“James Monroe was the fifth president. He had been a soldier in Washington’s continental army, having joined when eighteen years old. He became a captain and was appointed an aide to General Lafayette. Washington spoke of him as a brave, active, and sensible officer.
He was a pupil and protege of Jefferson in the law. He enjoyed a period of peace in his administration, which began in 1817 and concluded in 1825.
He was the author of the Monroe Doctrine, America’s most famous foreign policy statement. He was an Episcopalian and a lawyer. He was U.S. minister to both France and England, was secretary of state and secretary of war, and served successfully in Congress. He too was a Virginian.
Like his predecessors, he recognized the hand of God in the creation of America, and prayed at his first inauguration that ‘the Almighty . . . will be graciously pleased to continue to us this protection which He has already conspicuously displayed in our favor.'” 1
