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Monroe, James (Fifth president of the United)

fifth president of the United States, was born April 28, 1758, in the county of Westmoreland, Va., and graduated at William and Mary college in 1776. He then joined the continentalarmy, where he remained three years, and was promoted to the rank of captain. He then commenced the study of law under Thomas Jefferson, and in 1782 he was elected to the Virginia legislature. The next year he was chosen one of the executive council, in which he continued until 1783, when he was elected a member of the continental congress, and held that office three years. During his attendance at New York, in 1785, as a member of congress, he married a daughter of Mr.

L. Kortright. In 1787 he was elected to the state legislature, and in 1788 he was a member of the convention to decide upon the adoption of the new constitution. He was elected United States senator in 1788, and at the expiration of his term, in 1794, he was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the court of Versailles, and was recalled in 1796. In 1799 he was elected governor of Virginia, and served the constitutional term of three years. In 1803 he was appointed envoy extraordinary to France, to negotiate for the purchase of Louisiana.

In 1810 he was elected to the legislature and the same year was commissioned minister plenipotentiary to England. In. 1811 Mr. Monroe was again elected governor of Virginia, but was soon after appointed secretary of state by President. Madison, and in 1814 he was appointed to the war department, which he took without relinquishing the former post. He was elected president of the United States. in 1816, and was inaugurated March 4, 1817; he was re-elected in 1820, and took: the cath of office March 5, 1821, the 4th. being Sunday. His term of office expired March 4, 1825, and he retired to his residence in Loudoun county, Va., where he resided until 1831, when he removed to New York city, and took up his residence with his son-in-law. He died on the 4th of July, 1831. Monroe held office twentysix years. He died so poor that he was. buried at the expense of his relatives. He was the author of State Papers; Tour of Observation in 1817; The People: The Sovereigns; and View of the Conduct of the Executive in the Foreign Affairs of the United States.