James Monroe

Abbie Abramovich
P. 3

James Monroe

      James Monroe was born in Monroe Creek, Virginia on April 28th 1758. His father was Scottish and his mother was of welsh decent. James Monroe later became the 5th president of the United States.   He entered the college of William and Mary when he was only 16, but left in 1776 to take part in the war for independence.
Monroe started out in the Third Virginia Regiment where he soon became a lieutenant. He took part in many battles including Trenton, where he was wounded. In 1777 he received a major rank but lost it in the continental line. But within a year he established a commission as lieutenant-colonel to be raised in Virginia. He later began studying under Thomas Jefferson which started a good relationship he used later in life.
When he was only 24 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and was chosen a member of the governors Council. James served in the Congress of the Confederation for three years, where he constantly argued for the navigation of the Mississippi River. After retiring from congress he began practicing law and was reelected into the Virginia House of Delegates and a member of the state convention that ratified Virginia the Federal constitution.
James Monroe was elected to the US Senate in 1790 where he gained George Washington’s admiration and was nominated as the Minister to France. But his warm reception in France displeased to Federalist in the US and did nothing to help the Jay Treaty, and his position was recalled. Monroe was chosen governor of Virginia in 1799 and was reelected until 1802. He went to France again to help purchase land at the mouth of the Mississippi, where they ended up buying the Louisiana Purchase. He was again chosen for a spot in the Virginia House of Delegates and Governor.
In 1816 James Monroe was announced president of the United States; he received 183 of the 217 electoral votes. He was then reelected in 1820 where he received all but one electoral... [continues]

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