Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/436

 MONROE

MONROE

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MONROE, Elizabeth Kortright, wife of Presi- dent Monroe, was lx)rn in New York city in 1768 ; daughter of Capt. Lawrence Kortright, an officer in the British army. She was educated in New York city, and was married in 1786 to James

Monroe, while he was / delegate from Vir-

ginia to the Conti- nental congress. They removed to Philadel- phia in 1790, whither the seat of govern- ment had been trans- ferred after the adop- tion of the Federal constitution, and was a resident of that city while Monroe was U.S. senator, 1790-94. She was in France, 1794-96, and while there visited the wife of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had been condemned to death and with her two children was confined in the prison of La Force. Mrs. Monroe interested herself in behalf of the prisoner and soon after her visit the execution of Madame Lafayette was postponed and she was subsequently liberated. Mrs. Monroe returned with her husband to America in 1796, and settled in Virginia and was with him at Richmond, 179&- 1802, while her husband was governor of Vir- ginia ; at • the Court of St. James, London, 1803-06; and in Washington, 1811-17, when her husband was secretary of state. When the war of 1812 broke out and the capital was threat- ened she retired with her two daughters, Eliza and Maria, to her country seat at Oak Hill, Lou- doun county, Va. She continued to make Wash- ington her home after the declaration of peace with Great Britain, and was mistress of the White House, 1817-25. Of her two children, Eliza, born and educated in France, was married in 1820 to her cousin, Samuel L. Gouveueur of New York city, and was the first daughter of a President to be married at the White House, and Maria was married to George Hay of Virginia, who was afterward appointed U.S. judge by President John Quincy Adams. At the close of Monroe's second term in 1825 they removed to Oak Hill, Va., where Mrs. Monroe died in 1830.

MONROE, James, fifth president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., April 28, 1758 ; son of Spence and Eliza (Jones) Monroe, and nephew of Joseph Jones (1727-1805) (q.v.). The Monroes came to Virginia about the middle of the seventeenth century and were of Scottish origin. James Monroe attended the Col- lege of William and Mary for a short time and

upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he was one of the twenty-five students to enter the military service. He enlisted in the Continental army at Washington's headquarters in New York city and was appointed lieutenant in the 3d Virginia regiment under Col. Hugh Mercer. He took part in the battles of Harlem, White Plains and Trenton, and while leading the ad- vance guard at Harlem Heights he was severely wounded in the shoulder. He served as a volun- teer aide with the rank of major on the staff of. the Earl of Sterling and engaged in the battles of the Brandywine, Gerniantowu and Monmouth, and was recommended by General Washington for a commission in the state troops of Virginia* He was not given a field commission as he de- sired, but the effort led to his gaining the friend- ship of Governor Jefferson, who sent him as mili- tary commissioner to collect information regard- ing the condition and aspects of the army in the south. This commission gave him the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but interrupted his services in the field. In 1782 he was elected to the state assembly and he also served as a member of the ex- ecutive council. He was a delegate to the Con- tinental con- OLP STATE HOUSE.^

gress assembled ''\^'^1';y^^/• in New York city, 1783-86, and while in congress he pre- sented his bill for the tempor- ary government of the newly acquired north western terri- tory by the United States.

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This bill was the paramount issue of the con- gress, 1784-87, and Monroe twice crossed the Alleghenies to become familiar with the condi- tion of the country. It was finally settled by the ordinance of Sept. 13, 1787, for the govern- ment of the Northwest Territory. Mr. Monroe was chosen one of the nine judges to decide the boundary question between Massachusetts and New York in 1784, and resigned this position in 1786, as both the states in question were opposed to his views as to tlie right of free navigation of the Mississippi and neither was likely to accept his judgment in the question at issue. He waa married in 1786 to Elizabeth, daughter of Law- rence Kortright of New York city. After the expiration of his three years' service in congress he engaged in the practice of law in Fredericks- burg, Va. He was elected a delegate to the state assembly and was a member of the state conven- tion that met at Richmond in 1788 to consider