James Monroe

1758 – 1831

James Monroe was an American Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825 and was the last president drawn from the so-called "Virginia dynasty." His 1823 Monroe Doctrine declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to further European colonization and asserted U.S. spheres of influence across Latin America for the following two centuries. A lifelong slaveholder who owned dozens of enslaved people across his estates, he signed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that admitted Missouri as a slave state and entrenched federal protection of slavery for another generation.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM