[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 54 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S4539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              JAMES MONROE

  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I am pleased today to recognize James 
Monroe, a Virginian patriot, on the 247th anniversary of his birth and 
honor his service to our Nation as a soldier, a diplomat, a legislator 
and as the fifth President of the United States of America. As the 
Nation draws closer to the celebrations being planned to honor 
President Monroe's 250th birthday, I rise today to honor his undeniable 
legacy.
  James Monroe, born April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, was born, 
raised and educated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Foregoing his 
studies at the College of William and Mary, James Monroe joined the 
Williamsburg Militia in 1775 in defiance of the British King. He served 
gallantly in the Continental Army on the battlefield at Harlem Heights, 
White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, eventually 
rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
  A student of Thomas Jefferson's after serving in the Revolutionary 
War, James Monroe was an adherent of Mr. Jefferson's principles of 
individual freedom and restrained representative government, which 
would guide him through 50 years of public service. Elected to the 
Virginia General Assembly in 1782, Monroe served in the Confederate 
Congress and in the first U.S. Senate before his first of two terms as 
Minister to France. He returned to his Virginia, and as many students 
of Mr. Jefferson have done since, served 4 years as Governor.
  During Thomas Jefferson's Presidency, James Monroe returned to France 
and was essential in the negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. 
His foreign policy experience led James Madison to name him both 
Secretary of State and Secretary of War as the United States was once 
again pulled into war with Great Britain in 1812.
  Elected President of the United States in 1816, Monroe's Presidency 
has long been referred to as the Era of Good Feeling. During this time 
he helped resolve longstanding grievances with the British, acquired 
Florida from the Spanish in 1819, signed the Missouri Compromise and 
renounced European intervention or dominion in the Western Hemisphere 
with one of our Nation's greatest foreign policy documents, the Monroe 
Doctrine.
  In 1820, Monroe achieved an impressive re-election, losing only one 
electoral vote, reserving the honor of a unanimous election for George 
Washington alone.
  My own family has strong ties to the legacy of James Monroe. My wife 
Susan and I enjoyed our wedding on the grounds of his home, Ashlawn-
Highland, in Charlottesville where her family has worked for many 
years. In fact, part of Monroe's property in Albemarle County is now on 
the grounds of his teacher's great institution of learning, the 
University of Virginia and is respectfully referred to as Monroe's 
Hill.
  The life of James Monroe is one that embodied virtue, honor and 
commitment during his accomplished life of public service. It is 
fitting that he would pass from this Earth on July 4, 1831.
  It is with sincere admiration that I respectfully ask my colleagues 
to recognize James Monroe's 247th birthday as a reminder of his 
remarkable and magnificent leadership for the people of Virginia and 
the United States of America.

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