Product Description

A biography of James Monroe who became the fifth president of the United States in 1816. Ammon recreates his remarkable career, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, to his exertions in James Madison's cabinet and his subsequent presidency.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100810 in Books
• Published on: 1990-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 706 pages

Customer Reviews

Beyond "the Doctrine" -- The Life of James Monroe
If it were not for the "Monroe Doctrine" the fifth president of the United States would likely be as unknown to the average American as Martin Van Buren or Millard Fillmore. Yet, in this distinguished biography by Harry Ammon, first published in 1971, James Monroe emerges from the shadows of his good friends and fellow early Virginian presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, to receive due credit for his significant contribution to the formation of the American republic.

Some historians have criticized James Monroe as a man of modest talent who provided the country with feckless leadership during the crucial international, economic and political crises of his times - the collapse of the Spanish empire in the Western Hemisphere, the Panic of 1819, and the Missouri Compromise of 1820, respectively. However, Ammon argues rather persuasively that these critiques are either unfair or overblown. Monroe's conduct in the White House was guided by his deeply held republican principles, which maintained that executive power was subject to strict limitations. To compare Monroe's leadership performance to that of 21st presidents is, in Ammon's opinion, supremely unjust.

But even taking such thoughts into consideration, the truth is James Monroe was not a great man - and Ammon doesn't claim that he was. He notes, for instance, that the correspondence between Jefferson and Madison covered a full range of intellectual topics, from philosophy and science to government and literature, whereas letters to Monroe kept strictly to practical political concerns. Indeed, Ammon describes Monroe as a man of rather pedestrian abilities, but with a highly developed sense of republican principles and political drive who was much more instrumental in directing US policy than traditionally given credit for.

If Monroe was a failure, it was in his ambitious attempt to restructure the American political system following the War of 1812. Ammon maintains that the proposed reconciliation and amalgamation of the triumphant Republicans and crippled Federalists (the so-called "Era of Good Feelings") was the primary objective of his administration, and in that endeavor Monroe failed utterly and completely.

What is most striking in Ammon's narrative is Monroe's multifarious contribution to early American government: staff officer to Lord Stirling during the Revolution who was wounded in a gallant charge against the Hessians at Trenton and later suffered the privations of Valley Forge; delegate to the Constitutional Convention; United States senator; Republican minister to France during the Federalist administration of Washington; special envoy to Paris to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase; minister to England during the Jefferson administration; governor of Virginia; secretary of state during the Madison administration and then secretary of war during the War of 1812; and, finally, two-term president. His lifelong commitment to public service, which left him financially destitute upon his retirement in 1825, is worthy of the sincere gratitude of posterity.

Ammon is an able historian and this biography is a credit to subject and author alike. At 573 pages, however, it is a rather dense tome and the casual reader should stay away. But for those interested in a serious review of an important character in early American history, Ammon's "James Monroe: the Quest for National Identity" is highly recommended.

Monroe overload
Though published over thirty years ago, it is easy to see at a glance why Ammon has never been bettered. This is an exhaustive examination of the political life of our fifth president -- and an exhausting one. Ammon goes through Monroe's life with a thoroughness that makes this a book an excellent source of information about Monroe, but at the price of making it an excruciatingly dull read at times. If you want to know EVERYTHING there is to know about Monroe's political career or about diplomacy in the Federalist Era, then this is your book; otherwise, I would recommend either Noble Cunningham's The Presidency of James Monroe or the volume on Monroe in "The American Presidents" series.

Respectfully disagree
I can't say that I agree with the previous reviewers. I too have been reading the biographies of each president in order, and I must say that Ammon's work is the least satisfying one I have read thus far. Unlike Flexner's work on Washington or Malone's work on Jefferson, Ammon's work gives a rather superficial portrait of Monroe the man, and his discussion of contemporary events isn't very detailed; Ammon presumes the general reader has a more detailed knowledge of 19th century history than may be warranted. Granted, after reading this book, I knew a little more about what James Monroe did (enough to answer some Trivial Pursuit questions), but I still don't feel as if I truly understood the man, his motivations, his character, his times and his impact.