Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/439

 MONROE

MONROE

the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. With Patrick Henry, William Grayson and George Mason he was opposed to consolida- tion, fearing the formation of a monarchy and pre- dicting conflict between the state and the national authorities and that a President once elected might continue for life. It was only on condition that certain amendments should be made to the instrument that he fiaally consented to its ratifi- cation. The first of the U.S. senators elected from Virginia were Richard Henry Lee and William Grayson. Upon the death of Grayson on March 12, 1790, Governor Beverley Randolph appointed John Walker to fill the vacancy, and on the assembling of the Virginia legislature James Monroe was elected to complete the term, and for a full term beginning March 4, 1791. He took his seat in the senate, Dec. 6, 1790, and was suc- ceeded, Dec. 7, 1795, by Stevens Thomson Mason, Senator Monroe having been appointed by Presi- dent Washington U.S. minister to France. While in the senate he was an aggressive anti- Federalist and as such did not support Washing- ton's administration and veas especially hostile to his secretary of the treasury. He objected to the confirmation of many of the President's ap- pointments, notably those of Gouverneur Morris as U.S. minister to France and of John Jay as U.S. minister to England, but notwithstanding his opposition and greatly to his surprise he was appointed by Washington to succeed Morris to France. He arrived in Paris at the close of the French revolution and in the excitement of the time did not receive official recognition until Aug. 15, 1794. At his official reception on that date he addressed the Convention in cordial terms, but was severely criticised in the United States when his report reached the government, being charged with exceeding his authority. Secretary of State Randolph feared that his expressed friendliness to France might offend the British ministry, but after receiving all the dispatches from Monroe, he better understood the situation and it was not till Senator Pickering took up the portfolio of state that Monroe was replaced by the appointment of Charles C. Pinckney, the date of his recall being Aug. 22, 1796. He printed his instructions, his correspondence with the French and United States governments, his speech, and letters re- ceived from the American residents at the French capital, in a pamphlet which was issued in Phila- delphia as " A View of the Conduct of the Ex- ecutive." He was elected governor of Virginia on the anti-Federalist ticket, serving, 1799-1802. Upon the election of Thomas Jefferson as Presi- dent, Monroe was returned to France as an addi- tional plenipotentiary, and with Robert R. Liv- ingston secured a treaty with that country, ceding Louisiana to the United States, which negotia-

tion resulted in the payment of $15,000,000 by the United States for the American territory then owned by France, known as the territory of Louis-

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iana. On the completion of his mission in France in 1803 he went with Charles Pinckney to nego- tiate a treaty with Spain and thence to London as U. S. minister at the court of St. James, where he was joined in 1806 by William Pinckney, sent to act as a commissioner with him in securing a cessation of aggressions as exercised by the British government against neutrals. In 1807 he was sent to Spain to negotiate for the purchase of Florida by the United States. This mission was unsuccess- ful and he returned to London, where, with Wil- liam Pinckney, he concluded the treaty with Great Britain after long negotiations. The treaty failed to provide against the impressment of American seamen and secured no indemnity for loss sus- tained by Americans in the seizure of their goods and vessels, and the President refused to send it to the senate. Monroe returned to the United States and drew up a defence of his official con- duct. He was for a third time elected a delegate to the state assembly, and in 1811 was again elected governor of Virginia, which office he filled for a few months, when he was appointed by President Madison secretary of state as suc- cessor to Robert Smith, who resigned, April 1, 1811, and he held the portfolio until March 4, 1817. He also acted as secretary of war, 1814-15. While a member of the cabinet, hostilities com- menced between the United States and Great Britain; the public buildings at Washington were burned, and the country was greatly de- pressed. He gained much praise for the meas- ures he adopted for the safety of the national capital and for the prosecution of the war. At the Republican (Democratic) caucus held in Washington, D.C., March 16, 1816, he was nom- inated for President of the United States, with Daniel D. Tompkins of New York for Vice- President. Rufus King of New York was the candidate of the Federalist party for President and John Eager Howard of Maryland for Vice- President. In the election Monroe and Tomp- kins received the support of 183 electors, while