James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity [Paperback]

Harry Ammon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 1990

A biography of James Monroe who became the fifth president of the United States in 1816. Ammon recreates his remarkable career, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, to his exertions in James Madison's cabinet and his subsequent presidency.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This monumental survey of James Monroe's life and career is exhaustively researched and documented, a work of patient and perceptive scholarship that sheds a good deal of light on the politics and personalities of the early American Republic.

(Publishers Weekly )

"From Monroe's birth on the Virginia Tidewater, through his service in the revolutionary army, the Confederation Congress, the United States Senate, and as governor of Virginia, to his diplomatic missions, exertions in Madison's cabinet, and presidency, we now have a detailed authoritative recording of that remarkable career.. One feels sure that we now have, for a long time to come, the book on Monroe to which all will turn.

(Ralph Ketcham Virginia Magazine of History and Biography )

About the Author

Harry Ammon is Professor Emeritus off History at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He is also the author of The Genet Mission (1973).

Product Details

• Paperback: 706 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press (March 8, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813912660
• ISBN-13: 978-0813912660
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #650,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 63 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond "the Doctrine" -- The Life of James Monroe June 20, 2002

By T. Graczewski VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

If it were not for the "Monroe Doctrine" the fifth president of the United States would likely be as unknown to the average American as Martin Van Buren or Millard Fillmore. Yet, in this distinguished biography by Harry Ammon, first published in 1971, James Monroe emerges from the shadows of his good friends and fellow early Virginian presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, to receive due credit for his significant contribution to the formation of the American republic.

Some historians have criticized James Monroe as a man of modest talent who provided the country with feckless leadership during the crucial international, economic and political crises of his times - the collapse of the Spanish empire in the Western Hemisphere, the Panic of 1819, and the Missouri Compromise of 1820, respectively. However, Ammon argues rather persuasively that these critiques are either unfair or overblown. Monroe's conduct in the White House was guided by his deeply held republican principles, which maintained that executive power was subject to strict limitations. To compare Monroe's leadership performance to that of 21st presidents is, in Ammon's opinion, supremely unjust.

But even taking such thoughts into consideration, the truth is James Monroe was not a great man - and Ammon doesn't claim that he was. He notes, for instance, that the correspondence between Jefferson and Madison covered a full range of intellectual topics, from philosophy and science to government and literature, whereas letters to Monroe kept strictly to practical political concerns. Indeed, Ammon describes Monroe as a man of rather pedestrian abilities, but with a highly developed sense of republican principles and political drive who was much more instrumental in directing US policy than traditionally given credit for.

If Monroe was a failure, it was in his ambitious attempt to restructure the American political system following the War of 1812. Ammon maintains that the proposed reconciliation and amalgamation of the triumphant Republicans and crippled Federalists (the so-called "Era of Good Feelings") was the primary objective of his administration, and in that endeavor Monroe failed utterly and completely.

What is most striking in Ammon's narrative is Monroe's multifarious contribution to early American government: staff officer to Lord Stirling during the Revolution who was wounded in a gallant charge against the Hessians at Trenton and later suffered the privations of Valley Forge; delegate to the Constitutional Convention; United States senator; Republican minister to France during the Federalist administration of Washington; special envoy to Paris to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase; minister to England during the Jefferson administration; governor of Virginia; secretary of state during the Madison administration and then secretary of war during the War of 1812; and, finally, two-term president. His lifelong commitment to public service, which left him financially destitute upon his retirement in 1825, is worthy of the sincere gratitude of posterity.

Ammon is an able historian and this biography is a credit to subject and author alike. At 573 pages, however, it is a rather dense tome and the casual reader should stay away. But for those interested in a serious review of an important character in early American history, Ammon's "James Monroe: the Quest for National Identity" is highly recommended.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Monroe overload July 27, 2003

By Mark Klobas VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Though published over thirty years ago, it is easy to see at a glance why Ammon has never been bettered. This is an exhaustive examination of the political life of our fifth president -- and an exhausting one. Ammon goes through Monroe's life with a thoroughness that makes this a book an excellent source of information about Monroe, but at the price of making it an excruciatingly dull read at times. If you want to know EVERYTHING there is to know about Monroe's political career or about diplomacy in the Federalist Era, then this is your book; otherwise, I would recommend either Noble Cunningham's The Presidency of James Monroe or the volume on Monroe in "The American Presidents" series.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Respectfully disagree March 24, 2001

By Greg the Librarian

Format:Hardcover

I can't say that I agree with the previous reviewers. I too have been reading the biographies of each president in order, and I must say that Ammon's work is the least satisfying one I have read thus far. Unlike Flexner's work on Washington or Malone's work on Jefferson, Ammon's work gives a rather superficial portrait of Monroe the man, and his discussion of contemporary events isn't very detailed; Ammon presumes the general reader has a more detailed knowledge of 19th century history than may be warranted. Granted, after reading this book, I knew a little more about what James Monroe did (enough to answer some Trivial Pursuit questions), but I still don't feel as if I truly understood the man, his motivations, his character, his times and his impact.