 Hello from the National Archives Public Programs and Education staff. My name is Sarah Lyons Davis and I'm an education specialist at the National Archives in New York City. Welcome to the National Archives Comes Alive Young Learners Program. Today we meet James Monroe. James Monroe was a lawyer, US diplomat and founding father from Virginia. James Monroe served as fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He's best known for his 1823 annual message to Congress wherein he warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere as such interference would be perceived as a threat to the United States. This policy later is referred to as the Monroe Doctrine and it's still in effect today. James Monroe is portrayed by educator and historian James J. G. Harrison III. The National Archives has many records related to James Monroe. This image is from our education specific resource Docs Teach. It shows a page of the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine is the best known US policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Buried in this routine annual message to Congress the Doctrine warned European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs. The Doctrine was conceived to meet major concerns of the moment but it soon became the dominant belief about US policy in the Western Hemisphere. In this copy of the painting we see a rendition of James Monroe as he looked around 1820. This painting was done by Gilbert Stewart artist and painter best known for painting a number of this country's early founders. As a founding father Monroe was known for many other achievements including helping to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in 1803. He did this while serving as a diplomat under President Thomas Jefferson. Along with fellow negotiator Robert Livingston he arrived in France to discuss purchase of the Louisiana Territory. On April 30th, 1803 the treaty was signed and the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly four cents an acre the United States doubled in size expanding the nation westward. Our programs are brought to you from the National Archives public programs and education team and the National Archives Foundation. You can find information for free teacher and student programs on the National Archives website archives.gov under archives news upcoming events and if you follow the National Archives on social media. Please let us now give a warm welcome to James Monroe. Good morning boys and girls, fellow educators, fellow citizens welcome to the blue room at the president's house better known in the federal city as as the White House today. Also you're in Washington DC for those who are not familiar with the federal city name or moniker. I am Colonel James Monroe and I'm very happy and honored to be in your attendance this morning to tell you a little bit about my life and also about my my career which I have been very fortunate to have had and current opportunities to talk to you about questions you might have and also explain a little bit about latest happenings here in the federal city. Well first off I would like to tell you a little bit about my background and as a young boy growing up in the colony of Virginia I was born on April 28 1758 in the county of Westmoreland. There were five children in our family my older sister Elizabeth my younger brother Spence younger brothers Andrew and Joseph my mother and father Elizabeth Jones and also my father Spence Monroe were a landed gentry in me they were a considerable prominence in the community. We owned about 500 acres of land in Westmoreland County in which we grew corn, tobacco, barley, also raised cattle, oxen and my father was also an accomplished cabinet maker so he was well versed in producing cabinets and furniture around it which were sold throughout the the commonwealth of Virginia which now the colony of Virginia now the commonwealth of Virginia. My childhood was one of exploration and also of education. I was fortunate to grow up in a very wild area where there was not as many other people around the closest neighbors with a Washington family which is about five miles from us didn't know the Washington's personally as they moved away when I was prior to my birth but our family was familiar with them but I had a great opportunity to learn about the natural world around me and also to be well educated through my schooling at a place called Campbelltown Campbelltown Academy in Westmoreland Archibald Campbell was the Scottish instructor who schooled young boys at his school there several miles from my home my home was known as Monroe Hall in Westmoreland County. I went to school at Campbelltown Academy for five years from 1769 to 1774 from about the age of 11 to about the age of 16 and I studied things that you might be familiar with the romance languages Latin mathematics science one of my classmates was the esteemed John Marshall. He actually moved temporarily down to Westmoreland because he was born in Faulkier County quite a distance away from Westmoreland County and to attend that prestigious school there alongside me so for about 11 weeks each year we attended school and I was raised with books and learning much about the outside world but not traveling too far a field from my home known as again Monroe Hall and Monrovia the opportunities there also provided me because of the timing an opportunity to learn a little bit more about my fathers and my father's beliefs at the age of seven going on eight I was party to his being involved in the Leeds Town Resolves. Leeds Town Resolves were a protest that took place in 1766 in opposition to the 1765 Stamp Act which was the first instance of Great Britain our mother country taxing our nation without representation and there was a great cry on the colonists and one of the first protests took place in nearby King George County where my father schooled me at the young age of seven going on eight in the ways of civil disobedience protesting respectfully that we have a disagreement and we're not happy about it but not being violent and that was an important milestone in my young life something that carried through my entire life and I still reminisce about that and how it's affected my life to date unfortunately in 1772 with the death of my mother at a young age of 43 and then the death of my father a few years later in 1774 at the age of 47 our family no longer had parents and so we were very fortunate that my paternal great uncle Judge Joseph Jones or Fredericksburg a very esteemed judge and jurist came to take care of the family basically to take in the family my sister had by by the time had married but my youngest brother had died after one year Spence Monroe the other three boys myself Joseph and Andrew were taken in by Judge Joseph Jones and raised and at the age of 16 and 1774 I was enrolled at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg Virginia on the eve of the American Revolution so this is a very chaotic somewhat exciting exhilarating time for a young boy who had not been away from his home county to travel some hundred miles plus to Williamsburg which was the colonial capital of Virginia and to be around all the news buzzing about impending possible hostilities with Great Britain over taxation of that representation it seemed like we were heading to war and that was a very busy time in terms of being might be involved now as a student but also witnessing the unfolding events leading to eventually our independence our nation's independence from Great Britain well and as a student I was very involved not only in attending classes there but also being party to the information being shared about the growing disagreement between the 13 American colonies and Great Britain in 1775 and June of that year just two months after the opening conflict of the American Revolution which is the battle of Lexington and Concord 24 young men including myself and captained by a gentleman named Theodoric Bland decided to take upon ourselves to raid the home of the of the governor of Virginia Lord the royal governor Lord Dunmore who had vacated what is known as the governor's palace and he had fled for his own safety and the safety of his family we decided to raid the palace because there was a stock of arms and munitions there that we wanted to put in the hands of the colonial militia for safekeeping so we raided the governor's palace and took 230 muskets 301 swords about 18 pistols and transferred them to the nearby gun powder magazine for safekeeping that was my first instance being involved with an event associated with what came to be going is the American Revolution well by the early part of 1776 with war definitely now at play in the 13 colonies the College of William and Mary were shuttered or closed to students and I went home and I decided to enlist in the third Virginia regiment of the continental line and that took me from my childhood and also my studies a way to be part of in an effort to free ourselves from a tyrannical monarchy being great Britain so with the third Virginia regiment I marched off to war towards New York and over the course of the war I was involved in six major campaigns three of those campaigns took place in 1776 they were the battle of Harlem Heights White Plains and Trenton and about Trenton I was seriously wounded receiving a musket ball from a Hessian mercenary in my left shoulder I still carry that musket ball in my shoulder to this day it could not be removed but I healed and survived thankfully to two gentlemen who were instrumental and say to me one was a freed black man named John Sidebottom who rescued me from my wounding and transferred me to the safety of Dr. John Riker a local doctor who staunched the blood flow saved my life and I went on to recuperate I was awarded eventually a captaincy and also became a major in the continental line under Lord Sterling and participated in battles in 1777 after my recovery notably the battles of Brandywine and the battles of battle of Germantown both of those battles having taken place in Pennsylvania my last battle I participated as a member as a soldier in the American continental line was the battle of Mammoth courthouse in 1778 at the end of 1778 I decided to forego my commission in the continental army and returned to Virginia where I was awarded by Governor Jefferson with a commission with the state line specifically the Virginia Garrison Regiment a group of men was designated to protect the capital at Williamsburg and also the lower James River Valley area from possible British invasion after that time in 1780 I was awarded opportunity to serve under Jefferson as military commissioner to the southern army where I basically went out and and viewed the movements of British troops in North Carolina and relayed that information back through a series of messengers by horseback all the way to Richmond Virginia where the capital originally eventually moved to to Governor Jefferson so Jefferson would know what movements the British army weren't taken if they were headed to Virginia or not so that was instrumental to keeping Governor Jefferson informed of a possible British invasion directly into Virginia and 17 later in 1780 also served a local militia unit and that brought to close pretty much my entire five years of my involvement with the American Revolution I had sought my own command but late in the war with so many men already serving there were so few individuals that are either of age or of health to serve further in a new regiment that I was unable to relate raise my own regiment and take over as a leader in the field so that was a big disappointment to me but I persevered and moved on and began to read law under Governor Jefferson first in Williamsburg prior to 1780 and 1780 when the capital of Virginia was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond I followed Jefferson to Richmond and continue my legal readings of law at that time you read the law under an established or seasoned practitioner of the law an attorney that could help you and Jefferson is all we all know was was an expert in the law and it was a great help to me and my career so moving on from my involvement in the American Revolution I never forgot the sacrifices of the men and both citizens soldiers and and those serving as professional soldiers and those that may have lost their lives that contributed to the ultimate victory the obtaining of independence from Great Britain that was so important to our young nation so from that point moving into my professional career I pursued after leaving military rank I was in the kind of a congress for three years and also began a succession very fortunate succession of election elected positions appointed positions and ultimately the position I hold today serving our great nation I'll tell you a little bit about those and just to give you a background on how I have moved through my career I served following my continental line excuse me my continental congress work in New York with moving my family to Fredericksburg Virginia where I became a practicing attorney and also was a member of the Fredericksburg Common Council here in the town of Fredericksburg I became a delegate on the to the Virginia House of Delegates I served the Virginia constitutional ratification committee I also became a U.S. Senator over time also appointed to minister to France England and Spain as well I was appointed Secretary of State and also Secretary of War I held to those two positions at one point simultaneously under President Madison I also under President Jefferson was sent to as our wonderful introduction was made about my involvement with the the enlarging of our country through Louisiana Purchase more than doubling the size of our nation in 1803 helped negotiate Robert Livingston for the purchase of those many acres for those few cents on the dollar and in fact increasing our nation exponentially in size I also served eventually in 1817 I was elected president and I've served by first term I'm well into my second term as a matter of fact I have about 15 months left before I call my term comes to an end and there's a new president put in place so right now there's a lot of debate going on because there are five there are five candidates that are seeking possible candidates seeking election as the sixth president of the United States of America and those include John Calhoun the secretary of war William Crawford the secretary of the Treasury former general Andrew Jackson who's a senator from Tennessee also John Quincy Adams secretary of state and Henry Clay speaker of the House of Representatives the party to which they to which I belong the Democratic Republicans is in a as in a KX spell right now because of possible fracturing because of concerns about the direction of the party and those five gentlemen again are buying for an opportunity to possibly be the next president which will election will take place in later next year in 18 late 1824 so here we are in we're now in December 14 1823 what are some of the things that I've been involved with that have hopefully made a difference I've tried my best the last six and a half years here as your fifth president I will tell you that we've taken from our last six the last few years through a period of prosperity coined the air of good feelings by a Boston publicist of a newspaper back when I was making the rounds to acquaint myself with the various sections of our young nation as you know the very few people have the opportunity to to meet the president of the United States because we don't travel that often but I made an effort to meet my constituents in the northern part of our nation also in the Chesapeake region and also the southern part of the country to familiarize the citizens who voted and those who didn't vote for me with what I was about who I look like and you know what I represented in terms of my policy proposals and ideas for the continued development and growth economically and physically as a young nation so during that time of my travels in Boston, Massachusetts a newspaper publicist coined the term era of good feelings because we were at a relatively good time in our nation's history where there was peace and prosperity that would soon come apart in 1819 with the financial panic that lasted about three years but we were covered and now we're here four years later and we're doing well as a nation but some of the things that took place that I'm particularly concerned about again the westward expansion of our nation is important in terms of transportation improvements by a steamboat canal passage by the construction of national roads or improved roadways to get our citizens from one point to another because we have so many unimproved roads that during bad weather are almost passable to make it from one town village or city to another so that's very important to me as well during the course of my presidency there have been five new states that have been admitted into our union so we've grown quite a bit we've admitted Mississippi Illinois, Alabama, Maine and Missouri we've also seen some difficulties including sexualism sexualism refers to favoring one area's region over the good old nation and we've had concerns between the farming south versus the manufacturing north as a matter of fact it all came to a head in 1820 with what's referred to as the Missouri compromise a document that we were able to create to help placate concerns about representation in Congress of those southern states owning enslaved people versus the manufacturing north and we had a new state coming on board the union that was Missouri and it was concerns that if Missouri was admitted to the union without a reciprocal or another state to balance it that the balance of power would be in the favor of slave states versus those who own slaves in those states versus those in states that did not own slaves so it was an important moment in our country's history to rectify the possible military strike a possible civil war if you will in 1820 and we were able to avert that through this compromise called the Missouri compromise so basically from when Missouri was admitted into the union as a slave state Maine was admitted into the union as a free state so the balance of power of Maine equal and from the 36 and a half parallel which is a measurement of actually it's a circle of latitude excuse me from the bottom of Missouri heading west anything below that latitude would be considered a potential slave state or territory for slave states and anything above that 36 and a half degree parallel would be considered territory for free state states in the future so that was a time that was very very critical to to work through and to resolve I do believe this issue is not complete resolved and that the sectional differences between these two parts of our nation will come into play again unfortunately in the future I'm hoping I'm wrong about that but I do know that the two sides are not still in odds and we're somewhat well stand still right now and hopefully that that level heads will prevail in the future and that rational people will work these continuing disagreements out just a few days ago about 12 days ago as a matter of fact on December 2nd 1823 I presented my 7th annual message to Congress a message that dealt with an important matter here to both those living in the Americas those living in the United States and our concerns for our nation's safety and that the 7th annual message to Congress was worked upon by members of my cabinet in particular John Quincy Adams the secretary of state there are three main components to the 7th annual message to Congress that I articulated and the first one which was the contribution of John Quincy Adams was that there were to be no further colonization by any European powers in the Western Hemisphere and as you know the Western Hemisphere is composed of those three major sections of the Americas the other two components of the 7th annual message to Congress were that there was to be no American interference with European matters abroad and the third component was that they're recognized two separate spheres of influence the Americas containing in the in the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere containing the European nations so as we all know in our time it takes about 30 days on average for news to make it to nations across the Atlantic Ocean so we're waiting to see the response from the European nations and also our neighbors to the South and Central and South America the 7th message to Congress is designed to respect the emerging former Spanish colonies in South America that are now independent republics and also to state to Europe that any European interference by European nations in the Americas in particular South America would be considered a threat to the safety of the United States so remains to be seen what happens with that as we go forward in the future but I will say that I'm very content based on the involvement of my cabinet members and collectively we have put together a policy that will help our young nation from a safety standpoint and also for us to grow economically and be respected in the great global world that we are part of and with that those are my initial comments I look forward to hearing more from you all well thank you so much I you have had quite the impressive career and been around for so many interesting parts of early American history so thank you for sharing that it's so fascinating to hear about your work in the White House and Congress I was hoping you'd have time for some questions from us certainly I'll be happy to entertain any questions wonderful a question we have is were you friends with any of the other founding fathers yes I absolutely in particular George Washington our first president of the United States as a young 17-year-old who had enlisted in the Thurbridge New Regiment in the Continental Line I was very taken by his leadership and command of our collective efforts to hopefully achieve American independence which we did through some very very difficult times and for those who are not familiar our army at the time was an unprofessional non-trained army made up of citizen soldiers that needed to have the opportunity to grow under Washington's leadership and through his subordinates and through the efforts of the French who came to serve as our allies during the war we were able to put together the military might in order to conquer what was then the greatest army on the earth Great Britain's army at the time and so Washington's leadership is his the aura around him on just his words his wisdom as we're very very moving to a young man like myself and I never forgot those those times serving under he and his subordinates during the American Revolution I also became great friends with Thomas Jefferson our third president as well as I mentioned during my earlier remarks during in 1780 when I had left prior to that I had left the kind of army and and become assigned to the Virginia Garrison Regiment in Williamsburg and I got a chance to to become involved as a friend and get to know Jefferson I had met him actually in in 1774 along with Washington when I was first welcome to Williamsburg as a student my uncle just Joseph Jones introduced me to both Washington and Jefferson at that time so I and have been introduced to them but I didn't know them well not until 1780 did become well acquainted with Jefferson and he gave me the opportunity to read the law under him because again that is how you become an attorney you read the law under an established practitioner of the same and you go on to your career from there so Jefferson was a great importance to me and also just a worldly man a man ahead of his times in so many different areas not only law but politics but science as well and he was so versed in so many fields it was almost hard to to keep up with him because of his passions for all these things but his passion for these various subjects and topics made their way to me and I became equally not equal to him but equally enthused by pursuing study of the same in some respect so I owe much to to Jefferson I also met president the fourth president of the United States James Madison I met him when I served the Continental Congress and we actually ran against each other in 1789 for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives Madison won that election by 322 votes I made it I made it sort of a run for the seat but Madison secured the victory but regardless of that competition for that seat we became the best of friends his his mentoring of me just like Jefferson in the ways of the world the ways of politics the ways of law the ways of working as a public servant and doing the due diligence to to effect change and also to to take care of our constituents as elected representatives were important to me we had a minor rift between 1808 and 1810 but we worked that out and like Jefferson like Madison we have our still lifelong friends and I'm I'm so grateful for their friendship and for all they've done to further my career without their involvement I wouldn't be here as president of the United States so I owe much to those two gentlemen so interesting thank you speaking of your career and your accomplishments what would you say is your proudest accomplishment both in life and in your career my proudest accomplishment in my life is meeting the love of my life Elizabeth court right of New York and I am blessed that she accepted my offer of marriage and she became my wife we have a lovely family I'm proud and devoted to them Eliza my oldest daughter and Mariah Hester my youngest daughter we did have a young son James Spence who unfortunately passed away after at the age of about a year and a half and 1800 that was a great lost our family but our family is very very close without the support of my family again I would not be as well here serving our nation and that is that my proudest life accomplishment I would say my proudest accomplishment as a public servant and that's that's a close one I would say because of the direct impact to the future of our nation helping stave off possible a possible civil war in 1820 through the creation of the Missouri compromise again a compromise not solving the problem ultimately but putting off a possible conflict between north and south where our nation could have been split apart I think that would is my proudest accomplishment at this point in time and I appreciate that question I I've worked hard but I think that was the most trying time in my career especially as president with military um strike possibly on the horizon and thankfully we were able to prevent that at that time that's so interesting to hear um on the kind of other side of that if I might ask did you have did you have disappointments along the way professionally and what would you consider your greatest disappointment in your career yes wonderful question we are all human beings we have disappointments invariably in our lives my greatest disappointment one I would say my greatest point would be actually the loss of my friendship with general Georgia Washington the first president of the United States and some of you may not know about this but I was appointed um minister to France and I was sent to to France to help mitigate the relationship between or actually maintain the neutrality if I may correct myself between the nations of France and England in respect to the United States at that time the jay treaty had been executed by John Jay a diplomat sent to England to hopefully ward off war with Great Britain a second time and as a result of that treaty I was sent to France because France had been our ally during the American Revolution and now France and England were fighting and we wanted as a nation to maintain our neutrality to be able to to grow and respect other nations but let the affairs of Europe hopefully play out on their own and we didn't want to be involved our nation didn't want to be involved well my instructions from Washington were to maintain that neutrality I was not allowed to divulge the details of the jay treaty again the treaty between the United States and Great Britain regarding um you know a peace treaty of sorts to keep war from happening between those two nations but the French felt like and I'm very very pleased that they were happy with my being there but they felt that I was had been power had been removed from my position because I was not able to help them and there were those in with Washington's administration in particular Tiffany Pickering who were talking in Washington's ear and saying Monroe's getting too close to the French he favors them because they fought with us as allies and we think that he's perhaps trying to undermine the neutrality I was not trying to undermine the neutrality at all but maintain our relationship with France at the same time respecting the fact that there had been a treaty executed between United States and Great Britain to prevent war between the United States and Great Britain so I was recalled from my position as minister to France back to the United States in 1797 and Washington was not very kind to me in his remarks and I published a 500 page pamphlet defending my actions to the T of what I had been instructed to do and accomplished as minister to France unfortunately that created um a rift in our friendship and I regret that I regret the fact that our friendship can't par I stand my ground on my position I do if I go back in time um we all know Washington passed away in 1799 I would uh it would be again I'm not able to do that but I would like to mend somehow somehow some way men a relationship because he was a father figure to me during the American Revolution I respected him and still do he was a great man a great president he did so much for our nation but our friendship fell apart it's as sad as me and it still bothers me to say well thank you for answering that question so candidly and really giving us a window into those um intricacies of these delicate negotiations very interesting to hear thank you and I understand your second term as fifth president of the United States of America will be ending in March 1825 what are your plans for these last 15 months of your administration when you leave office well you see me smiling because I I must admit I am somewhat excited about the possibility the two terms as president is enough and I am committed my last 15 months to fulfilling hopefully um negotiations and further efforts related to that seventh annual message to congress related to protecting western hemisphere from the eastern hemisphere and european nations but also increasing opportunities for increased aid and in partnership with other nations but at the same time respecting the safety of the United States I'm really interested in 1824 because we have a special guest coming to the United States and that guest is the marquis de lafayette journal off yet america's greatest french friend so to speak who will be returning for a year-long anniversary tour states in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the american revolution and I presented I presented to congress the invitation and the invitations extend marquis and he will be joining us in 1824 we're excited about that opportunity but in the meantime there are things pressing on the table ongoing deliberations with our indian brothers and sisters here in the united states the nations that are um indian nations of great concern to me um they're wherewithal I've executed a number of treaties in my administration respecting educating those nations um providing opportunities to educate them and providing opportunities to protect their their landholdings where they currently reside today I'm also interested in continuing efforts to improve our transportation networks throughout the western and also the eastern part of the united states and also growing opportunities in this new territory the louisiana territory that we purchased from france so those are um the things I'm thinking about now that I want to bring to closure opportunities to um through legislation through policies through executive acts legislation to effect change and to make our nation better I will also say that I look forward in march early march of 1825 when my term ends I do intend to retire with my family to our oak hill estate in loudon county if you're familiar with um virginia that's just south of leesburg the town of leesburg virginia I own about 1,000 acres there and I'm very excited about pursuing actively farming of that land I own another farm in almore county highland which unfortunately because of the lack of my absence and through the lack of um the best managers of the farm that farm has not been very successful and it disappoints me I I I'm the ultimate responsibility for the success um agriculture that of that fine fine farm that I hold near and dear to me but I have not been a good farmer and that resides with me and I'm hoping to become a better farmer beginning in 1825 and spending more time with my family and getting to low our local citizens in loudon county as a permanent residence of loudon county so I'm very very um grateful for your for that question and thank you for asking it I'm sure the time will pass by quickly and I'll be out of office and will wish my successor godspeed well and we have one final question for you today what advice do you as james munro have for young people today several several points come to mind first continue your education education equates to knowledge and knowledge is power that will enable you to continue on your life's journey with much success so please study hard work hard and you'll be the beneficiaries of success in your life secondly seeking out constructive criticism from others and their feedback is important make sure you listen well thoroughly and fully to what they have to say before you respond to them sometimes those responses you sometimes those criticisms might bother you but it's you've asked the question you wanted feedback and sometimes there is good and bad with that but listen fully and give people the opportunity courtesy to listen to them fully and then respond in a respectful manner that's basic etiquette be nice be kind be respectful to your peers even if you disagree with them because our our lives are about on different beliefs different opinions and no matter what we do in our life we want to encounter that so i will tell you that as a member as your president the president i solicit input from my cabinet members often and i give them every courtesy by listening fully to what they have to say about specific topic a piece of legislation and act of congress what have you to get their opinions so that i can be better informed and then be able to respond to what they've said and that's something that's been passed on to me by my elders and mentors as well well thank you so much for sharing all of this wonderful information and this great advice with us and our viewers and now take one last look at the docs teach educational activity related to the Monroe Doctrine the US foreign policy still in effect and it turns 200 years old this year so thank you all i hope you can join us next month for our young learners program with deba samson patriot of the american revolution thank you for participating in our program today