James Monroe - Part 1

Why would James Monroe, of all Presidents, be worthy of securing our first two part episode? Well, you may be surprised to know that Monroe’s own personal and political story closely mirrors many of the events we think about during the first 50 years of US history. He takes part in critical American Revolution battles, early and foundational Constitutional debates of the role and size of the Federal government, whether the US should expand West, and the War of 1812 -- just to name a few. His influence can be felt in each administration all the way up until he takes the Presidency himself in 1817, and so with him we get a great opportunity to take a deeper dive into the founders era of US Presidents, and how we ended up with one-party Executive dominance for the first quarter of the 19th century.

In this episode of Unpresidented, we set the stage for how Monroe is able to position himself onto the winning sides of early American political debates, and go through what is truly at stake for the country in early US elections. Our conversation encompasses the first half of Monroe’s political career, from 1776-1800, and sheds light not only on his roles in the shaping of early US domestic and foreign policy, but the key players leading those conversations all around him as well. Monroe is very much a supporting cast member for founders in these first 25 years, but with him we have a fascinating character who goes through so many ups and downs, but ends up with arguably more political expertise and influence than his predecessors.

Keywords:

Presidents

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History

Biography

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