James Monroe: The Fifth President of the United States By: Clare Flanagan

Who is James Monroe? James Monroe was the Fifth President of the United States. He was born on April 28, 1758 in Monroe Hall, Virginia. He died on July 4, 1831 at age 73 in New York City, New York, the third President to die on July 4. He was in office from March 4, 1817 to March 4, 1825. He fought in the Revolutionary War. He was the last founding father to be President. He won his first election by 80% of the electoral votes. He was an anti-federalist during the Constitutional Convention. He was a republican during Presidency. He was married and had three children.

What was going on at the time of Presidency? Slavery was still popular in the South, which led to a dispute over Missouri. The Spanish still controlled Florida. Texas was being fought over. The Revolutionary War has been over for several years.

What did James Monroe do as President? He forbade any foreign powers to reclaim and recolonize any free Latin American Countries through the Monroe Doctrine. He reconstructed the foreign policy of America while protecting the rights of newly freed Latin American countries. He created a time of peace referred to as “The Era of Good Feelings” He established rights of fishing in the Great Lakes and an understanding with British Canada. He traded war-filled Texas to the Spanish for Florida. He allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state if Maine was admitted as a free state.

The Era of Good Feelings The Era of Good Feelings was a time of peace in the United States that came during James Monroe’s Presidency.

The Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a document that James Monroe issued to foreign powers (France, Britain, Spain, etc) that forbade them from colonizing Latin American Countries. Latin American Countries, at the time, had followed the Americans’ lead and declared independence. They were now free. James Monroe, being the founding father that was all for freedom, threatened the foreign nations to protect Latin America’s independence. Since no foreign power had enough resources to challenge this, they obeyed. Britain had a particularly rough time with this. This document changed the Foreign Policy in America.

V.S.

vs. America was constantly expanding to the west, but some of that land was already claimed. Texas was one of those lands. It was filled with war between various groups of people, including us and the Spanish. Then, the Spanish decided they bit off more than they could chew. To get rid of one enemy, i.e. America, they traded Florida for Texas. America dropped out of the war and moved into the 27th state. Spain then lost one enemy and then we eventually gained the 28th state of Texas later that same year.

Free vs. Slaves In the Senate, the number of representatives from free states and slaves states were even. At the same time, Missouri wanted to be entered into the Union, but as a slave state. Neither side wanted to lose the balance and both wanted to gain leverage over the other. So what did they do? Well, Maine was also being considered for whether to be a slave or free state. What was decided was to have Missouri be a slave state and Maine be a free state, thus keeping the balance. This became known as the Missouri Compromise. After that, there was a law that any state above a certain latitude was to be a free state and anything below that to be a slave state. This further differentiated between the North and the South, which would become a bigger issue nearly fifty years later: the Civil War.

Why did James Monroe do all this?

James Monroe, as a founding father, believed in equality and liberty for all. This is why he fought so hard for the Latin American Countries, the free states to balance the slave states, and trade Texas for Florida for the Greater Good of the Country.

5 Facts He won his first election by 80% of the electoral votes. James Monroe used his Presidency to keep balance and liberty. He kept balance and liberty because those were his ideals. A time of peace was happening in America, after the War of 1812, and slavery was still big. James Monroe was involved with the maintenance of America as well as foreign goings-on.