JAMES MONROE . 1817-1825

Thomas Jefferson reportedly said of James Monroe that he " …was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot on it."

Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on April 28, 1758, Monroe attended the College of William and Mary, fought with distinction in the Continental Army, and practiced law.

As a youthful politician, he joined the anti-Federalists in the Virginia Convention that ratified the Constitution, and in 1790 was elected to the Senate. As minister to France in 1794-1796, he displayed strong sympathies for the French cause. Later, with Robert R. Livingston, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase.

His ambition and energy, together with the backing of President Madison, made him the Republican choice for the presidency in 1816. He easily won re-election in 1820.

Early in his administration, Monroe undertook a goodwill tour. But "goodwill" did not endure. Across the facade of nationalism, ugly sectional cracks appeared. Economic depression increased the dismay of the Missouri Territory in 1819 when its application for admission to the Union as a slave state failed. An amended bill for gradually eliminating slavery in Missouri precipitated two years of bitter debate in Congress. The Missouri Compromise bill resolved the struggle, pairing Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and barring slavery north and west of Missouri forever.

In foreign affairs Monroe proclaimed the policy that bears his name. Responding to the threat that conservative European governments might help Spain win back former Latin American colonies, Monroe did not recognize the young sister republics until he could ascertain that Congress would vote appropriations for diplomatic missions.

Britain also opposed re-conquest 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 of State John Quincy Adams advised that doing so would be "to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war."

Monroe took Adams’ advice. Not only must Latin America be left alone, he warned, but the American continents "by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power." Some 20 years after Monroe died in 1831, this became known as the Monroe Doctrine.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS . 1825-1829

A president who was the son of a president, John Quincy Adams’ career in many repects paralleled that of his father. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1767, he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from a hill above the family farm. As secretary to his father in Europe, he became an accomplished linguist and assiduous diarist.

After graduating from Harvard College, he became a lawyer. At age 35 he was elected to the Senate. Six years later President Madison appointed him minister to Russia. Serving under President Monroe, Adams was one of the great secretaries of state. He arranged with England for the joint occupation of the Oregon country, obtained the cession of the Floridas from Spain and formulated, with the president, the Monroe Doctrine.

Traditionally, secretaries of state were considered the political heirs to the presidency. But by 1824 the old ways of choosing a president were giving in to the clamor for a popular choice. Within the only party - Republican - sectionalism was developing. Each section put up its own candidate for president. No candidate won a majority of electoral votes, so the election was decided by the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, who favored a program similar to that of Adams, threw his support to the New Englander.

President Adams appointed Clay as secretary of state. Andrew Jackson and his angry followers charged that a "corrupt bargain" had taken place and immediately began their campaign to take the presidency from Adams. Aware that he would face hostility, Adams proclaimed in his first annual message a spectacular national program. He proposed that the Federal Government bring the sections together with highways and canals, and that it develop and conserve the public domain, using funds from the sale of public lands. In 1828, he broke ground for the 185-mile C & 0 Canal. Adams also established a national university, financed scientific expeditions and erected an observatory. His critics declared such measures transcended constitutional limitations.

In the campaign of 1828, his opponents charged him with corruption and public plunder. Adams went home to Massachusetts after his defeat. In 1830, his district elected him to the House of Representatives where, above all, he fought against circumscription of civil liberties. In 1836 southern congressmen passed a "gag rule" providing that the House automatically table petitions against slavery. Adams tirelessly fought the rule for eight years until finally he obtained its repeal.

In 1848, he collapsed on the floor of the House from a stroke. He soon died. To the end, "Old Man Eloquent" had fought for what he considered right.

ANDREW JACKSON . 1829-1837

More nearly than any of his predecessors, Andrew Jackson was elected by popular vote, and as president he sought to act as the direct representative of the common man.

Born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas on March 15, 1767, he read law in his teens and became an outstanding young lawyer in Tennessee. Jealous of his honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast a slur on his wife Rachel.

Jackson prospered sufficiently to buy slaves and to build a mansion, the Hermitage, near Nashville. He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives. A major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans. In 1824 political factions rallied around Jackson, and by 1828 "Old Hickory" won enough state elections to become president by popular demand.

In his first annual message to Congress, Jackson recommended eliminating the Electoral College. He tried to democratize federal officeholding, saying that offices should rotate among deserving applicants. Jackson polarized politics, and two parties grew out of the old Republican Party - the Democratic Republicans, or Democrats, adhering to him; and the National Republicans, or Whigs, opposing him. Whig leaders proclaimed themselves defenders of popular liberties against the usurpation of Jackson. Behind their accusations lay the fact that Jackson, unlike previous presidents, did not defer to Congress in policy-making but used his power of the veto and his party leadership to assume command.

The greatest party battle centered around the Second Bank of the United States, a private corporation but virtually a government-sponsored monopoly. Jackson charged the Bank with undue economic privilege. His views won approval from the American electorate; in 1832 he polled more than 56 percent of the popular vote and almost five times as many electoral votes as Whig opponent Henry Clay.

When South Carolina undertook to nullify a high protective tariff, Jackson ordered armed forces to Charleston. Violence seemed imminent until Clay negotiated a compromise: tariffs were lowered and South Carolina dropped nullification.

In January of 1832, the President learned that the Senate had rejected the nomination of Martin Van Buren as minister to England. Jackson jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "By the Eternal! I'll smash them!" So he did. His favorite, Van Buren, became vice president, and succeeded to the presidency when "Old Hickory" retired to the Hermitage, where he died in June 1845.