James Monroe

James Monroe (1758– 1831) was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). His administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida (1819); the Missouri Compromise (1820), in which Missouri was declared a slave state; the admission of Maine in 1820 as a free state; and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), declaring U.S. opposition to European interference in the Americas, as well as breaking all ties with France remaining from the War of 1812. Before his election as president, Monroe served twice as governor of Virginia, as Secretary of War under James Madison, and as Secretary of State, also under Madison.

Monroe is, along with George Washington, one of only two American Presidents to have been elected to the office without serious opposition.

James Monroe in Southern Victory
Despite being from Virginia--a trait which consigned his predecessors Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and even George Washington to being remembered in a negative light by US historians after the War of Secession--James Monroe was looked on kindly in US history books for his attempt to promote U.S. security and international prestige with the Monroe Doctrine--a doctrine which was eviscerated in when, thanks to the Confederate States, the US was powerless to prevent France from installing Maximilian I as Emperor of Mexico. ''