Western History 156: How did the Presidents James Madison and James Monroe impact the United States during their terms in office?

James Madison (1809-1817), another Virginian followed Thomas Jefferson as President of the United States. Madison had enjoyed a strong friendship with Thomas Jefferson and was in 1780 the youngest delegate to the Continental Congress. A strong analytical thinker Madison was one of the three Authors of the vert well respected Federalist papers. The other two were Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

Worth noting is that Madison was initially not supportive of the Bill of Rights as he believed there were enough constitutional guarantees to render them moot. However he changed his mind as he felt it was a necessary compromise to ensure ratification of the Constitution. His role in the drafting of the US constitution was pivotal. Between 1801-1809 Madison served as Thomas Jefferson’s Secretary of State. Like Jefferson he was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.

Madison’s term in office was overshadowed by the War of 1812 that we have discussed earlier. He spearheaded the US through this difficult time and was aided considerably by his wife Dolly, a strong and warm first lady who is widely accredited with defining the role.

During his term in office the Second Bank of the United States was created (1816) and the country issued strong protective tariffs. Like all antebellum US Presidents he struggled with the issue of  slavery. Madison believed that the impact of slavery would become less significant over time as the country spread westward. 

He was however one of the founders of the American Colonization Society that established the state of Liberia for freed slaves. Madison himself was not an intellectual supporter of slavery and believed that the institution had imposed an unnecessary class structure on the south. However he also saw no optimal pathway that would facilitate its removal in the contemporary. In terms of the slavery debate at the time he is seen as somewhat of an intermediate between opposing view points.

James Madison source: britannica.com

James Monroe (1817-1825) succeeded Madison as President bringing to four the number of Presidents from the State of Virginia. Like Madison Monroe was a Democratic-Republican who had blazed a trail to the White House as Secretary of State. His period in office is known as the Era of Good Feeling. Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise (1820) that brought Missouri into the Union as a slave state while prohibiting all slavery north of the 36°30′ parallel.  

In 1819 the Monroe signed the Adam-Otis agreement with Spain that secured Florida for the United States. Like Madison he advanced the Liberia settlement initiative.  Monroe’s term in office was not without problems. The US suffered through an economic crisis known as the Panic of 1819 that was made worse by a great deal of economic speculation.

James Monroe source: biography.com

However it was the collective policy of what would become the Monroe Doctrine that seems to be the greatest legacy of Monroe’s Presidency. Oddly enough the term ‘Monroe Doctrine’ was only used for the first time in 1850. 

The doctrine enforced the notion of a robust American foreign policy. European countries were warned that any intervention in the politics of the Americas (both North and South) would be seen as an affront to the United States. In doing so Monroe effectively guaranteed the independence of the recently independent Latin America countries from their colonial mother countries and established much of the Western Hemisphere as a definitive American sphere of influence. The Doctrine has influenced American foreign policy ever since.