James Monroe

The Book VIRGINIA'S MONROE HISTORIC SITES DIDN'T WANT YOU TO READ...March 4, 2017 will be the two-hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of one of our most misunderstood presidents, James Monroe. He had a checkered career. Best known today for his Monroe Doctrine, alas the average American does not know the real James Monroe and mistakes him for the other James-Madison. Yet once, everyone either admired or hated him; there was no middle ground. Today he is mostly forgotten except by two camps of historians: Virginians (who view him as Jefferson's dimwitted prodigy) and Tennesseans (who loathe him as Jackson's wily evil boss). How can two camps have such discordant views of the same man? Monroe, a teenage orphan, joined Washington's army, and became a hero at the Battle of Trenton for charging the Hessian position, where he was severely wounded. (The route of his scouting trek are first-detailed in this book). He befriended Jefferson, on his return to Virginia. The two exchanged coded letters (detailed in these pages). Monroe was elected Confederation congressman, met and married wife Elizabeth, and fathered two daughters. As Minister of France, President Washington indirectly accused the pro-French Monroe of espionage. His scandalous defense is presented in this book. Yet Monroe emerged as a wily politician, and his subsequent political career brought him to the presidency within 20 years. Monroe lived through some dark years. He exposed Hamilton's illicit affair with another man's wife and nearly engaged in a duel over it, backed by Burr as his second. Jefferson was jealous of his success in obtaining the Louisiana Purchase and the pro-French Monroe's coziness with Napoleon. Jefferson clandestinely dumped Monroe and endorsed rival Madison for the presidency. Though Monroe fought back, he survived to become Madison's Secretary of State, and eventually his Secretary of War. Monroe rallied Madison during the British invasion of Washington (again traced in the book). Yet, despite these successes, the insecure Monroe falsified some correspondence records to enhance his political future. Finally, he ascended to the presidency.