President James Monroe: Political Historian

Among the most interesting items I’ve had the chance to research here at the Library is a book previously owned by the fifth President of the United States, James Monroe. President Monroe was the last of the Founding Fathers to serve as President, and he is perhaps best known for issuing the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, during his second term. This doctrine, which Monroe articulated during a State of the Union Address, essentially warned European nations against any further colonial activity in the Americas, placing the Western Hemisphere under the exclusive sphere of influence of the United States. While the Monroe Doctrine was more of a gesture than an enforceable policy in the early 19^th century (due to the relatively weak navy and army of the United States), it was Monroe’s final and most lasting foray into foreign policy.  

Our book from Monroe’s personal library, rather than a commentary on foreign policy or current events in Monroe’s America, is a 1723 French translation of a history of Rome that was written in the first century BCE by a Greek historian and rhetorician named Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Known to classicists as the Roman Antiquities, the history was translated into French by François Bellenger (1688-1749) and published in Paris. The work was popular enough that Thomas Jefferson also owned a copy of this translation, which can still be found in the Jefferson Library today. While Jefferson did not annotate his copy with anything substantial, James Monroe’s copy is far more intriguing: pinned to the front flyleaf are Monroe’s handwritten notes about an interesting, transitional moment in Roman history. 

In his notes, Monroe writes about the reign of Servius Tullius, the sixth King of Rome, who Monroe interprets as instituting a series of proto-republican reforms that separated powers between the King, the Senate, and the People. As best I can tell (Monroe’s handwriting is not easy to read), he writes about the “compromise between contending parties,” specifying that “the King commanded the armies,” while the “the senate had great authority,” and “the people had the right to change magistrates [and] to consent to new laws.”

Here’s my best guess regarding the context for these notes: after Monroe’s second term as President, he retired to his home in Virginia, where he spent a lot of time in his library and began writing a book about political philosophy. His plan was to compare the government of the United States with other republics from previous eras of history, such as those in Athens, Carthage, and Rome. It’s possible that the notes in Monroe’s copy of Les Antiquites Romaines, now at the Library of Congress, were part of his research process as he was drafting this book manuscript.

When Monroe finished writing this monograph, which he titled, The People the Sovereigns, he sent the manuscript to his son-in-law, George Hay, a federal judge. When Monroe asked for an honest assessment, Judge Hay responded, “I think your time could have been better employed.” Imagine offering such a harsh critique to an ex-President! Or to your father-in-law! Monroe put the manuscript in a drawer and never pursued publication.

But, a few decades later, Monroe’s grandson rediscovered the manuscript and had the book published in 1867. 

President Monroe, after a lifetime spent in service of the Republic of the United States, spent part of his retirement writing a book comparing the government of the United States with other republics across the span of history.

For this and other reasons, James Monroe will always be America’s favorite fifth President.

Sources and Further Reading: 

Dionysius & Bellenger, F. (1723). Les Antiquités Romaines de Denys d’Halicarnasse. Paris: Chez Philippe-Nicolas Lottin, MDCCXXIII.

Dionysius, Cary, E., & Spelman, E. (1950). The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann.

Monroe, J. (1867). The People the Sovereigns: Being a Comparison of the Government of the United States with those of the Republics which Have Existed Before, with the Causes of their Decadence and Fall. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co.

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