The Political Writings of James Monroe (Conservative Leadership Series) [Hardcover]

James Monroe (Author), James P. Lucier (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Conservative Leadership Series | Publication Date: June 2002

The first significant collection of the writings of the fifth President in over a century.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 906 pages
• Publisher: Gateway Editions; 1St Edition edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895262290
• ISBN-13: 978-0895262295
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,318,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Collection of Monroe's Writings, June 24, 2009

By 

Kevin M. Derby (Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Political Writings of James Monroe (Conservative Leadership Series) (Hardcover)

It's easy to overlook James Monroe. Not as brilliant as Madison, as versatile as Jefferson, as heroic as Washington, Monroe served as a diplomat, governor, legislator, Cabinet head and finally President. Despite his best attempts, Monroe was simply not as profound a thinker as a number of the Founders and his personal writings are not as refreshing as Jefferson's correspondence or as humanizing as John Adams' letters. James Lucier, the editor of the work, starts off with a lengthy take on the Monroe doctrine before going back and introducing sections of Monroe's writings with a corresponding biographical overview.

I'm a little baffled as to why this work is included in the Conservative Leadership Series. Monroe was pummeled mercilessly by a number of the Old Republicans (John Randolph in particular) and none of the leading Founders looked as favorably on the French Revolution as Monroe did. Indeed, George Washington caught his fatal illness in December 1799 when he left Mt. Vernon to specifically cast his vote against Monroe. Nor, should it be forgotten, that Monroe sided more with the nationalists in his Cabinet (Quincy Adams but to a lesser extent Calhoun) than he did the conservative William Crawford.

Overall, this book serves as an excellent overview of the thought of James Monroe and certainly offers more insight into it than Ammon's biography of Monroe and Cunningham's study of the Monroe presidency.