Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/440

 MONROE

MONROE

King received 34 electoral votes; the votes for Vice-President being: Howard 23, James Ross of Pennsylvania 5, John Marshall of Virginia 4, and Robert G. Harper of Maryland 3. James Monroe was inaugurated March 4, 1817, and ap- pointed John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts secretary of state; continued William H. Craw- ford of Georgia jw secretary of the treasury; ap- pointed Isaac Shelby of Kentucky as secretary of war, which appointment was declined by General Shelby and (ieorge Graham of Virginia, chief

WHITE MOUSE .-loeo clerk, was appointed ad interim, being succeeded by John C. Calhoun of Soutli Carolina the same year. lie continued Benjamin W. Crowninshield of Massachusetts as secretary of the navy, and on his resignation in Noveml^er, 1818, appointed as his successor Smitli Thompson of New York, on whose appointment to the supreme bench Samuel L. Southard of New Jersey succeeded him. In the attorney -general's office he requested Richard Rush of Pennsylvania to continue in office, but soon after appointed him U.S. minister to Eng- land, and appointed William Wirt of Virginia his successor. He secureil the continuance of the services of Return J. Meigs, Jr., of Oliio, as postmaster-genei-al until 1823, when he appointed John McLean of Ohio as his successor. The foreign missions were filled by: Richard Rush to Great Britain; James Brown of Louisiana to France; George W. Campl>ell of Tennessee to Russia, succeeded in 1820 by Henry Middleton of South Carolina; John Forsyth of Georgia to Spain, followed in 1823 by Hugh Nelson of Vir- ginia. His only appointment to the supreme bench was that of Smith Thompson of New York to be associate justice in 1823. The administra- tion of President Monroe was unattended by any great political discussion and the general prosper- ity and healthy growth incident to a period of peace and to the acquisition and settlement of new territory resulted in the appearance of no opposition to the continuation of his administra- tion for another term and in 1820 no nominations were made by either party. In the election of November, 1820, 231 electors were favorable to his re-election, and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Becured the support of the one other elector. Vice-President Daniel D. Tompkins secured 218 electors, Richard Stockton of New Jersey eight. Daniel Rodney of Delaware four, Robert G. Harper of Maryland and

Richard Rush of Pennsylvania one each. Presi- dent Monroe's second election was thus practically unanimous, the party he represented meeting with no opposition, a unique instance in the Ixistory of American politics. He continued his cabinet as composed during his first administra- tion, making the few changes noted under that head. In his message to congress in 1823 Presi- dent Monroe referred to the proposed intervention of the allied powers of Europe as indicated by the news of the proceedings of the congress of Verona, October-December, 1822, where a project had been discussed to aid Spain in recovering her domain in America, in these words: " We should con- sider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dan- gerous to our peace and safety," and in another place: " The American continents by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained are henceforth not to be consid- ered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." This unwritten law at once consistent with international rights and justified by self-defence became known and respected as the " Monroe Doctrine," and has been main- tained by the United States on all subsequent oc- casions, notably in matters relating to the Isth- mus of Panama; in the case of French interven- tion in Mexico under Maximilian, and in the Nicaragua canal treaty, signed Nov. 18, 1901, following which Secretary of State Hay said: is, perhaps, the Monroe Doctrine and the Golden Rule. With this simple chart we can hardly go far wrong." During his administration President Monroe made a formal visit to the principal cities of the northern and southern states. On Feb. 22, 1819, the purchase of the Floridas was concluded by a treaty with Spain, thus giving the United States control of the entire Atlantic coast from the St. Croix to the Sabine. Although favoring internal improvements, he vetoed the Cumberland Road bill. May 4, 1822, holding that congress had no authority to make appropriations for internal uses, unless of natiimal significance, but he also believed that the minor improvements of the in- terior should be left to the separate states. The national reception of the Marquis de Lafayette as the nation's guest occurred, 1824-25, during Monroe's administration. At the close of his second administration in 1825 he retired to his county seat at Oak Hill, Loudoun county, Va., and subseqently went to live with his son-in-law, Samuel L. Gouverneur, then postmaster of New York city. He was financially embarrassed and intended to enter upon the practice of the law in New York, but he found serious obstacles in his health and age, and not even his prestige as an Ex-President served to procure him clients. He
 * ' The briefest expression of our rule of conduct