James Monroe was born in Virginia in 1758. He was America’s fifth President and the last who was a Founding Father of the U.S.A. He inherited his father’s plantation and fortune when he was 16. In 1776 Monroe dropped out of college to join the Army. He returned to academic life from 1780 to 1783 to study law under Thomas Jefferson. He felt a legal career would offer him “the most immediate rewards”.

 

In 1782, Monroe was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and served in the Continental Congress between 1783 and 1786. As a youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution. In 1790, he was elected as a United States Senator. He served as Minister to France from 1794 to 1796 and 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 and he was easily elected with little opposition. The Federalist opposition collapsed in disarray towards the end of his first term in office and he won re-election unopposed in 1820 for a second term as President.

 

Monroe made strong Cabinet choices, naming a Southerner, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, and a northerner, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State. In 1823 Monroe introduced a policy warning against European intervention in the Americas. Twenty years after he died in 1831, this became known as the Monroe Doctrine. It is still used by modern-day presidents.