ames Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Monroe was the second of five children born to Spence and Elizabeth Jones Monroe, "small" planters who raised tobacco on their 600-acre farm. Initially educated at Parson Campbell's school in Westmoreland, Monroe studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1774 until he enlisted in the Third Virginia Regiment in 1776.

The eighteen-year-old Monroe crossed the Delaware River with General George Washington in December 1776, was wounded at the Battle of Trenton, and camped the next winter at Valley Forge. Retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Monroe returned to Williamsburg. There he met Governor Thomas Jefferson, under whose tutelage he began reading law. The two men formed an immediate and lifelong friendship.

In February 1786 James Monroe married Elizabeth Kortright of New York City. The Monroes had three children-Eliza (born December 1786), James Spence Monroe (born May 1799, died September 1800), and Maria Hester (born early 1803). For twenty-four years the Monroe family's home was HIGHLAND, Monroe's Albemarle County plantation adjacent to Jefferson's Monticello.


Monroe's eldest daughter, Eliza

Monroe's fifty years of public service began with his election to the Virginia General Assembly in 1782. Subsequently, Monroe served in the Confederation Congress and in the first United States Senate; was twice Minister to France, once to Britain and to Spain; served four one-year terms as Governor of Virginia; and became President James Madison's Secretary of State and Secretary of War during the War of 1812. Monroe's greatest achievement as a diplomat was the final negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Elected President of the United States in 1816 and in 1820, James Monroe resolved long-standing grievances with the British, acquired Florida from the Spanish in 1819, and proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Somewhat optimistically labeled the "Era of Good Feelings," Monroe's administration was hampered by the economic depression brought on by the Panic of 1819 and by the debates over the Missouri Compromise that same year. Monroe supported the American Colonization Society, which established the nation of Liberia for freed

blacks. Its capital was named Monrovia in his honor. Monroe himself was tom between his belief in the "evil of slavery" and his fear of the consequences of immediate abolition.

A nationalist in diplomacy and defense, James Monroe supported a limited executive branch of the federal government, distrusted a strong central government in domestic matters, extolled the advantages of industrious farmers and craftspeople, and advocated republican virtue-the idea that the needs of the public should be paramount over personal greed and party ambition.

A tall, slender man of unassuming appearance, lacking a dynamic speaking voice, less intellectual than Jefferson or Madison, Monroe distinguished himself through careful deliberation and cautious action throughout his career. In his efforts to create a sense of national identity for the new American republic, Monroe achieved distinction as a successful diplomat and administrator. "Untiring application, . . . indomitable perseverance," and personal integrity were the hallmarks of his character.

James Monroe died in New York City at the home of his daughter Maria Hester on July 4, 1831, exactly five years after the deaths of presidents Jefferson and Adams. Monroe's tomb is at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.