[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 4, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COMMEMORATING THE BIRTHDAY OF PRESIDENT JAMES MONROE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 4, 2004

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the birthday of a 
great American president, and a son and servant of Virginia, James 
Monroe.
  James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on April 28, 
1758, attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and served 
in the Revolutionary War, in which he was wounded at the pivotal battle 
of Trenton. After the Revolutionary War, Monroe was a member of the 
Continental Congress, the United States Senate, minister to France, 
governor of Virginia, was again sent to France to assist in negotiating 
the Louisiana Purchase, served again as governor of Virginia, as 
secretary of state for President James Madison, and briefly as 
secretary of war.
  This extraordinary record of service to the Nation and the 
Commonwealth was further enhanced when James Monroe was elected 
president of the United States in 1816, and was reelected in 1820. It 
was in President Monroe's second term that he annunciated what would 
become a vital foundation of our Nation's foreign policy: the Monroe 
Doctrine. The doctrine announced American opposition to European 
colonization and interference in the Western Hemisphere, and served as 
a touchstone of American foreign policy for generations of presidents, 
helping to keep the Americas free of intervention by European powers.
  After completing his second term as president, James Monroe retired 
to Oak Hill, his home in Loudoun County. I am proud to represent 
Loudoun County in the Congress, and proud of my district's association 
with President Monroe.
  Mr. Speaker, I call the attention of the House to the life, legacy, 
and accomplishments of James Monroe.

                          ____________________