The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness

by Harlow Giles Unger

Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author, the larger than life story of America's fifth president, who transformed a small, fragile nation into a powerful empire

In this compelling biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals the epic story of James Monroe (1758-1831)-the last of America's Founding Fathers-who transformed a small, fragile nation beset by enemies into a powerful empire stretching "from sea to shining sea." Like David McCullough's John Adams and Jon Meacham's American Lion, The Last Founding Father is both a superb read and stellar scholarship-action-filled history in the grand tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786745876
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	09/29/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	312,973
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Acclaimed historian Harlow Giles Unger is a former Distinguished Visiting Fellow at George Washington's Mount Vernon. He is the author of twenty-six previous books, including twelve biographies of America's Founding Fathers and three histories of the early Republic. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgements and Dedication ix

Chronology xi

Prologue 1

Chapter 1 "To Be Free…We Must Fight" 7

Chapter 2 "A Brave…and Sensible Officer" 25

Chapter 3 "I May Lose My Scalp" 41

Chapter 4 "A Most Interesting Connection" 61

Chapter 5 "A Subversion of Liberty" 77

Chapter 6 "One Continuous Scene of Riot" 91

Chapter 7 La Belle Américaine 109

Chapter 8 "Let Calumny Have Its Course" 129

Chapter 9 "To Prevent this Greatest of Evils" 143

Chapter 10 "Some Outrages Had Been Coomitted" 159

Chapter 11 "Nothing but Simple Justice" 177

Chapter 12 "To Repair an Injury" 195

Chapter 13 "We Have Met the Enemy…" 213

Chapter 14 "The Poor Capital…Crack'd and Broken" 237

Chapter 15 The "Era of Good Feelings" 261

Chapter 16 "Embroidered with Gold" 277

Chapter 17 "Winked Away by Compromise" 287

Chapter 18 A Momentous Decision 305

Chapter 19 Rejoice! 317

Chapter 20 "A Plain and Gentle Man" 333

Appendix 349

Notes 353

Bibliography 371

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

Founding Father James Monroe (1751-1831) long outlived the birth of the country and became so revered that he won two presidential elections (1816, 1820) with no significant opposition. In retrospect, it's easy to discern why: His credentials as a solder, congressman, senator, ambassador, governor, and secretary of state establish him as arguably the best-prepared president in our nation's history. Harlow Giles Unger presents this unjustly neglected leader within the context of his times. A major biography by the author of Lafayette.

In this well-written biography, Unger (Lafayette) presents the fifth president as a man of independence and initiative rather than merely a disciple of Jefferson, Madison, and John Quincy Adams. In this respect, he follows Harry Ammon's assessment in James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Unger shows that as a diplomat, Monroe went beyond his ministerial instructions to negotiate treaties and the Louisiana Purchase, that as governor of Virginia he effectively used pronouncements to build public support for his policies, and that as President, he used his diplomatic, cabinet, and military experience to proclaim what became known as the Monroe Doctrine. The author's praise for Monroe should have been balanced by some questions about Monroe's ambition (and possible vanity). For example, during the War of 1812, how far did Monroe undermine Secretary of War John Armstrong so that he could take over the post himself? VERDICT Like Gary Hart's James Monroe, in the Times Books series of short presidential biographies, Unger's work will appeal to a more popular audience, especially those who enjoy presidential history or studying the Founding Fathers. Historians and history students should read as well but will still rely on Ammon.—Bryan Craig, MLS, Nellysford, VA

Library Journal

Cogent reexamination of a relatively neglected American icon. James Monroe (1758-1831) was a major guiding force in the territorial expansion of the country, argues historian Unger (America's Second Revolution: How George Washington Defeated Patrick Henry and Saved the Nation, 2007, etc.). Monroe was a key negotiator of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, which effectively doubled the nation's territory overnight. More importantly, as the nation's fifth president he kept the country safe from outside attack via the Monroe Doctrine, an 1823 policy that warned European governments that colonization or interference with U.S. states would be viewed as an act of war. As a result, pioneers felt safe enough to trek westward and settle in faraway lands. Less prominent than some of the other Founding Fathers, he was nonetheless present at many major historical events in the revolutionary struggle. As a student in Virginia, he was inspired by Patrick Henry's "give me liberty, or give me death" speech at Richmond in 1775. A soldier under General Washington, he holds the flag in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's famous 1851 painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware. Monroe was also Secretary of State and Secretary of War during the War of 1812, the first true military challenge to the nascent United States. Unger ably explains how these experiences later informed Monroe's pragmatic and confident leadership style. The author's treatment of Monroe's relationship with wife Elizabeth is somewhat less interesting and invites unfavorable comparison to David McCullough's excellent John Adams (2001), which used John's correspondence with Abigail in effective and revelatory ways. Still, Unger makes a solid and cohesiveargument for Monroe's importance in the early years of the United States, even if he goes too far in his enthusiasm by calling predecessors Adams, Madison and Jefferson "mere caretaker presidents."A worthy attempt to rescue Monroe from obscurity for a mainstream audience. Regional author tour around Washington, D.C. Agent: Edward Knappman/New England Publishing Associates

Kirkus Reviews

"Another engaging biography from Harlow Unger that captures the human drama of James Monroe, one of America's great heroes and statesmen. Unger vividly portrays Monroe's military heroism during the American Revolutionary War and his unflagging service in Congress and as a diplomat to France and Britain, governor of Virginia, U.S. secretary of state, U.S. secretary of war, and as America's fifth president. The Monroe Doctrine, safeguarding the Western Hemisphere from foreign intervention, has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy ever since its enunciation during Monroe's last year as president in December 1823. On a more personal level, Unger tenderly describes Monroe's forty-five-year romance with his wife Elizabeth, his intimate friendship and political connection with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and the way in which he saved the lives of the family of the Marquis de Lafayette, a comrade in arms and a dear lifelong friend."—John P. Kaminski, Director for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Author of The Founders on the Founders and A Necessary Evil

"Harlow Unger has rescued James Monroe from undeserved obscurity and simultaneously given us a host of new insights into the first fifty years of the nation's tumultuous history. There's a surprise on almost every page of this remarkable book."—Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle to Survive After Yorktown

"The engaging story of an important but neglected president...If public memory has unfairly ignored him, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness amply restores the deficit. This absorbing biography also generously details the early history of the nation's westward expansion...[A] highly readable history of a great American. A natural storyteller and appealing stylist, Unger skillfully interweaves his subject's private and public lives. He captures the milieu of the early nineteenth century, conveying its broad influence upon succeeding eras."—Magill Book Reviews

"[Unger] sympathetically assesses all phases of [Monroe's] life...Particularly well written, this is a worthy successor to Harry Ammon's 700-page James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (1971), which focuses less on the private and more on the public Monroe...Highly recommended."—Choice

"James Monroe is the forgotten Founding Father, overshadowed by his predecessors in the Presidency...denigrated as a simple man whose accomplishments were credited to others, and relegated to the background of history because he hasn't had the same justice done to his legacy by historians and biographers of the past 200 years. That has changed with Harlow Giles Unger's The Last Founding Father...What stands out most about Unger's book is the clarity and ease of the author's writing...I read a lot of books about Presidents that I already know a lot about, but this book taught me more about a single President than I have learned in years...James Monroe deserves his place amongst the giants of our Founding, and Harlow Giles Unger has forever ensured it."—Dead Presidents Website

"This book is so full of interesting connections and characters that it is impossible to do it justice in the space of a review...This book is a pleasure to read and the wonderful use of illustrations augments it."—What Would the Founders Think

"Unger shows how the public and private commitments of early American diplomats were sometimes intertwined."—Journal of Southern History

"Unger writes an excellent biography, and dissects the major events that would shape our young nation...A fine read."—The Waterline (newspaper of the Washington, D.C. Naval District)

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