The Presidency of James Monroe

by Noble E. Cunningham Jr.

Overview

Filled with new insights and fresh interpretations, this is the richest study yet published on the presidency of James Monroe, the last Revolutionary War hero to ascend to that august office.

Noble Cunningham's history of the fifth presidency (1817-25) shows a young nation beset by growing pains and led by a cautious politician who had neither the learning nor the intellect of Jefferson or Madison, but whose actions strengthened both the United States and the presidency itself.

Cunningham makes clear that the mislabelled "era of good feelings" had more than its share of crises, including those resulting from revolutions in Latin America, Spanish possession of Florida, the depression of 1819, and the controversy over slavery in Missouri.

Monroe, he shows, successfully defused these potentially explosive situations, most notably by negotiating the 1820 Missouri Compromise and announcing in 1823 what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, a document that still guides American policy in the western hemisphere.

Cunningham effectively places these actions within the context of Monroe's life and times and sheds new light on the inner workings of his cabinet and his relations with Congress. In addition, he features the prominent roles of two future presidents: John Quincy Adams as secretary of state and Andrew Jackson as the controversial general whose actions in the Seminole War created a headache for the administration.

Though substantially informed by previous scholarship, Cunningham writes largely from the abundant primary source materials of the era to provide an illuminating new look at a president and a nation on the brink of greatness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700607280
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	01/12/1996
Series:	American Presidency Series
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword

Preface

1. The Road to the Presidency

2. The Election of a President

3. First Months in Office

4. The New President and a New Congress

5. Andrew Jackson and the First Seminole War

6. Widening Horizons and Deepening Problems

7. The Missouri Compromise

8. Transition to a Second Term

9. Monroe as Chief Executive

10. Life in Monroe’s Washington

11. The Monroe Doctrine

12. Domestic Concerns

13. Closing a Presidency

The End of an Era

Notes

Bibliographical Essay

Index

Editorial Reviews

"A splendid account. Few historians have succeeded so well in grasping the relationship between the constitutional structures of the United States and the ebb and flow of day-to-day politics."—Times Literary Supplement

"Cunningham does an extraordinary job telling the inner story of Monroe’s presidency. . . . He not only gives a new appreciation of Monroe’s presidency; he also reminds us how history should be written."—Journal of American History

"This book is a fine study of Monroe’s presidency and does great justice to Monroe as president. But, as we have come to expect from Professor Cunningham, it is much more, for it strengthens not only our understanding of Monroe’s presidency but also our understanding of the United States during Monroe’s presidency."—Journal of the Early Republic

"A most interesting, extremely well written, and clearly painted picture of a forefather who has been given very little credit for his weighty contributions to the executive office and to the ever-evolving history of our nation."—Perspectives on Political Science

"Noble Cunningham’s command of the material, his rich insights, and the vigorous flow of the narrative combine to make this the best work on Monroe ever written. Monroe’s stature as statesman will certainly benefit from Cunningham’s interpretation."—Robert Allen Rutland, author of The Presidency of James Madison

"This is a superb book by our most seasoned and judicious historian of the political life of the early Republic. It is well-informed, lucid, concise, and full of insights, surely the final word for our time on the last presidency of the Virginia dynasty."—Ralph Ketcham, author of Framed for Posterity: The Enduring Philosophy of the Constitution

From the Publisher

A splendid account. Few historians have succeeded so well in grasping the relationship between the constitutional structures of the United States and the ebb and flow of day-to-day politics.

Times Literary Supplement

Cunningham (In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson, LJ 5/1/87) contributes another welcome reference in this latest volume in the University Press of Kansas's presidential series. Monroe was the last U.S. president to fight in the Revolution and the last of the Virginia presidential dynasty. Cunningham's portrait of Monroe emerges against a backdrop of the national drama that unfolded as power shifted. The author covers the major domestic and foreign policy issues of the two-term (1816-24) president: the First Seminole War, the Missouri Compromise, and the Monroe Doctrine. The treatment of the cabinet and the Congress especially will be welcomed by presidential scholars. The author portrays Monroe as a cautious politician without the education and intellect of Jefferson and Madison, but he views both terms as successful. This is a realistic picture of a slave-owning president who disliked political parties and who struggled with burdens imposed by demands of the presidency, personal financial stress, and an ill wife. Scholars and presidential buffs alike will find this a useful volume.-William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

Library Journal

A richly detailed biography of the president whose Monroe Doctrine continues to guide American policy to the present day. Cunningham (history, U. of Missouri) uses primary sources to portray Monroe, the last Revolutionary War hero to become president, as a cautious man whose policies helped to avoid disasters during the crises of his presidential term, including revolutions in Latin America, the Spanish possession of Florida, the 1819 depression, and Missouri's slavery controversies. The biography also highlights the inner workings of Monroe's cabinet, his relations with Congress, and the influences that future presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson exerted on Monroe's administration. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews