{"id":17808,"date":"2024-06-19T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T16:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=17808"},"modified":"2024-09-03T18:01:31","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T22:01:31","slug":"5-monroe-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=17808","title":{"rendered":"#5. Monroe, James"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em> Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas <\/em>\u2013 James Monroe (April 28, 1758 \u2013 July 4, 1831) was the fifth president of the United States (1817 to 1825) and the last president of the \u201cVirginia dynasty.\u201d He was also the last US president to wear a powdered wig tied in a queue, a tricorn hat, and knee-breeches. He was the last president to have never been photographed, though he does appear in some famous paintings you\u2019ve seen. You probably didn\u2019t realize you were looking at him, but James Monroe was in the scene of revolutionary action, and getting the country settled down action, working hard, doing his part. He saw what had to be done, and he did it. Yes, he was with George from the beginning, and we know how feisty George was \u2013 like getting bullet holes in his hat, and coat. But James got a bullet in his SHOULDER, and kept on fighting. Would James come to your party? Possibly, if you let him bring his gun. This guy grabbed up a few cannons from the Governor\u2019s House in Williamsburg once, although technically that wasn\u2019t a party; it was more an attack. But let\u2019s get back to those portraits.<\/p>\n

Where is Monroe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Emanuel Leutze portrait of Washington Crossing the Delaware<\/em> in 1776 wasn\u2019t done until 1851, and is acknowledged to be mostly inaccurate, though quite inspiring. George Washington is in fine form, on a cold and stormy night. But who is holding onto the flag? That is meant to be James Monroe, did you know? In reality, that flag didn\u2019t exist yet, and James Monroe wasn\u2019t on the same boat as George Washington \u2013 he had come across hours earlier<\/em>. But it\u2019s a good story. John Trumbull\u2019s Capture of the Hessians at Trenton<\/em> is an even better story, I think. Karma on its best behavior! The time of the event portrayed is a few hours after the landing; Monroe\u2019s regiment is sneaking through the snowy countryside when spotted by some dogs, who did what dogs do, and awakened their master, John Riker. He thought they were British, and began shouting at them; when he learned they were Americans he volunteered to join them immediately. \u201cI am a doctor and I may be able to help,\u201d he said. Early in the battle while charging Hessian cannons, Monroe was shot down. A musket ball pierced his chest, lodged in his shoulder, and severed an artery. Dr Riker clamped the artery and stopped the bleeding; James Monroe got up and continued fighting. And eventually became our fifth president, ha! In the portrait, James is the one on the ground holding onto his shoulder, as you might guess. And do the math \u2013 he was only 18 years old!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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In The Beginning<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I look over all the things James Monroe did, I see a man who believed it was his job to take action when action was called for. Yes, he was born into the \u201cVirginia Planter\u201d way of life, but it was vastly different for him than it was for Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. They inherited vast estates, with thousands of acres of Virginia land and hundreds of slaves, and began their extensive educations at an early age. Even Adams, who only wound up with an 8-acre farm in Massachusetts, had a father who INSISTED that he attend school \u2013 \u201cYou shall comply with my desires,\u201d he was told, after a bout of truancy. It wasn\u2019t like that for James Monroe. His father, Spence Monroe, was a moderately prosperous planter, and a carpenter; his mother Elizabeth Jones died when James was 14; his father died when he was 16. Although James began attending the only school in the county at age 11, it was just for a few weeks a year \u2013 he was needed to work on the farm. When his parents died he inherited property from them, but withdrew from school to help care for his younger brothers. James was second born of five children \u2013 Elizabeth, then James, Spence, Andrew, and Joseph. His childless maternal uncle, Joseph Jones, became a surrogate father; he enrolled James in the College of William & Mary and introduced him to George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson. But it was 1774, and opposition to the British government was getting hotter and hotter. James dropped out of school and joined the fight. The Governor\u2019s Palace in Williamsburg was one of the first hits (cannons, remember?) He served in the Continental Army (under George Washington), studied law (under Thomas Jefferson), and there was no stopping him from there.<\/p>\n

Other Government Positions:<\/strong><\/p>\n