Apr. 28 - James Madison, 5th President, warns of "usurper" and defends against Muslim pirates
Leading the charge at the Battle of Trenton, a musket ball struck his shoulder, hitting an artery.
He recovered and continued to fight for General Washington, becoming friends with French officer Lafayette.
His name was James Monroe, born APRIL 28, 1758.
Home-schooled
as a child by Reverend William Douglas, James Monroe was
fellow-students with John Marshall, who became the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court.
Monroe graduated from the College of William and Mary, studied law
under Thomas Jefferson, and was a delegate to the Continental Congress.
He served as U.S. Senator, Governor of Virginia, Secretary of War,
and Secretary of State, where he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase which
doubled the size of the United States.
Elected the 5th U.S.
President, James Monroe acquired Florida from Spain, 1819; added Maine,
Illinois, Missouri, Alabama and Mississippi to the Union; and proclaimed
the Monroe Doctrine, 1823, which forbade European powers from
interfering with the independent nations of the Western Hemisphere.
In his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817, President James Monroe warned:
"What
raised us to the present happy state?...The Government has been in the
hands of the people. To the people, therefore...is the credit due...
It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they
degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the
sovereignty.
Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an
usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments
of their own debasement and ruin...
James Monroe continued:
"If we persevere...we can not fail,
under the favor of a gracious Providence...My fervent prayers to the
Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that
protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our
favor."
When Muslim Barbary Pirates committed terrorist attacks, President James
Monroe refused appeasement and instead deployed the U.S. Navy, as he
stated, March 5, 1821:
"Our relations with the Barbary Powers
are preserved...by the same means that were employed when I came into
this office. As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a squadron
into the Mediterranean for the protection of our commerce."
In his 5th Annual Message, December 3, 1821, President James Monroe reiterated:
"A
squadron has been maintained in the Mediterranean, by means whereof
peace has been preserved with the Barbary Powers...From past
experience...it is distinctly understood that should our squadron be
withdrawn they would soon recommence their hostilities and depredations
upon our commerce."
In 1823, President James Monroe, with the U.S. Congress, ordered
Decatur, Alabama, to be founded in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur,
the renowned U.S. Naval officer who forced the Muslim pirates to
surrender, ending the Barbary Wars.
In his First Annual Message, December 2 1817, President James Monroe stated:
"In grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being...in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength."
On November 16, 1818, in his 2nd Annual Message, President Monroe stated:
"For these inestimable blessings we can not but be grateful to that Providence which watches over the destiny of nations...
When we view the blessings with which our country has been
favored...Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful
acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good."
On November 14, 1820, in his 4th Annual Message, President James Monroe stated:
"When...we take into view the prosperous and happy condition of our
country...it is impossible to behold...without being penetrated with
the most profound and grateful acknowledgments to the Supreme Author of
All Good for such manifold and inestimable
blessings...especially...our most excellent system of government, the
powerful instrument in the hands of our All-merciful Creator in
securing to us these blessings."
On March 5, 1821, in his 2nd Inaugural Address, President Monroe stated:
"The
liberty, prosperity, and happiness of our country will always be the
object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All
Good....With a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God."
On December 3, 1821, in his 5th Annual Message, President Monroe stated:
"Deeply
impressed with the blessings which we enjoy...my mind is irresistibly
drawn to that Almighty Being, the great source from whence they
proceed and to whom our most grateful acknowledgments are due."
On December 7, 1824, in his 8th Annual Message, President James Monroe stated:
"For these blessings we owe to Almighty God...with profound reverence, our most grateful and unceasing acknowledgments....
Having commenced my service in early youth, and continued it since
with few and short intervals, I have witnessed the great difficulties to
which our Union has been exposed, and admired the virtue and
intelligence with which they have been surmounted...
That these blessings may be preserved and perpetuated will be the
object of my fervent and unceasing prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the
Universe."
President James Monroe, who was a member of the Episcopalian Church, admonished:
"The establishment of our institutions forms the most important
epoch that history hath recorded...To preserve and hand them down in
their utmost purity to the remotest ages will require the existence and
practice of the virtues and talents equal to those which were displayed
in acquiring them."
James Monroe stated:
"Of the liberty of conscience in matters of
religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury;...of
the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear
arms...
If these rights are...secured against encroachments, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny."