How Did James Monroe Influence The Government

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James Monroe In 1783, Monroe was elected to the Congress of the Articles of Confederation. He was an active and productive member, he also gained invaluable experience. He cultivated a friendship with James Madison, who was introduced to him by Jefferson. Monroe was identified with the nationalists, but his strong localist and sectional views made him cautious. He was particularly opposed to John Jay’s negotiations with Don Diego de Gardoqui, the first Spanish minister to the United States, which threatened the western navigation of the Mississippi River. Monroe helped to defeat the negotiations, thereby gaining great popularity in the western country, which lasted all of his political life. Monroe's main opposition came from William H. Crawford, …show more content…

Federalist opposition to the war and public perceptions of the party as unpatriotic and possibly treasonous led most members to abandon the party name altogether. The opposition candidate with whom old-time Federalists identified and informally endorsed was Rufus King of New York, who had had a long and distinguished public career. In 1824 election, the unity of the party was shattered by a contest between several strong rivals for the presidency. William H. Crawford, Monroe’s secretary of the treasury, secured the caucus nomination from a rump group of congressmen, but other contenders, including Adams, Jackson, and Henry Clay, threw the vote into the House of Representatives. Clay threw his support to Adams, who won the presidency. In the aftermath, new coalitions were formed and eventually another two-party system emerged. Great Britain, with its powerful navy, also opposed recon quest of Latin America and suggested that the United States join in proclaiming "hands off." Ex-Presidents Jefferson and Madison counseled Monroe to accept the offer, but Secretary Adams stated, "It would be more candid ... to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British

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