James Monroe: His 3 Greatest Accomplishments

Born	April 28th, 1758
Died	July 4th, 1831
Famous Quote	“The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil”
Known For	5th president of the United States, Issuing Monroe Doctrine, Thomas Jefferson’s right hand man
Region of World	United States, 18th and 19th century
Further Reading	Alexander Hamilton: His Actions During The Revolutionary War and Thomas Jefferson: The 3 Reasons He Is Famous Today

One of the greatest presidents in U.S history would be James Monroe. This often forgotten president remains one of the most influential through his 3 major accomplishments. Over the course of his 73 year long life he would come to establish the United States as an international power and drastically expand the size of the nation’s borders.

Today James Monroe is remembered for his 3 greatest accomplishments. First, as the 5th president of the United States Monroe issued in an era of peace and prosperity called the Era of Good Feelings. Second, Monroe would establish the Monroe Doctrine preventing further European colonialism in the Americas. Third, James Monroe continued U.S expansion by annexing Florida and setting up the United States to expand dramatically over the 19th century.

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Without further ado, here are the 3 greatest accomplishments of James Monroe.

James Monroe Issued In A Time Of Peace And Prosperity Called The Era of Good Feelings

One of the 3 greatest accomplishments of James Monroe was helping to usher in a time of peace and prosperity that modern historians call the Era of Good Feelings.

This time period is characterized by a strong sense of national unity and overall increase in national GDP. For the first time in the history of the United States there was a sense of what the nation wanted to accomplish and their overall culture.

This was only accomplished because of the leadership of James Monroe. Before Monroe the United States was politically divided between the Federalist party and the Democratic/Republican party.

This political division was centered around the concept of a strong central government. The Federalist party believed that there should be a strong central government while the democratic/republicans believed government should be centered around the states.

With the election of James Monroe the Federalist party dissipated. There was only one political party in the United States for a small period of time. This allowed James Monroe to accomplish several amazing things during his presidency.

These actions gave the American people a strong sense of unity, which in turn led to an increase in prosperity.

This Era of Good feelings remains one of the greatest accomplishments of James Monroe.

Monroe Would Establish The Monroe Doctrine Preventing Further European Colonialism In The Americas

One of the 3 greatest accomplishments of James Monroe was the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine. This doctrine stated that the United States would seek to prevent all European colonization attempts in both North and South America.

The reason James Monroe issued this doctrine was to combat Spain’s colonial power in the Americas which by this point was already beginning to fail. The United States wanted to expand westward toward the Pacific ocean but had to deal with Spain’s influence over the South West United States.

When James Monroe issued the Monroe doctrine it stated that the United States would seek to aid colonial independence and stop all further colonization attempts by European powers. This was a bold statement as at this point the United States held virtually no power to defend either its own borders or the borders of other nations.

However, across Latin and South America revolutions against Spain would take place. Although these revolutions were not aided by the American’s of the United States they were successful at pushing out Spain from controlling their former colonies.

At first the Monroe Doctrine would only serve as a formal declaration that the United States would seek to prevent any further colonial attempts. However this Doctrine would continue to grow over the course of the 19th century.

Later on subsequent presidents would evoke the Monroe Doctrine to establish a right push westwards and prevent any intrusion by European powers into the Americas.

As such the creation of the Monroe Doctrine remains one of the 3 greatest accomplishments of James Monroe.

James Monroe Continued U.S Expansion By Annexing Florida And Wetting Up The United States To Expand Dramatically Over The 19th Century

One of the 3 greatest accomplishments of James Monroe was to annex Florida and set the United States up to expand dramatically over the course of the 19th and 20th century.

In the 1819 Adams-Onis treaty between the United States and the Spanish Empire Florida was ceded to the United States. This was because of recent revolts across the Spanish colonies. Spain was afraid that they could not protect Florida and as such were willing to give it to the United States.

However, the real accomplishment was the formal establishment of the Rocky Mountains up to the 42nd parallel as the border between the United States and the Spanish Empire. This meant that for the first time in U.S history the border of the United States stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean through the modern states of Oregon and Washington.

This jump started a series of westward pushes from the original 13 U.S states towards the pacific ocean. The reason that James Monroe is so famous today is because he opened up the west for colonization by Americans pushing west.

To this day the act of opening up the west and annexing Florida remains one of the greatest accomplishments of James Monroe.

Conclusion

There you have it; an entire article dedicated to the 3 greatest accomplishments of James Monroe.

James Monroe remains one of the most fascinating presidents of all time. Not only did he serve in the Revolutionary War but he also was Thomas Jefferson’s right hand man and studied law under him. Graduate students of history will find much in the way of potential research topics studying James Monroe.

Here at The History Ace I strive to publish the best history articles on the internet. If you enjoyed this article then consider subscribing to the free newsletter and sharing around.

Further, you can check out some of the other articles below. 

Sincerely,

Nick