Review:
by Tim McGrath
Published by Dutton, 2020
586 pages; 151 pages of notes, bibliography, and index
As the fifth and last of the founding fathers to serve as president, James Monroe was enormously popular with American citizens, a popularity enhanced by his tours of the United States in 1817 and 1819. His first term was deemed the “Era of Good Feelings” and he won all but one elector in his reelection bid in 1820.
James Monroe was a family man, a gentleman, a political warrior, an honorable man, and a man who was flawed—but not deeply. McGrath artfully weaves the stories of Monroe’s personal life—his unsuccessful attempt as a gentleman farmer, his perpetual money problems, as well as his relationships with his unambitious brothers, his faithful and faithless friends, his beautiful and elegant wife, and his lovely daughters (who had their own problematic personalities)—with a lifetime of the political triumphs and disappointments Monroe experienced. Friendships with mentors and associates were extremely important in his personal and political life. When he lost a friend or made and enemy, he attempted reconciliation. There were two notable cases where he failed. George Washington, who misused ambassador Monroe to unknowingly divert the French government’s attention during treaty negotiations with the English, died before Monroe could attempt to rekindle a friendship. He also tried to make peace with Alexander Hamilton’s widow late in life and was rebuffed. Hamilton had accused Monroe of revealing a confidence about an adulterous affair, leading to an argument between the two men that almost ended in a duel.
McGrath’s description of the extremely close relationships with Monroe’s dear friends Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, among several other close confidants, provides an excellent backdrop for the story of a great man with very human limitations. Monroe preferred to act toward solutions. He would remain silent as he listened to others give counsel and then take time to ponder the issue. He was not as eloquent or as intellectually inclined as Jefferson and Madison, but he was known to possess sound judgment. He was a solution-oriented man who preferred to act rather than allow problems to fester.
Monroe served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, distinguishing himself in the victory at Trenton, New Jersey as an advanced scout for Washington’s army as they crossed the Delaware River after having wintered in Valley Forge. The musket ball lodged in his shoulder, earned in battle, ended his active military career while helping to start his political career. He served in the Virginia legislature, the national legislature (under both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution), in the state judiciary as a circuit riding attorney, and as governor of Virginia. Monroe excelled as a diplomat in the Washington and Jefferson administrations. He began as the Ambassador to France during the end of the Reign of Terror. Returning to France under Jefferson’s administration, he assisted in negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase. He traveled to Spain to help negotiate for American access to the Mississippi River. Finally, Monroe was Minister to England leading diplomatic attempts to stop the seizure of American sailors and impressing them into the British navy.
During the Madison administration, Monroe was appointed Secretary of State and later Secretary of War in 1814, when Washington, D.C. was attacked and destroyed by the British army and Baltimore was defended by troops at Fort McHenry impeding the British Navy’s advance. His election to the Presidency in 1816 allowed him to serve his country with his superior personal traits of diplomacy, loyalty, optimism, judgment, and a keen awareness of the political skills required to govern the nation. Despite Monroe’s administration being marred by the Panic of 1819, the contentiousness that resulted in the Missouri Compromise, and a few minor scandals, he was a considered success.
The reasons for Monroe’s success came to be realized because of his support for, and administration of, America’s accomplishments during his presidency. The purchase of Florida from Spain, the Missouri Compromise, and the outlawing of the slave trade occurred on his watch. However, he is most remembered for the Monroe Doctrine. Monroe worked with John Quincy Adams to hammer out an enduring policy which forbade new colonization and military conquest in the Western Hemisphere by European powers—especially those hostile to new democratic republics in South America—and which established a tradition of U. S. neutrality regarding wars in Europe. This second clause remained as a policy for more than 90 years until World War One. The first clause of the doctrine is still in force.
Monroe, like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison before him (and several presidents after him) owned slaves. Like his predecessors, he preferred to continue his lifestyle despite much angst and hand wringing about the slavery issue. But he was a man who thrived on discovering solutions. Monroe’s ideas for dealing with the slavery issue and with Native American tribes would be considered wrong headed and insensitive today. But, as McGrath has explained, he was a man of his times. Concerning enslaved persons, he supported sending freedmen and enslaved persons taken in the illegal slave trade to a new colony established in Liberia on the West coast of Africa. With Native Americans, he supported paying tribes to relocate west and adopt an agrarian lifestyle, while having their children attend government schools to be educated in the ways of white culture. Such a program could have caused some Native American cultures to disappear in just a few generations. However, in the early 1800s, such a consequence from an assimilation policy would have been seen as a bonus.
Two aspects of McGrath book caught my imagination. One was the way he described the communication problems of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We are used to instant communications in the early 21st century. It requires a major shift in perspective to realize that, as McGrath tells us, it would take weeks for a message about the victory at the Battle of New Orleans from General Andrew Jackson to reach Secretary of War Monroe in Washington, D.C., while it would take months for news of the Treaty of Ghent that ended the war of 1812 to cross the Atlantic. The result? The victory in New Orleans happened well after the war was over! Such is the importance of speedy, efficient communications.
Another aspect in McGrath’s work is his thoughtful use of language regarding those subject to slavery. Instead of simply using the word “slaves” to describe these people (unless it could not be avoided, historically or grammatically), he uses the terms “enslaved men,” “enslaved women,” “enslaved children,” “enslaved persons,” and “enslaved Americans.” His use of language helps us to realize that these are people worthy of dignity who, by circumstance, happen to be enslaved; they are not just a separate class of servants called “slaves.”
This book is nearly 600 pages and is a long read, though not difficult, thanks to McGrath’s writing style. It is, nonetheless, a scholarly treatment of James Monroe’s personal and political life, containing more that 150 pages of notes and extensive bibliography entries. For fans of epic biographies, this book is well worth the read for all the reasons mentioned above. For those wanting to try a new genre, this is a wonderful and engrossing entrance into the world of biographies, well worth taking the time to read.
Check it out at your public library.