• James Monroe
    (April 28, 1758 - July 4, 1831)
    James Monroe Picture
         James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States, serving two terms from 1817 to 1825.  Monroe was the last Founding Father of the United States, the last one from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation to become the U.S. President.  His presidency was marked both by the "Era of Good Feelings" - a period of relatively little partisan strife- and later by the Panic of 1819 and a fierce national debate over the admission of the Missouri Territory.  Monroe is most noted for his proclamation in 1823 of the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the United States would not tolerate further European intervention in the Americas. 
         Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe fought in the American Revolutionary War.  After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served in the Continental Congress.  As an anti-Federalist delegate to the Virginia convention that considered ratification of the United States Constitution, Monroe opposed ratification, claiming it gave too much power to the central government.  Nonetheless, Monroe took an active part in the new government and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate, where he joined the Jeffersonians.  He gained experience as an executive as the Governor of Virginia and rose to national prominence when, as a diplomat in France, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
     
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Last Modified on November 14, 2010