MONROE
MONROE
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MONROE, Elizabeth Kortright, wife of Presi-
dent Monroe, was lx)rn in New York city in 1768 ;
daughter of Capt. Lawrence Kortright, an officer
in the British army. She was educated in New
York city, and was married in 1786 to James
Monroe, while he was / delegate from Vir-
ginia to the Conti- nental congress. They removed to Philadel- phia in 1790, whither the seat of govern- ment had been trans- ferred after the adop- tion of the Federal constitution, and was a resident of that city while Monroe was U.S. senator, 1790-94. She was in France, 1794-96, and while there visited the wife of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had been condemned to death and with her two children was confined in the prison of La Force. Mrs. Monroe interested herself in behalf of the prisoner and soon after her visit the execution of Madame Lafayette was postponed and she was subsequently liberated. Mrs. Monroe returned with her husband to America in 1796, and settled in Virginia and was with him at Richmond, 179&- 1802, while her husband was governor of Vir- ginia ; at • the Court of St. James, London, 1803-06; and in Washington, 1811-17, when her husband was secretary of state. When the war of 1812 broke out and the capital was threat- ened she retired with her two daughters, Eliza and Maria, to her country seat at Oak Hill, Lou- doun county, Va. She continued to make Wash- ington her home after the declaration of peace with Great Britain, and was mistress of the White House, 1817-25. Of her two children, Eliza, born and educated in France, was married in 1820 to her cousin, Samuel L. Gouveueur of New York city, and was the first daughter of a President to be married at the White House, and Maria was married to George Hay of Virginia, who was afterward appointed U.S. judge by President John Quincy Adams. At the close of Monroe's second term in 1825 they removed to Oak Hill, Va., where Mrs. Monroe died in 1830.
MONROE, James, fifth president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., April 28, 1758 ; son of Spence and Eliza (Jones) Monroe, and nephew of Joseph Jones (1727-1805) (q.v.). The Monroes came to Virginia about the middle of the seventeenth century and were of Scottish origin. James Monroe attended the Col- lege of William and Mary for a short time and
upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he
was one of the twenty-five students to enter the
military service. He enlisted in the Continental
army at Washington's headquarters in New
York city and was appointed lieutenant in the
3d Virginia regiment under Col. Hugh Mercer.
He took part in the battles of Harlem, White
Plains and Trenton, and while leading the ad-
vance guard at Harlem Heights he was severely
wounded in the shoulder. He served as a volun-
teer aide with the rank of major on the staff of.
the Earl of Sterling and engaged in the battles of
the Brandywine, Gerniantowu and Monmouth,
and was recommended by General Washington
for a commission in the state troops of Virginia*
He was not given a field commission as he de-
sired, but the effort led to his gaining the friend-
ship of Governor Jefferson, who sent him as mili-
tary commissioner to collect information regard-
ing the condition and aspects of the army in the
south. This commission gave him the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, but interrupted his services
in the field. In 1782 he was elected to the state
assembly and he also served as a member of the ex-
ecutive council. He was a delegate to the Con-
tinental con- OLP STATE HOUSE.^
gress assembled \^'^1';y^^/• in New York city, 1783-86, and while in congress he pre- sented his bill for the tempor- ary government of the newly acquired north western terri- tory by the United States.
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This bill was the paramount issue of the con-
gress, 1784-87, and Monroe twice crossed the
Alleghenies to become familiar with the condi-
tion of the country. It was finally settled by
the ordinance of Sept. 13, 1787, for the govern-
ment of the Northwest Territory. Mr. Monroe
was chosen one of the nine judges to decide the
boundary question between Massachusetts and
New York in 1784, and resigned this position in
1786, as both the states in question were opposed
to his views as to tlie right of free navigation of
the Mississippi and neither was likely to accept
his judgment in the question at issue. He waa
married in 1786 to Elizabeth, daughter of Law-
rence Kortright of New York city. After the
expiration of his three years' service in congress
he engaged in the practice of law in Fredericks-
burg, Va. He was elected a delegate to the state
assembly and was a member of the state conven-
tion that met at Richmond in 1788 to consider
