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=__**James Monroe**__ =

//April 28, 1758 - July 4, 1831 Terms of office: March 4, 1817 - March 4, 1825 Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins Political Party: Democratic-Republican// James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States and the last of the so-called Virginia dynasty of U.S. presidents. And I think that he deserve the grade of A for a lot of positive things that he did for the country. Monroe was president during the "Era of Good Feelings." Monroe was the last U.S. President to wear a powdered wig and knee breeches according to the men´s fashion of the eighteenth century.

The main Monroe’s goal was to promote the “Era of Good Feelings”. Monroe believed that this new "era" would place free government on a solid footing by eliminating party rivalry. The experiment, however, did not outlast his second term, because sectional hostility and individual political rivalries shattered the brief unity.

One of first Monroe’s goals was to place a westerner in the War Department in an effort to broaden the geographical basis of his administration. Monroe selected John C.Calhoum on the Crawford’d post. The South Carolinian had demonstrated a command of military affairs while a member of the House during the war. Intellectually gifted, tall, and handsome, the thirty-five-year-old Calhoun presented an image vastly different from the gloomy one of his later years. He gave the War Department an efficient administration that effected substantial economies. Before his presidency admired as a practical man by younger congressmen, Monroe formed excellent working relations with Congress and obtained the cooperation of the so-called War Hawks in advancing administration programs. After the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Britain, Monroe's desire for a military command was frustrated by Secretary of War John Armstrong. The latter believed that Monroe had deprived Robert R. Livingston, Armstrong's brother-in-law, of his rightful claim to be the negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase. His service in the cabinet had made Monroe an obvious choice for president in 1816. The Republican congressional caucus chose him as the party's candidate over William H. Crawford, who had succeeded Monroe as secretary of war. The Federalist Party had been badly damaged fatally, as it turned out by its opposition to the War of 1812. Monroe easily defeated Sen. Rufus King (N.Y.), the Federalist candidate for president, by 183 to 34 in the voting of the Electoral College. I think that Monroe's greatest achievements as president lay in foreign affairs. Ably supported by Adams, he made substantial territorial additions and gave American policy a distinctly national orientation. Monroe welcomed an opportunity to press Spain to cede Florida and define the boundaries of Louisiana. His chance came when Gen. Andrew Jackson invaded Florida in 1818. In pursuit of hostile Indians, Jackson seized the posts of St. Marks and Pensacola, acts that many persons regarded as violations of congressional war powers. In the cabinet, Adams, an expansionist, urged Jackson's complete vindication, while Crawford and Calhoun demanded that he be reprimanded for exceeding his instructions. Monroe chose a middle course the posts were restored to Spain, but the administration accepted Jackson's explanation that his action had been justified by conditions in Florida. The incident led Spain to cede Florida and define, favorably to American claims, the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase in the Adams-Onís Treaty negotiated in 1819. Monroe's most positive program was the construction of a network of coastal fortifications to guard against future invasions. Although extensive construction was begun, the program was drastically reduced after the Panic of 1819, when government revenues fell sharply. It was the most negative outcome of his politic. Monroe, interpreting the economic crisis in the narrow monetary terms then current, limited governmental action to economizing and to ensuring fiscal stability. Although he agreed to the need for improved transportation facilities, he refused to approve appropriations for internal improvements without prior amendment of the Constitution. The calm of the Era of Good Feelings was permanently shattered by the Missouri crisis of 1819-1820, which exposed an unsuspected depth of sectional hostility. Monroe's role in the conflict was peripheral, because it was contrary to Republican doctrine for the executive to exert direct pressure on Congress. Once the compromise was worked out, Monroe gave it his full support. It admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri without restriction on slavery, barring slavery north of the 36degrees30' line of latitude within the Louisiana Territory. Monroe shared the widely held view that the effort to restrict slavery in Missouri sprang not from a selfless concern for the welfare of the slaves but from the ambitions of ex-Federalists and discontented Republicans, notably Gov. DeWitt Clinton of New York, to revive the two-party system on a sectional basis. The Missouri crisis had no effect on the presidential election of 1820. The Federalist party had disappeared as a force in national politics, and Monroe, unopposed, got all of the electoral votes but one. Monroe's second term was rendered uncomfortable by the bitterness created by the Missouri debates and by the rivalry of the aspirants to succeed him as president. In the absence of party machinery, they sought to advance their individual candidacies by attacking administration policies. The activities of Crawford's supporters seeking to damage Secretary of State Adams caused a major setback in foreign policy in 1824, when the Senate so amended an Anglo-American agreement to suppress the international slave trade that the British government refused to ratify. As a result, hopes for an Anglo-American rapprochement were crushed. Calhoun's rivals also blocked administration efforts (Indian affairs were then under the War Department) to begin a more generous policy toward Indians. All in all, I absolutely agree that after Monroe’s presidency he deserves only an A grade. His administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida (1819); the Missouri Compromise(1820), in which Missouri was declared a slave state; the admission of Maine in 1820 as a free state; and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), declaring U.S. opposition to European interference in the Americas, as well as breaking all ties with France remaining from the War of 1812. I don’t really see a lot of negative outcomes of Monroe’s presidency I can only mention the Panic of 1817. But still he solved that problem. Sources: [] [] http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/monroe []

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