallel north. The edict also forbade foreign ships to approach within 115 miles of the Russian claim. Adams strongly protested the edict, which potentially threatened both the commerce and expansionary ambitions of the United States. Seeking favorable relations with the U.S., Alexander agreed to the Russo-American Treaty of 1824. In the treaty, Russia limited its claims to lands north of parallel 54°40′ north, and also agreed to open Russian American ports to U.S. ships.

States admitted to the Union

Five new states were admitted to the Union while Monroe was in office:

• Mississippi – December 10, 1817
• Illinois – December 3, 1818
• Alabama – December 14, 1819
• Maine – March 15, 1820
  Maine is one of 3 states that were set off from already existing states (Kentucky and West Virginia are the others). The Massachusetts General Court passed enabling legislation on June 19, 1819 separating the "District of Maine" from the rest of the State (an action approved by the voters in Maine on July 19, 1819 by 17,001 to 7,132); then, on February 25, 1820, passed a follow-up measure officially accepting the fact of Maine's imminent statehood.
• Missouri – August 10, 1821

Elections

Election of 1820

1820 electoral vote results.

Main article: United States presidential election, 1820

During James Monroe’s first term, the country had suffered an economic depression. In addition, the extension of slavery into the territories became a political issue when Missouri sought admission as a slave state. Also causing controversy were Supreme Court decisions in Dartmouth College v. Woodward and McCulloch v. Maryland, which expanded the power of Congress and of private corporations at the expense of the states. But despite these problems, the collapse of the Federalists left Monroe with no organized opposition at the end of his first term, and he ran for reelection unopposed, the only president other than George Washington to do so. A single elector from New Hampshire, William Plumer, cast a vote for John Quincy Adams, preventing a unanimous vote in the Electoral College. He did so because he thought Monroe was incompetent. Later in the century, the story arose that he had cast his dissenting vote so that only Washington would have the honor of unanimous election. Plumer never mentioned Washington in his speech explaining his vote to the other New Hampshire electors.

Plumer also refused to vote for Daniel Tompkins for Vice President, whom he considered "grossly intemperate", not having "that weight of character which his office requires," and "because he grossly neglected his duty" in his "only" official role as President of the Senate by being "absent nearly three-fourths of the time"; Plumer instead voted for Richard Rush. His dissent was joined by several Federalist electors who, although pledged to vote for Tompkins, voted for someone else for vice president: eight for Richard Stockton, four for Daniel Rodney, and one for Robert Goodloe Harper.

Election of 1824

Main article: United States presidential election, 1824

1824 presidential election results. The election would be resolved in a contingent election in the House of Representatives.

The Federalist Party had nearly collapsed by the end of Monroe's two terms, and all of the major presidential candidates in 1824 were members of the Democratic-Republican Party. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford, and Speaker of the House Henry Clay each entered the race with strong followings. As 1824 approached, General Andrew Jackson jumped into the race, motivated in large part by his anger over Clay and Crawford's denunciations of his actions in Florida. The congressional nominating caucus had decided upon previous Democratic-Republican presidential nominees, but it had become largely discredited. Candidates were instead nominated by state legislatures or nominating conventions. Seeing Jackson's strength, Calhoun dropped out of the presidential race and instead sought the vice presidency. The remaining candidates relied heavily on regional strength. Adams was popular in New England, Clay and Jackson were strong in the West, and Jackson and Crawford competed for the South, despite the latter's health problems. In the 1824 presidential election, Jackson won a plurality in the Electoral College, taking 99 of the 261 electoral votes, while Adams won 84, Crawford won 41, and Clay took 37. As no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, the House was required to hold contingent election under the terms of the Twelfth Amendment. The House would decide among the top three electoral vote winners, with each state's delegation having one vote; Clay was thus not eligible to be elected by the House.

Jackson's policy views were unclear, but Clay had been outraged by Jackson's actions in Florida, and he feared what Jackson would do in office. Clay's American System called for high tariffs, federally-funded internal improvements, and a national bank, all of which were supported by Adams. Adams and Clay met prior to the contingent election, and Clay agreed to support Adams. On February 9, 1825, Adams became the second president elected by the House of Representatives (after Thomas Jefferson in 1801), when he won the contingent election on the first ballot, taking 13 of the 24 state delegations.

Evaluations

Monroe presided over a period in which the United States began to turn away from European affairs and towards domestic issues. His presidency saw the United States settle many of its longstanding boundary issues through an accommodation with Britain and the acquisition of Florida. Monroe also helped resolve sectional tensions through his support of the Missouri Compromise and by seeking support from all regions of the country. Political scientist Fred Greenstein argues that Monroe was a more effective executive than some of his better-known predecessors, including Madison and John Adams. Polls of historians and political scientists have generally ranked Monroe as an above-average president.

See also

• First Party System
• Bonus Bill of 1817

Bibliography

• Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. (1971, 2nd ed. 1990). 706 pp., standard scholarly biography excerpt and text search
• Ammon, Harry (1958). "James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 66 (4): 387–398. JSTOR 4246479.
• Ammon, Harry (2002). Graff, Henry F. (ed.). The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed.). Hinsdale, Illinois: Advameg, Inc.
• Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1949). John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy. New York: Knopf., the standard history of Monroe's foreign policy.
• Cresson, William P. James Monroe (1946). 577 pp. good scholarly biography
• Cunningham, Noble (1996). The Presidency of James Monroe. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0728-5.
• Dangerfield, George. Era of Good Feelings (1953) excerpt and text search
• Dangerfield, George (1965). The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815–1828. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-88133-823-0., standard scholarly survey; excerpt and text search
• Greenstein, Fred I. (June 2009). "The Political Professionalism of James Monroe". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 39 (2): 275–282. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2009.03675.x. JSTOR 41427360.
• Heidler, David S. (1993). "The Politics of National Aggression: Congress and the First Seminole War". Journal of the Early Republic. 13 (4). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press: 501–530. JSTOR 3124558.
• Herring, George C. (2008). From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507822-0.
• Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1754–1829 (2005), 1600 pp.
• Hart, Gary. James Monroe (2005), superficial, short, popular biography
• Howe, Daniel Walker (2007). What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. Oxford History of the United States. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507894-2. OCLC 122701433., Pulitzer Prize; a sweeping interpretation of the entire era
• Kaplan, Fred (2014). John Quincy Adams: American Visionary. HarperCollins. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) Biography
• Leibiger, Stuart, ed. A Companion to James Madison and James Monroe (2012) excerpt; emphasis on historiography
  • Haworth, Peter Daniel. "James Madison and James Monroe Historiography: A Tale of Two Divergent Bodies of Scholarship." in A Companion to James Madison and James Monroe (2013): 521-539.
• Johnson, Allen (1915). Union and Democracy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Mahon, John K (1998). "The First Seminole War, November 21, 1817-May 24, 1818". Florida Historical Quarterly. 77 (1): 62–67. JSTOR 30149093.
• May, Ernest R. The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (1975), argues it was issued to influence the outcome of the presidential election of 1824.
• Morgan, William G (1972). "The Congressional Nominating Caucus of 1816: The Struggle against the Virginia Dynasty". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 80 (4): 461–475. JSTOR 4247750.
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1965). The Oxford History of the American People. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Parsons, Lynn H. (1998). John Quincy Adams. Rowman and LittleField. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Perkins, Bradford. Castlereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812–1823 (1964)
• Perkins, Dexter. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823–1826 (1927), the standard monograph about the origins of the doctrine.
• Renehan Edward J., Jr. The Monroe Doctrine: The Cornerstone of American Foreign Policy (2007)
• Scherr, Arthur. "James Monroe and John Adams: An Unlikely 'Friendship'". The Historian 67#3 (2005) pp 405+. online edition
• Scherr, Arthur. "James Monroe on the Presidency and 'Foreign Influence;: from the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788) to Jefferson's Election (1801)." Mid-America 2002 84(1–3): 145–206. ISSN 0026-2927.
• Skeen, Carl Edward. 1816: America Rising (1993) popular history
• Styron, Arthur. The Last of the Cocked Hats: James Monroe and the Virginia Dynasty (1945). 480 pp. thorough, scholarly treatment of the man and his times.
• Unger, Harlow G.. "The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness" (2009), a new biography.
• Weeks, William Earl (1992). John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press.
• Wilentz, Sean (September 2004). "Jeffersonian Democracy and the Origins of Political Antislavery in the United States: The Missouri Crisis Revisited". Journal of The Historical Society. 4 (3): 375–401. doi:10.1111/j.1529-921X.2004.00105.x.
• Wilentz, Sean (2008). The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. New York: W. W. Horton and Company.
• Whitaker, Arthur P. The United States and the Independence of Latin America (1941)
• White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801–1829 (1951), explains the operation and organization of federal administration.

Primary sources

• The Papers of James Monroe: Selected Correspondence and Papers. Volume 4: 1796–1802 ed. by Daniel Preston. (2011)
• The Papers of James Monroe: Selected Correspondence and Papers. Volume 5: 1802–1811 ed. by Daniel Preston (2014) online review
• Monroe, James. The Political Writings of James Monroe. ed. by James P. Lucier, (2002). 863 pp.
• Writings of James Monroe, edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, ed., 7 vols. (1898–1903), online edition at Google Books The%20Papers%20of%20James%20Monroe%22&f=false online v 6.
• Richardson, James D. ed. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents vol 2 (1897), reprints his official messages and reports to Congress. online vol 2

External links

• James Monroe: A Resource Guide at the Library of Congress
• United States Congress. "Presidency of James Monroe (id: m000858)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• A Guide to the Papers of James Monroe 1778–1831 at the University of Virginia Library
• Monroe Doctrine; December 2, 1823 at the Avalon Project
• James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library
• "Life Portrait of James Monroe", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, April 12, 1999
• Works by James Monroe at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)