See also: Monroe

James Monroe (1758 - 1831) is the fifth President of the United States of America. He is elected for two mandates of 1817 with 1825.

It is a man considered for his honesty which will make two decisions which will prove to be of an major importance in the history of the United States: the “compromised of Missouri” and the “Doctrines Monroe” which bears its name. The first decision tries to or not regulate the problem of the definition of the States as slave and the second shows the will of the United States to have a major influence on their continent.

Biography

James Monroe is born the April 28th 1758 in the county from Westmoreland, Virginia. He makes his studies at the university “William and Mary”, fights in the continental and practical army the right to Fredericksburg, Virginia. His/her parents, Spence Monroe (1727-1774) and Elizabeth Jones (born about 1729) are farm rich person. He is also freemason.

He joined the anti-federalists at the beginning of his political career and defends the policy of Thomas Jefferson. He is elected with the Sénat then named Ambassadeur in France, from which it defends the positions, of 1794 with 1796. Later, and under the direction of Jefferson, it negotiates the purchase of the Louisiana.

December 4th, 1816 he is elected President by beating the federalistic candidate.

Presidency

1817

March 4th: nomination of James Monroe as fifth President of the United States of America.

October 17th: the President and his wife reinstall themselves in the White House rebuilt after the fire of 1812 by the British.

1818

April 16th - October 20th: agreement between the United States and Canada on the definition of the border enters the two countries on the level of the parallel 49e. Reciprocal disarmament and reduction in the naval forces on the Big lakes.

1820

March 6th: the Congress votes and President Monroe signs the compromise of Missouri which admits this State in the Union as a Slave state but prohibited slavery in the territories located at north.

December 6th: Monroe is re-elected for a second mandate.

1821

March 5th: nomination of the President for its second mandate. The date was moved back one day because the 4 tomb one Sunday.

1823

January 27th: Monroe appoints ambassadors of the United States in the countries of South America.

December 2nd: Monroe states what became the “Monroe doctrines”: “the American continent wants to be free and independent and does not have vocation to be colonized by the European powers”. These doctrines are opposed to the expansionism of Europe on the American continent and announce the will of the United States to have a major influence on the future of the continent.

Foreign politics

Monroe is especially famous for the doctrines which bear its name, stated at the time of a message to the Congrès in 1823. She proclaims that the the United States are released from European colonization and that the Europe should not interfere any more in the control of its business. She also announces that the United States is neutral with respect to the wars between the European powers and these powers and their colonies but that any interference towards an independent State in America will be regarded as an act of hostility towards the United States. Monroe formally does not recognize the other republics of North America before 1822 when the Congrès vote a budget to establish diplomatic relations. He and its Foreign Minister, John Quincy Adams, wishes to avoid the problems with Spain until the transfer of both Florida in 1821.

The United States also starts to treat directly with the nations of South America which have just acquired their independence and seek to weave bonds independently of the United Kingdom.

Interior policy

During its nomination, Monroe decides to visit all the States for the first time from Washington. Its efforts to have exchanges with the population will make say to the journalists who the time was “with the finer feelingss”.

Policy concerning the civic rights, the minorities and immigration

The “finer feelingss” did not last unfortunately, in spite of the support from which Monroe profits. Under the frontage of nationalism, cracks start to appear. In 1819, the inhabitants of the Territory of the Missouri see their application as a Slave state refused by the Union. A law intended for the progressive abolition of slavery involves two years of bitter debates to the Congress. The Compromised of Missouri rule the problem by associating the admission of the Missouri, slave, with that of the Maine, State free and by in the future prohibiting slavery in the north and the west of Missouri. This decision and its consequences become a major element of the interior policy until the abolition of slavery.

Policy partisane

After the war of 1812 against the British, Monroe is elected President in 1816 then re-elected in 1820. He is the last president war veteran of the War of independence and does not have really opponents for these two elections.

The policy partisane really did not exist. The federalistic party had disappeared and the scission between the republican and Whigs had not appeared yet. Practically all the politicians belonged to the Parti democrat-republican.

Death

James Monroe dies on July 4th, 1831 in New York at the 73 years age. Curiously he is the third president to die one July 4th, day of the independence of the United States.

Anecdote

It is in homage to James Monroe that the capital of the Liberia, in West Africa, was called Monrovia in 1822.