“James Monroe: A Life”: Young America Was Much Like Today’s America. And That Should Give Us Hope

Jarring political fighting, frequently verging on becoming violent. All sorts of shady media outlets urging in explosive language that the two fragmented political parties take the most extreme of positions. Likely foreign interference in our federal political system and probably our elections, too. Incessant talk of civil war, of the United States breaking apart as states railed against the policies and elected politicians from rival states.

Yes, it is what we are facing today. True, we are a nation where many fear what our future will become. But, as a wise man once said, there is nothing new under the sun, nothing we have not seen before or dealt with as we are powerfully reminded in the superbly written “James Monroe: A Life” by Tim McGrath.

At first look, this is a thick, daunting book - 738 pages long. But once you begin reading, you will find yourself riveted to the wonderfully written prose chock full of fascinating details and references. McGrath takes us deep in the life and times of our fourth President but always masterly weaving in the contemporary history of the still young colonies.

He was born in rural Virginia in 1758. Educated at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and drawn to the challenges of the bar, he became a young lawyer. He quickly found a talent and affinity for politics. Associating with Patrick Henry, James Madison, George Mason, and his soon-to-be best friend, Thomas Jefferson, it was not long before young Madison was committed to the cause of independence from Great Britain.

Monroe’s life was a crowded one, seemingly putting him in the most important debates and, as I was surprised to learn, battles of the time.

Until I read this book, I had no idea Monroe was one of the leading officers a the Battle of Trenton, crossing the frozen Delaware River in the dead of night and leading one of two contingents of soldiers in their brave and successful fight against the battled-hardened Prussians. Monroe was shot in the battle and, thanks to the blessing of a local doctor joining the battle at the last moment, he survived. But he carried that musket ball in him for the rest of his life.

Monroe finished the war as a Colonel. It was a source of great pride for Monroe and led to him being addressed as Colonel Monroe even after his presidency.”

But before he got to the White House, his stellar political and, notably, his diplomatic career paved the foundations of US foreign policy to this very day. A state delegate, a US Senator, and then US Ambassador to revolutionary France, Ambassador to Great Britain, and then-Secretary of State.

Of particular note was his service as Secretary of State during the War of 1812. Monroe understood the British were strategically going to march on Washington DC. Constantly put down by then-Secretary of War, Armstrong repeatedly that the British would never dare such a move, the City of Washington never prepared. When the British eventually emerged on the march toward the new capitol, President Monroe pushed aside Armstrong and made Monroe the Acting Secretary of War - while maintaining his role as Secretary of State.

Harkening back to his brave service at the Battle of Trenton, Monroe rode out to rally the troops in nearby Bladensburg - where US forces first met (and were routed) by British soldiers. He again rallied the troops and ensured the City did not surrender to the British after burning and looting it. The British withdrew but threatened to return for various reasons - including a disastrous explosion of gunpowder stores that killed and horribly maimed many British troops in Washington. Monroe made sure that did not happen.

McGrath deals clearly and poignantly with one essential and dark aspect of our history during this time that we must address: slavery. Monroe was a slave owner for much of his adult life. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and many of our Founding Fathers bought and sold men and women. It is shocking to think about no matter how much you read history. Men, women, and children were bought and sold like talking field animals, frequently tearing families apart. I will forever be struck by one story McGrath relates of an enslaved man wanting to be sold to a plantation owner in the deep south, far from Monroe’s farm, just hoping to be closer to his wife, who had been sold off to another plantation the year before.

And, as McGrath points out time and again, men like Monroe knew there was something wrong with it. So very wrong with it. Yet, despite their misgivings, they never went the complete step of freeing them and putting a stop to this terrible evil.

One is struck throughout the book by the intense and devoted friendship, and near-constant communications Monroe had with Jefferson, seeking his advice and counsel as he forged a deep lifetime friendship and alliance with President James Madison. Where would our country be today without that friendship? This is a theme deeply explored throughout the book in tremendous and fascinating detail.

Monroe was now seen - again but in a much larger way - as a true American hero. And this made him a natural successor to Madison. It was a hard-fought election with the continued ugly battling between the Federalist Party versus Monroe’s Republican Party. As referred to above, the poisonous relationship between the two parties almost broke the nation apart innumerable times. Pouring fuel into the hostility was a constant flow of vicious, personal publications going after the leaders of both parties, their families, their business interests. Blackmail was not uncommon. Quite frankly, you come away thinking what the US is going through today is considerably less ugly compared to what was going on back then.

But Monroe’s election to the presidency proved to be the salve the young, vulnerable, and much-wounded nation needed. Monroe’s strong leadership and self-confidence allowed him to reach across the aisle and work with the Federalists. His vast experience and brilliance gave birth to a vision that created something of a golden age for America. John Quincy Adams remarked of Monroe’s Presidency, “There never has been a period of more tranquility at home and abroad, since our existence as a Nation, than that which now prevails.”

And it was during this remarkable period Monroe developed and implemented what we have come to know as the Monroe Doctrine, ensuring the freedom of the entire Western Hemisphere from European colonization and interference. The effect was not just hemispheric but global as the world’s leading powers came to understand the United States was now a great and mighty nation to be respectfully dealt with going forward.

McGrath has given us such a refreshing book. It leaves the reader knowing that no matter how bad things may get, there are leaders out there who will emerge thanks to the freedom and opportunities our great nation offers to lead us back to our roots, our collective vision, and hope. We wait today for a James Monroe to emerge. And after reading this book, I am confident he or she will soon enough.