JAMES MONROE.
James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, was born at Monroe's Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia, April 28, 1758, and died July 4, 1831. It will be noticed that four out of the first five Presidents were natives of Virginia, and in course of time three others followed. It will be admitted, therefore, that the State has well earned the title of the "Mother of Presidents."
JAMES MONROE. (1758-1831.)
Two terms, 1817-1825.
Monroe received his education at William and Mary College, and was a soldier under Washington. He was not nineteen years old when, as lieutenant at the battle of Trenton, he led a squad of men who captured a Hessian battery as it was about to open fire. He studied law under Jefferson, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, and, when twenty-five years old, was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was minister plenipotentiary to France in 1794, but his course displeased the administration and he was recalled. From 1799 to 1802 he was governor of Virginia, and, in the latter year, was sent to France by President Jefferson to negotiate the purchase of Louisiana. In 1811 he was again governor of Virginia, and shortly afterward appointed secretary of State by Madison. He also served as secretary of war at the same time, and, as the treasury was empty, pledged his private means for the defense of New Orleans. Monroe was of plain, simple manners, of excellent judgment and of the highest integrity. While his career did not stamp him as a man of genius, yet it proved him to be that which in his situation is better—an absolutely "safe" man to trust with the highest office in the gift of the American people. Under Monroe the United States made greater advancement than during any previous decade.
Everything united to make his administration successful. The Federal party having disappeared, its members either stopped voting or joined the Republicans. Since, therefore, everybody seemed to be agreed in his political views, the period is often referred to as "the era of good feeling," a condition altogether too ideal to continue long.
TARIFF LEGISLATION.
Shortly after Monroe's inauguration he made a tour through the country, visiting the principal cities, and contributing by his pleasing manner greatly to his popularity. The manufactures of the country were in a low state because of the cheapness of labor in Great Britain, which enabled the manufacturers there to send and sell goods for less prices than the cost of their manufacture in this country. Congress met the difficulty by imposing a tax upon manufactured goods brought hither, and thereby gave our people a chance to make and sell the same at a profit. The controversy between the advocates of free trade and protection has been one of the leading questions almost from the first, and there has never been and probably never will be full accord upon it.
THE SEMINOLE WAR.