MONROE

JAMES MONROE was born in 1758 in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he was a student at the College of William and Mary, but he left his studies in 1776 to join the Conti. nental Army. He took part as Lieutenant in the New Jersey campaign of that year, and was wounded at the battle of Trenton. The next year he served with the rank of Captain on the staff of General William Alexander. In 1780 he began the study of the law under the direction of Jefferson, then Governor of Virginia. Thereafter, under all vicissitudes, he continued to possess the friendship and support of both Jefferson and Madison. In 1782 Monroe was in the Virginia Legislature, and from 1783 to 1786 he was a member of the Congress of the Confederation. On retiring from Congress he entered upon the practice of the law, and was again elected to the Legislature. In the Virginia Convention of 1788, called for the purpose of ratifying the proposed Federal Constitu. tion, he was among the opponents of that instrument, but his course was approved by the Legislature of his State, which elected him United States Senator in 1790. Although in the Federal Senate he had shown himself opposed to the Federalist administration, he was appointed by Washington in 1794 Minister to France, but was recalled two years later, on the ground that he had failed to represent properly the policy of the government. In justification of his diplomatic conduct, he published in the following year a pamphlet of five hundred pages. In 1799 he became Governor of Virginia and was twice re-elected. When the Republican party came into power with Jefferson as President, Monroe was again called upon to discharge diplomatic functions. Commissioned in 1803 to co-operate with Livingston, then Resident Minister at Paris, he took part in effecting the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. He was next commissioned Minister to England, and subsequently undertook a mission to Madrid. In 1806 he was placed in a commission with William Pinkney to negotiate a treaty with England, but the outcome of his negotiations was rejected. Returning to the United States in 1807, he drew up a defence of his diplomatic conduct in Great Britain. In the following year some disaffected Republicans attempted to put Monroe forward as the candidate for the Presidency, but, as Virginia declared in favor of Madison, he withdrew his name. In 1810 he was again sent to the Legislature of his native State, and the next year became its Governor. In the same twelvemonth he was appointed Secretary of State in

Madison's Cabinet, and for a time discharged also the duties of the War Department. He was chosen President in 1816, and in 1820 received all the electoral votes but one. As President he accomplished the acquisition of the Floridas, and formulated the so-called Monroe Doctrine, which announced to the world that America should be reserved for the Americans. On the expiration of his second Presidential term, Monroe retired to Oakhill, his county seat in Virginia, but, at the time of his death, July 4, 1831, he was residing in New York.

FEDERAL EXPERIMENTS IN HISTORY

VIRGINIA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, JUNE 10, 1788

Mr. Chairman:

I

CANNOT avoid expressing the great anxiety which I

feel upon the present occasion-an anxiety that proceeds not only from a high sense of the importance of the subject, but from a profound respect for this august and venerable assembly. When we contemplate the fate that has befallen other nations, whether we cast our eyes back into the remotest ages of antiquity, or derive instruction from those examples which modern times have presented to our view, and observe how prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their checks and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled, as it were, by an irresistible fate of despotism-if we look forward to those prospects that sooner or later await our country, unless we shall be exempted from the fate of other nations, even upon a mind the most sanguine and benevolent, some gloomy apprehensions must necessarily crowd. This consideration is sufficient to teach us the limited capacity of the human mind-how subject the wisest

men have been to error. For my own part, sir, I come forward here, not as the partisan of this or that side of the question, but to commend where the subject appears to me to deserve commendation; to suggest my doubts where I have any; and to hear with candor the explanation of others; and, in the ultimate result, to act as shall appear for the best advantage of our common country.

The American States exhibit at present a new and interesting spectacle to the eyes of mankind. Modern Europe, for more than twelve centuries past, has presented to view one of a very different kind. In all the nations of that quarter of the globe, there has been a constant effort, on the part of the people, to extricate themselves from the oppression of their rulers; but with us the object is of a very different nature: to establish the dominion of law over licentiousness; to increase the powers of the national government to such extent, and organize it in such manner, as to enable it to discharge its duties and manage the affairs of the States to the best advantage. There are two circumstances remarkable in our colonial settlement: first, the exclusive monopoly of our trade; second, that it was settled by the Commons of England only. The revolu. tion, in having emancipated us from the shackles of Great Britain, has put the entire government in the hands of one order of people only-freemen; not of nobles and freemen. This is a peculiar trait in the character of this revolution. That this sacred deposit may be always retained there, is my most earnest wish and fervent prayer. That union is the first object for the security of our political happiness, in the hands of gracious Providence, is well understood and universally admitted through all the United States. From New Hampshire to Georgia (Rhode Island excepted),