Shannon+-+JMonroe

Fifth President Term: 1817-1825-two terms Nickname: The last cocked hat Born: April 28th 1758 Westmoreland County Virginia Died: July 4, 1831 New York, New York Democrat-Republican (anti-federalists at Virginia Convention) Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins It is my idea that this President James Monroe Deserves an A as his grade. His characteristic such as his ability to think things through and not be hasty was a good factor especially for the Monroe Doctrine. He handled the two crisis of his Presidency in a calm manner and he still kept his morals through his terms. His Administration wasn’t half bad either people such as John Q. Adams served as great help. Monroe had four main goals; He wanted to keep the Bank of the United States, and he approved the protective tariff. He wanted to keep up a large peacetime army, but his main goal was the reinstatement of political harmony. In other words he wanted to eliminate other parties. Some of these goals were successful but about less then half stuck. His major goal to seek political harmony was achieved by Monroe traveling through out the Union. “The Era of good feeling” was its name and though it’s what this president was known for, its name may prove deceiving and in all reality was short lived. In the Panic of 1819, Monroe had to reduce his coastal force because there was an over development of credit during the War of 1812. The other two may not have had such great comes either the bank would be fought over later by Jacksonite’s and People such as Henry Clay and Tariffs would continually challenge all the Presidents. The Presidents Relationship with Congress was more than likely in good shape considering it was “The Era of god feeling.” Though the Era did not hold as much good feeling as some bring themselves to believe, it did bring the parties to be one for a short period of time and I believe I can safely assume that by the his second election he was still in the Congresses favor. The only time that they may not have been in such happiness was just before the idea of the Missouri compromise was negotiated. In reality though it’s doubted that any president could have had better relations with the congress considering the fact that the country was split by the Missouri slavery issue, it had even been the cause for the 1820 crisis. The Administrations best decision would have to be the Monroe Doctrine, and its worse would be both good and bad, the Missouri Compromise. The Monroe Doctrine informed everyone that America was not to be involved in any internal affairs with other countries and it also included that colonization was not allowed among Europeans and any who violated this would be seen as unfriendly. It was a very smart decision on Monroe’s part to hold off on the recognition of the Latin American States till after the confirmation of the treaty with Spain. Monroe had had concern for a possible interference of European powers trying to re-establish Spanish authority, and it was in 1823 when his concern became reality. So he decided to take an offer made by Britain to declare unfriendliness to European interference in Latin America. This offer was encouraged by both Jefferson and Madison to be accepted. The worst but still somewhat good decision was The Missouri Compromise. Everyone was so separated by the problem of Missouri entering the Union as a slave state or free state that it started the Crisis of 1820. Later in 1820, the Missouri Compromise was passed it forbid slavery above the parallel 36°30' north in what was once the Louisiana Territory except for Missouri. Though in the end they proposed the Missouri Compromise it still left a crack in the country and it delayed the Civil War even longer. One of the decisions that would affect future administrations and Presidencies would have to be the Missouri Compromise. Since this administration didn’t pull the curtain for the civil war that means another one would have to in its place. This was important because it also placed probably the most stress on Lincoln not to mention also cost him his life. If Monroe had done it perhaps he would have died instead or perhaps he didn’t enjoy theater enough to have been shot. It also would put in question of how much more advanced we might have been at this time, or if perhaps less slaves would have suffered. Then there’s the idea that perhaps he could have started the Civil War but all of his decisions would have taken a different turn of events. It could have been this compromise that led the war to Lincoln instead of Monroe. I gave Monroe the grade I thought he deserved and I stand by it. He did better than most in his position on everything and I could only really question the Mississippi compromise which was still a good way to accommodate everyone. In the end I believe we were better with him as our president than not. Works Cited: [|James Monroe: Biography from Answers.com] [|Internet Public Library: POTUS] [|American Presidents: Life Portraits] [|Biography of James Monroe] [|American President: James Monroe] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Compromise
 * James Monroe **