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Presidents Patriotism Daddy's
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United States Presidents
Early Years: Monroe attended the College of William and Mary for two years, but left to join the Third Virginia Regiment in 1776. He became a professional politician and his long friendship with Thomas Jefferson helped him advance in his political career. His Presidency: He is most known for the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which declared America's Political system separate and different from Europe's. During his term, Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine as a free state in the Missouri Compromise. Also, the boundary between the U. S. And Canada was established. His Life: On New Year's Day, 1825, at the last of his annual White House receptions, President James Monroe made a pleasing impression upon a Virginia lady who shook his hand: "He is tall and well formed. His dress plain and in the old style.... His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank, honest expression of his eye ... I think he well deserves the encomium passed upon him by the great Jefferson, who said, 'Monroe was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot on it.' " Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758, Monroe attended the College of William and Mary, fought with distinction in the Continental Army, and practiced law in Fredericksburg, Virginia As a youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, and in 1790, an advocate of Jeffersonian policies, was elected United States Senator. As Minister to France in 1794-1796, he displayed strong sympathies for the French cause; later, with Robert R. Livingston, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. His ambition and energy, together with the backing of President Madison, made him the Republican choice for the Presidency in 1816. With little Federalist opposition, he easily won re-election in 1820. Monroe made unusually strong Cabinet choices, naming a Southerner, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a northerner, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State. Only Henry Clay's refusal kept Monroe from adding an outstanding Westerner. Early in his administration, Monroe undertook a goodwill tour. At Boston, his visit was hailed as the beginning of an "Era of Good Feelings." Unfortunately these "good feelings" did not endure, although Monroe, his popularity undiminished, followed nationalist policies. Across the facade of nationalism, ugly sectional cracks appeared. A painful economic depression undoubtedly increased the dismay of the people of the Missouri Territory in 1819 when their application for admission to the Union as a slave state failed. An amended bill for gradually eliminating slavery in Missouri precipitated two years of bitter debate in Congress. The Missouri Compromise bill resolved the struggle, pairing Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and barring slavery north and west of Missouri forever. In foreign affairs Monroe proclaimed the fundamental policy that bears his name, responding to the threat that the more conservative governments in Europe might try to aid Spain in winning back her former Latin American colonies. Monroe did not begin formally to recognize the young sister republics until 1822, after ascertaining that Congress would vote appropriations for diplomatic missions. He and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wished to avoid trouble with Spain until it had ceded the Floridas, as was done in 1821. Great Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed reconquest of Latin America and suggested that the United States join in proclaiming "hands off." Ex-Presidents Jefferson and Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Secretary Adams advised, "It would be more candid ... to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war." Monroe
accepted Adams's advice. Not only must Latin America be
left alone, he warned, but also Russia must not encroach
southward on the Pacific coast. ". . . the American
continents," he stated, "by the free and
independent condition which they have assumed and
maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects
for future colonization by any European Power." Some
20 years after Monroe died in 1831, this became known as
the Monroe Doctrine. Quotations
It
is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt,
when they degenerate into a populace, that they are
incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation
is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon
found. The people themselves become the willing
instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let
us, then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to
preserve it in full force. Let us by all wise and
constitutional measures promote intelligence among
the people as the best means of preserving our
liberties.
The American continents . . . are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.
-James Monroe
-James Monroe
Republics
demanded virtue. Monarchies could rely on coercion
and “dazzling splendor” to suppress
self-interest or factions; republics relied on the
goodness of the people to put aside private interest
for public good. The imperatives of virtue attached
all sorts of desiderata to the republican citizen:
simplicity, frugality, sobriety, simple manners,
Christian benevolence, duty to the polity. Republics
called on other virtues—spiritedness, courage—to
protect the polity from external threats. Tyrants
kept standing armies; republics relied on free
yeomen, defending their own land.
-James Monroe We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. -
James Monroe Speeches:
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