Biography of James Monroe, Fifth U.S. President

Biography of James Monroe, Fifth U.S. President James Monroe (April 28, 1758–July 4, 1831) was the fifth president of the United States. He fought with distinction in the American Revolution and served in the cabinets of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison before winning the presidency. He is best remembered for creating the Monroe Doctrine, a key tenet of United States foreign policy, which warned European nations against intervening in the Western Hemisphere.  He was a staunch anti-Federalist. Fast Facts: James Monroe Known For:  Statesman, diplomat, founding father, the fifth president of the United StatesBorn:  April 28, 1758 in Westmoreland County, VirginiaParents: Spence Monroe and Elizabeth JonesDied:  July 4, 1831 in New York, New YorkEducation: Campbelltown Academy, the College of William and MaryPublished Works:  The Writings of James MonroeOffices Held: Member of the Virginia House of Delegates, member of the Continental Congress, U.S. senator, minister to France, governor of Virginia, minister to Britain, secretary of state, secretary of war, president of the United StatesSpouse: Elizabeth KortrightChildren: Eliza and Maria HesterNotable Quote: Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever was success so complete. If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy.   Early Life and Education James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, and grew up in Virginia. He was the son of Spence Monroe, a  well-off planter and carpenter, and Elizabeth Jones, who was well educated for her time. His mother died before 1774, and his father died soon after when James was 16. Monroe inherited his fathers estate. He studied at Campbelltown Academy and then went to the College of William and Mary. He dropped out to join the Continental Army and fight in the American Revolution. Military Service Monroe served in the Continental Army from 1776–1778 and rose to the rank of major. He was aide-de-camp to Lord Stirling during the winter at Valley Forge. After an attack by enemy fire, Monroe suffered a severed artery and lived the rest of his life with a musket ball ​lodged beneath his skin. Monroe also acted as a scout during the Battle of Monmouth. He resigned in 1778 and returned to Virginia, where Governor Thomas Jefferson made him Military Commissioner of Virginia.   Political Career Before the Presidency From 1780–1783, Monroe studied law under Thomas Jefferson. Their friendship was the springboard for Monroes swiftly rising political career. From 1782–1783, he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. He then became a delegate to the Continental Congress (1783–1786). In 1786, Monroe married  Elizabeth Kortright. They had two daughters together,  Eliza and Maria Hester, and a son who died in infancy. Monroe left politics briefly to practice law, but he returned to become a U.S. senator and served from 1790–1794. He had a short tenure in France as a minister (1794–1796) and then was recalled by Washington. He was elected Virginia governor (1799–1800; 1811). President Jefferson sent him to France in 1803 to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, a key achievement of his life. He then became minister to Britain (1803–1807). In President Madisons cabinet, Monroe served as secretary of state (1811–1817) while concurrently holding the post of secretary of war from 1814–1815, the only person in U.S. history to have served both offices at the same time. Election of 1816 Monroe was the presidential choice of both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. His vice president was Daniel D. Tompkins. The Federalists ran Rufus King. There was very little support for the Federalists, and Monroe won 183 out of 217 electoral votes. His victory marked the death knell for the Federalist Party. First Term of Presidency James Monroes administration was known as the Era of Good Feelings. The economy was booming and the War of 1812 had been declared a victory. The Federalists posed little opposition in the first election and none in the second, so no real partisan politics existed. During his time in office, Monroe had to contend with the First Seminole War (1817–1818), when Seminole Indians and escaped slaves raided Georgia from Spanish Florida. Monroe sent  Andrew Jackson  to rectify the situation. Despite being told not to invade Spanish-held Florida, Jackson did and deposed the military governor. This eventually led to the Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) where Spain ceded Florida to the United States. It also left all of Texas under Spanish control. In 1819, America entered its first economic depression (at that time called a Panic). This lasted until 1821. Monroe made some moves to try and alleviate the effects of the depression. In 1820, The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri into the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also provided that the rest of the  Louisiana Purchase  above latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes was to be free. Re-Election in 1820 and Second Term Despite the depression, Monroe ran unopposed in 1820 when he ran for re-election. Therefore, there was no real campaign. He received all electoral votes save one, which was cast by William Plumer for John Quincy Adams. Perhaps the crowning achievements of Monroes presidency occurred in his second term: the Monroe  Doctrine, issued in 1823. This became a central part of American foreign policy throughout the 19th century and to the current day. In a speech before Congress, Monroe warned European powers against expansion and colonial intervention in the Western Hemisphere. At the time, it was necessary for the British to help enforce the doctrine. Along with  Theodore Roosevelt’s  Roosevelt Corollary and  Franklin D. Roosevelt’s  Good Neighbor policy, the Monroe Doctrine is still an important part of American foreign policy. Post Presidential Period Monroe retired to Oak Hill in Virginia. In 1829, he was sent to and named the president of the Virginia Constitutional Convention. After his wifes death, he moved to New York City to live with his daughter. Death Monroes health had been declining throughout the 1820s. He died of tuberculosis and heart failure on July 4, 1831 in New York, New York. Legacy Monroes time in office was known as the Era of Good Feelings due to the lack of partisan politics. This was the calm before the storm that would lead to the Civil War. The completion of the Adams-Onis Treaty ended tensions with Spain with their cession of Florida. Two of the most important events during Monroes presidency were the Missouri Compromise, which attempted to solve a potential conflict over free and slave states, and his greatest legacy the Monroe Doctrine, which continues to influence American foreign policy. Sources Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Mcgraw-Hill, 1971.Unger, Harlow G. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nations Call to Greatness. Da Capo Press, 2009.

Doric Columns - All You Need to Know

Doric Columns - All You Need to Know The Doric column is an architectural element from ancient Greece and represents one of the five orders of classical architecture. Today this simple column can be found supporting many front porches across America. In public and commercial architecture, notably the public architecture in Washington, DC, the Doric column is a defining feature of Neoclassical style buildings. A Doric column has a very plain, straightforward design, much more simple than the later Ionic and Corinthian column styles. A Doric column is also thicker and heavier than an Ionic or Corinthian column. For this reason, the Doric column is sometimes associated with strength and masculinity. Believing that Doric columns could bear the most weight, ancient builders often used them for the lowest level of multi-story buildings, reserving the more slender Ionic and Corinthian columns for the upper levels. Ancient builders developed several Orders, or rules, for the design and proportion of buildings, including the columns. Doric is one of the earliest and most simple of the Classical Orders set down in ancient Greece. An Order includes the vertical column and the horizontal entablature. Doric designs developed in the western Dorian region of Greece in about the 6th century BC. They were used in Greece until about 100 BC. Romans adapted the Greek Doric column but also developed their own simple column, which they called Tuscan. Characteristics of the Doric Column Greek Doric columns share these features: a shaft that is fluted or grooveda shaft that is wider at the bottom than the topno base or pedestal at the bottom, so it is placed directly on the floor or ground levelan  echinus or a smooth, round capital-like flare at the top of the shafta square abacus on top of the round echinus, which disperses and evens the loada lack of ornamentation or carvings of any kind, although sometimes a stone ring called an astragal marks the transition of the shaft to the echinus Doric columns come in two varieties, Greek and Roman. A Roman Doric column is similar to Greek, with two exceptions: Roman Doric columns often have a base on the bottom of the shaft.Roman Doric columns are usually taller than their Greek counterparts, even if the shaft diameters are the same. Architecture Built With Doric Columns Since the Doric column was invented in ancient Greece, it can be found in the ruins of what we call Classical architecture, the buildings of early Greece and Rome. Many buildings in a Classical Greek city would have been constructed with Doric columns. Symmetrical rows of columns were placed with mathematical precision in iconic structures like the Parthenon Temple at the Acropolis in Athens. Constructed between 447 BC and 438 BC., the Parthenon in Greece has become an international symbol of Greek civilization and an iconic example of the Doric column style. Another landmark example of Doric design, with columns surrounding the entire building, is the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. Likewise, the Temple of the Delians, a small, quiet space overlooking a harbor, also reflects the Doric column design. On a walking tour of Olympia, youll find a solitary Doric column at the Temple of Zeus still standing amid the ruins of fallen columns. Column styles evolved over several centuries. The massive Colosseum in Rome has Doric columns on the first level, Ionic columns on the second level, and Corinthian columns on the third level. When Classicism was reborn during the Renaissance, architects such as Andrea Palladio gave the Basilica in Vicenza a 16th-century facelift by combining column types on different levels- Doric columns on the first level, Ionic columns above. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Neoclassical buildings were inspired by the architecture of early Greece and Rome. Neoclassical columns imitate the Classical styles at the 1842 Federal Hall Museum and Memorial at 26 Wall Street in New York City. The 19th-century architects used Doric columns to recreate the grandeur of the site where the first President of the United States was sworn in. Of less grandeur is the World War I Memorial shown on this page. Built in 1931 in Washington, DC, it is a small, circular monument inspired by the architecture of the Doric temple in ancient Greece. A more dominant example of Doric column use in Washington, DC is the creation of architect Henry Bacon, who gave the neoclassical Lincoln Memorial imposing Doric columns, suggesting order and unity. The Lincoln Memorial was built between 1914 and 1922. Finally,  in the years leading up to Americas Civil War, many of the large, elegant antebellum plantations were built in the Neoclassical style with classically-inspired columns. These simple but grand column types are found throughout the world, wherever classic grandeur is required in local architecture. Sources Doric column illustration  © Roman Shcherbakov/iStockPhoto; Parthenon detail photo by Adam Crowley/Photodisc/Getty Images; Lincoln Memorial photo by Allan Baxter/Getty Images; and photo of Federal Hall by Raymond Boyd/Getty Images.