James Monroe
(1758-1831)
5th President of the United States
(1817-1825)

(1758-1831) was the fifth President of the United States (1817-1825), whose administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida (1819), the Missouri Compromise (1820), in which Missouri was declared a slave state, and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), declaring U.S. opposition to European interference in the Americas.

A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue.

If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy.

Our country may be likened to a new house. We lack many things, but we possess the most precious of all -- liberty!

Preparation for war is a constant stimulus to suspicion and ill will.

It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.