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James Monroe (April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831) Democratic-Republican (Though tried to have no party affiliation during the Era of Good Feeling) 1st Term- March 4, 1817- March 4, 1821 2nd Term- March 4, 1821- March 4, 1825 VP both Terms- Daniel D. Tompkins

James Monroe was very good president to have during the Era of Good Feeling. He did many things to try to unify the country and he focused on a lot of domestic affairs. I think that he deserves an A- because he help get rid of the two party system for a time, he focused a lot on new territories that were in the country and allowed five states into the Union and he made a great foreign policy endeavor for the whole hemisphere with his Monroe Doctrine.

James Monroe's main goal was to keep the good feeling of nationalism alive and to unify the country the best that he could. He did this by making very strong cabinet appointments from all parts of the country. He nominated a southerner, John Calhoun, for Secretary of War, a northerner, John Q. Adams, for Secretary of State, and he was turned down by Henry Clay so he did not have a westerner in his cabinet. He did pick many Democratic-Republicans, but he did not stick with only them and did not pick people only because of their party affiliation. He also wanted to build national trust between all people so during the first year of his presidency he made two national tours and got warm welcomes everywhere, even in places where he was not popular during the election.

Monroe had a pretty good relationship with congress considering all that he had to endure between the North and the South in Congress. The Republicans (called the Jackson-Crawford Republicans and the Adams-Clay Republicans and Federalists) had a very large majority in both Houses of Congress as the Federalists were slowly fading. One bill that was pushed through Congress was the Cumberland Road Bill to improve the road, but was vetoed by Monroe because he thought it was unconstitutional for the federal government to have a hand in something that should be let up to the states and the local government. He also had the tough job of deciding the Missouri Compromise. Because of the Panic of 1819 caused economical problems through the country Missouri wanted to be accepted as a slave state into the Union. The northerners did not like this because it would set congress off balance and the slave states would have more representatives and this especially mattered in the senate. After two years of bickering a compromise was made and it was determined that Missouri could be entered as a slave state, but that Maine would also break away from Massachusetts and become a free state. They also set up the 36 30 line, which was placed in the west and any land about that would be free land. This helped the Union in the end but at the time was a good compromise that made everyone content, or a while. Along with Missouri and Maine, Alabama, Mississippi, and Illinois were also admitted into the union.

The worst thing that happened during Monroe's presidency was the Panic of 1819. Though this was not caused by the Monroe administration they did have trouble getting the country back on his feet. The North and South had different ways of correcting the crisis. The north wanted to raise the tariff because they thought the country needed more money, but the south wanted to reduce the tariff so that the people wouldn’t have to pay. The south also thought that free trade would do better to stimulate the economy. The Monroe administration did end the crisis by 1823. The best action of the Monroe administration is the obtaining of Florida. This territory had been long disputed between the U.S. and Spain. Because it was officially part of the U.S. Monroe opened the way for him to deliver his Monroe Doctrine to the world.

The Monroe Doctrine was the most impacting choice of Monroe's presidency. Though it was created mostly for the good of United States it helped all of the colonies and nations in the Americas. It helped to protect other nations and it helped newly developing countries continue to develop without the impact of their old commanders. The Monroe Doctrine was also used by many other presidents such as James Polk concerning Texas, by Grant concerning the colonization’s of Europeans in America and Grover Cleveland about the influence of Great Britain and Venezuela. In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and said that the U.S. would take military action to help Latin American countries economically in tacked so that they could pay their International debt and also so that the European powers would not break the Monroe Doctrine by interfering. The Monroe Doctrine opened the power of the country and helped future presidents with keeping Europe out of American affairs.

The country was better off after Monroe finished his presidency. At the beginning was the Panic of 1819 and that eventually ended. Also at the end of his terms there were five more states in the union, Florida was now officially a territory of the U.S., there was going to be no more fighting over which states could be entered as slave states, and he created an Era of Good Feeling for the whole country. That is why I would give him an A- because he did so much to help and unify the country.

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm- U.S. Senate

http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/index.html - U.S. House of Representatives

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesmonroe/- Monroe Biography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe -Monroe Biography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine -Monroe Doctrine Info

American Pagent- Text Book