MONROE
MONROE
the ratification of the Constitution of the United
States. With Patrick Henry, William Grayson
and George Mason he was opposed to consolida-
tion, fearing the formation of a monarchy and pre-
dicting conflict between the state and the national
authorities and that a President once elected
might continue for life. It was only on condition
that certain amendments should be made to the
instrument that he fiaally consented to its ratifi-
cation. The first of the U.S. senators elected
from Virginia were Richard Henry Lee and
William Grayson. Upon the death of Grayson
on March 12, 1790, Governor Beverley Randolph
appointed John Walker to fill the vacancy, and on
the assembling of the Virginia legislature James
Monroe was elected to complete the term, and for
a full term beginning March 4, 1791. He took
his seat in the senate, Dec. 6, 1790, and was suc-
ceeded, Dec. 7, 1795, by Stevens Thomson Mason,
Senator Monroe having been appointed by Presi-
dent Washington U.S. minister to France.
While in the senate he was an aggressive anti-
Federalist and as such did not support Washing-
ton's administration and veas especially hostile to
his secretary of the treasury. He objected to
the confirmation of many of the President's ap-
pointments, notably those of Gouverneur Morris
as U.S. minister to France and of John Jay as
U.S. minister to England, but notwithstanding
his opposition and greatly to his surprise he was
appointed by Washington to succeed Morris to
France. He arrived in Paris at the close of the
French revolution and in the excitement of the
time did not receive official recognition until Aug.
15, 1794. At his official reception on that date he
addressed the Convention in cordial terms, but
was severely criticised in the United States when
his report reached the government, being charged
with exceeding his authority. Secretary of State
Randolph feared that his expressed friendliness
to France might offend the British ministry, but
after receiving all the dispatches from Monroe, he
better understood the situation and it was not till
Senator Pickering took up the portfolio of state
that Monroe was replaced by the appointment of
Charles C. Pinckney, the date of his recall being
Aug. 22, 1796. He printed his instructions, his
correspondence with the French and United
States governments, his speech, and letters re-
ceived from the American residents at the French
capital, in a pamphlet which was issued in Phila-
delphia as " A View of the Conduct of the Ex-
ecutive." He was elected governor of Virginia
on the anti-Federalist ticket, serving, 1799-1802.
Upon the election of Thomas Jefferson as Presi-
dent, Monroe was returned to France as an addi-
tional plenipotentiary, and with Robert R. Liv-
ingston secured a treaty with that country, ceding
Louisiana to the United States, which negotia-
tion resulted in the payment of $15,000,000 by the
United States for the American territory then
owned by France, known as the territory of Louis-
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iana. On the completion of his mission in France
in 1803 he went with Charles Pinckney to nego-
tiate a treaty with Spain and thence to London
as U. S. minister at the court of St. James, where
he was joined in 1806 by William Pinckney, sent
to act as a commissioner with him in securing a
cessation of aggressions as exercised by the British
government against neutrals. In 1807 he was sent
to Spain to negotiate for the purchase of Florida
by the United States. This mission was unsuccess-
ful and he returned to London, where, with Wil-
liam Pinckney, he concluded the treaty with Great
Britain after long negotiations. The treaty failed
to provide against the impressment of American
seamen and secured no indemnity for loss sus-
tained by Americans in the seizure of their goods
and vessels, and the President refused to send it
to the senate. Monroe returned to the United
States and drew up a defence of his official con-
duct. He was for a third time elected a delegate
to the state assembly, and in 1811 was again
elected governor of Virginia, which office he
filled for a few months, when he was appointed
by President Madison secretary of state as suc-
cessor to Robert Smith, who resigned, April 1,
1811, and he held the portfolio until March 4,
1817. He also acted as secretary of war, 1814-15.
While a member of the cabinet, hostilities com-
menced between the United States and Great
Britain; the public buildings at Washington
were burned, and the country was greatly de-
pressed. He gained much praise for the meas-
ures he adopted for the safety of the national
capital and for the prosecution of the war. At
the Republican (Democratic) caucus held in
Washington, D.C., March 16, 1816, he was nom-
inated for President of the United States, with
Daniel D. Tompkins of New York for Vice-
President. Rufus King of New York was the
candidate of the Federalist party for President
and John Eager Howard of Maryland for Vice-
President. In the election Monroe and Tomp-
kins received the support of 183 electors, while
