Timeline Description: James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States of America. He was one of the original Founding Fathers. He was also one of three Presidents at his time to die on July 4th.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1758 | James Monroe is born James Monroe was born in Westmoreland, Virginia, in 1758. |
| 1774 | College of William and Mary At sixteen years old, James left home to study at the College of William and Mary. However, he left college to enlist to fight in the War of Independence. |
| 1780 | Monroe gets his education Mr. Monroe studied law under Thomas Jefferson until 1783. He was Jefferson's apprentice. |
| 1790 | Mr. Monroe is elected to the Senate James Monroe was a young and upcoming politician. He followed Thomas Jefferson's practices, and he was elected to the United States Senate in 1790. |
| 1794 | James Monroe, ambassador to France (1794-1796) Monroe worked with the French, smoothing ties and establishing relationships. His work as ambassador likely helped paved the way to the Louisiana Purchase later on. |
| 1799 | Governor of Virginia After working as Ambassador, Monroe moved on to become the Governor of his home state, Virginia. He ended up being re-elected for a total of four terms. |
| 1803 | The Louisiana Purchase Monroe helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase from France. |
| 1812 | War of 1812 During the war, Monroe continued working in government. He worked as the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War. |
| 1816 | James Monroe becomes President The fourth US president, President Madison, backed Mr. Monroe for the presidential election, and Monroe easily won. |
| 1817 | Adding to the Union During his presidency, Monroe added five states to America. They were Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri. |
| 1818 | Treaty of 1818 With the help of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Monroe was able to stretch the United States' property from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1819 | Missouri doesn't make it into the Union Missouri's economy was going through a depression and they applied to join the Union as a slave state. President Monroe's administration denied their request, but the Missouri Compromise was eventually passed, which had a plan to get rid of slavery. |
| 1820 | Monroe is re-elected With a good track record during his previous presidency, President Monroe won the re-election without any problems. He was known as naming strong, influential people to his presidential cabinet. |
| 1821 | Florida is secured President Monroe worked with his administration to purchase the Florida area. This secured it from being taken back by the Spanish. |
| 1822 | The Monroe Doctrine Monroe's work toward making America secure became law. The Monroe Doctrine helped make it off-limits for other countries to come onto the American Continent to make new colonies. |
| 1831 | Monroe dies President Monroe passed away after successfully serving two terms. He was 73 years old. |