James+Monroe

James Monroe

James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States. He was born on April 28, 1758, in a wooded area of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Between the ages of 11 and 16, Monroe studied at Campbelltown Academy. There he was an excellent student and he was very good at especially Latin and mathematics. He learned it at a rate faster than most boys on his age. The Spring I n1776 Monroe dropped out of college and joined the Continental army. He never returned to earn a degree. Between 1780 and 1783, he studied law under Thomas Jefferson. He fought in the war of independence where he was shot in his left shoulder. He lived in Bucks County for three months to recover from his wound. He married Elizabeth Kortright on February 16, in 1786, in New York City. They got three children together, Eliza Monroe Hay, James Spence Monroe and Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur. Monroe was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782 and served in the Continental Congress from 1783 to 1786. He ran for a seat on the 1st Congress but was defeated by future President James Madison. As a youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, and in 1790, was elected United States Senator. In 1794 he was appointed minister to France.

T.K.S