intimately connected with Monroe’s name—the enunciation in the presidential message of the 2nd of December 1823 of what has since been known as the Monroe Doctrine (q.v.), which has profoundly influenced the foreign policy of the United States. On the expiration of his second term he retired to his home at Oak Hill, Loudoun county, Virginia. In 1826 he became a regent of the university of Virginia, and in 1829 was a member of the convention called to amend the state constitution. Having neglected his private affairs and incurred large expenditures during his missions to Europe, he experienced considerable pecuniary embarrassment in his later years, and was compelled to ask Congress to reimburse him for his expenses in the public service. Congress finally (in 1826) authorized the payment of $30,000 to him, and after his death appropriated a small amount for the purchase of his papers from his heirs. He died in New York City on the 4th of July 1831, while visiting his daughter, Mrs Samuel L. Gouverneur. In 1858, the centennial year of his birth, his remains were reinterred with impressive ceremonies at Richmond, Virginia. Jefferson, Madison, John Quincy Adams, Calhoun, and Benton all speak loudly in Monroe’s praise; but he suffers by comparison with the greater statesmen of his time. Possessing none of their brilliance, he had, nevertheless, to use the words of John Quincy Adams, “a mind . . . sound in its ultimate judgments, and firm in its final conclusions.” Schouler points out that like Washington and Lincoln he was “conspicuous . . . for patient considerateness to all sides.” Monroe was about six feet tall, but, being stoop-shouldered and rather ungainly seemed less; his eyes, a greyish blue, were deep-set and kindly; his face was delicate, naturally refined, and prematurely lined. The best-known portrait, that by Vanderlyn, is in the New York City Hall. Monroe was married in 1786 to Elizabeth Kortwright (1768–1830) of New York, and at his death was survived by two daughters.
See The Writings of James Monroe (7 vols., New York, 1898–1903), edited by S. M. Hamilton; Daniel C. Gilman, James Monroe (Boston, 1883), in the “American Statesman Series”; J. R. Irelan, History of the Life, Administration and Times of James Monroe, being vol. v. of his Republic (Chicago, 1887); John Quincy Adams, The Lives of James Madison and James Monroe (Buffalo, 1850); B. W. Bond, jun., Monroe’s Mission to France, 1794–1796 (Baltimore, 1907) ; Henry Adams, History of the United States (9 vols., New York, 1889–1891), containing a full but unsympathetic account of Monroe’s career as a diplomatist; and James Schouler, History of the United States, vols. ii. and iii. (New York, 1894), which estimates his public services highly.
MONROE, a city of Louisiana, U.S.A., the capital of Ouachita
parish, in the northern part of the state, on the east bank of the
Ouachita river, 72 m. W. of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and 96 m. E.
of Shreveport, Louisiana. Pop. (1890), 3256; (1900), 5428
(2834 negroes); (1910), 10,209. It is served by the Arkansas,
Louisiana & Gulf, the Little Rock & Monroe, the Vicksburg,
Shreveport & Pacific (Queen & Crescent), and the St Louis,
Iron Mountain & Southern railways, and by river steamers
plying between New Orleans and Camden, Arkansas. Across
the Ouachita is the town of West Monroe (pop. in 1910, 1127).
The improvement of the river, by the removal of snags and the
construction of dams and locks in order to give it a navigable
depth of 10 ft. at Monroe and 612 ft. beyond Camden, was nearly
completed by the United States government in 1909. Monroe
lies in a level valley, and has broad streets shaded by live oaks.
Among the public buildings are a handsome city-hall, a city
market-house, a charity hospital and a high school. There
are also a parish high school and St Hyacinth’s Academy
(Roman Catholic). The leading industries are the manufacture
of lumber and cotton products.
In 1785, during the Spanish occupation of Louisiana, Juan Filhiol, commandant of the district of Ouachita, founded a settlement on the site of the present Monroe, which was called Ouachita Post until 1790 and then Fort Miró, in honour of the governor-general. In 1819 the place was renamed Monroe, in honour of President James Monroe, and in the following year the town was incorporated. Monroe was chartered as a city in 1871, and received a new charter in 1902.
MONROE, a city and the county-seat of Monroe county,
Michigan, U.S.A., on the Raisin river, 2 m. from Lake Erie,
near the south-eastern corner of the state. Pop. (1890), 5258;
(1900), 5043; (1904), 6128; (1910), 6893. It is served by the
Michigan Central, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the
Pere Marquette, and the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line railways,
and by electric lines to Detroit and Toledo. There is a
statue here (dedicated in 1910) of Gen. G. W. Custer. Monroe
has a German Altenheim and St Mary’s academy and college
for girls. The city has a large trade in farming-produce and fish,
and various manufactures. The place was settled in 1783 by
French Canadians and called Frenchtown. In January 1813
the inhabitants, fearing destruction from the British and their
Indian allies, pleaded to the Americans for protection, and
about 660 men from the army of General James Winchester
(1752–1826), sent from the rapids of the Maumee river, on the
18th of January drove a small British force from the village. Three
days later General Winchester arrived with 300 more men; but
at dawn on the 22nd Colonel Henry A. Proctor (1787–1859) with
a force of British and Indians surprised the Americans, defeated
their right wing, captured General Winchester and obtained
from him an order for the surrender of his entire force. In 1815
Monroe received its present name in honour of James Monroe.
In 1817 it was made the county-seat, and in 1827 it was incorporated
as a village. It was chartered as a city in 1837
(being rechartered in 1874), and as a city of the fourth class
in 1895.
MONROE DOCTRINE. That the United States should avoid
entangling itself in the politics of Europe was a policy recommended
by Washington. The counterpart of this, that European
powers should be prevented from taking a controlling share in
the politics of the American continent, grew gradually as the
importance and influence of the United States increased. This
American attitude towards the European powers became
crystallized in what is known as the Monroe Doctrine, since
it was first announced officially in a concrete form, though not
originated, by President Monroe. His declaration was the
result of American apprehension that the combination of
European powers known as the Holy Alliance would interfere
in South America to restore the Spanish colonies, which had
asserted their independence, to the crown of Spain. To meet and
check this movement, in his message to Congress on the 2nd of
December 1823, Monroe made the following pronouncement:—
In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparations for our defence. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. . . . We owe it, therefore, to candour, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have on great consideration and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. . . . It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can any one believe that our Southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition in any form with indifference.
Earlier in the same message, while discussing negotiations for the settlement of the respective claims of Russia, Great Britain, and the United States in the north-west, Monroe also said:—
In the discussion to which this interest has given rise and the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American
continents, by the free and independent condition which they have
