James Monroe was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825.

He served as the governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, the U.S. ambassador to France and Britain, the seventh Secretary of State, and the eighth Secretary of War.

On December 26, 1776, Monroe took part in a surprise attack on a Hessian encampment at the Battle of Trenton. Though the attack was successful, Monroe suffered a severed artery in the battle and nearly died. In the aftermath, George Washington cited Monroe for bravery and promoted him to captain.

Although he was affiliated with the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe believed that the existence of political parties was harmful to the United States, and he sought to usher in the end of the Federalist Party by avoiding divisive policies and welcoming ex-Federalists into the fold. By the end of Monroe's second term, the Federalist Party had largely collapsed as a national party, and the 1824 presidential election was waged by competing members of the Democratic-Republican Party.

In a speech to Congress in 1823, President Monroe warned European powers not to attempt further colonization or otherwise interfere in the Western Hemisphere, stating that the United States would view any such interference as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." Later known as the Monroe Doctrine, this policy principle would become a cornerstone of U.S. diplomacy for generations.

As President Jefferson's special envoy, Monroe helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, through which the United States nearly doubled in size.

The Missouri Compromise was United States federal legislation that admitted Maine to the United States as a free state, simultaneously with Missouri as a slave state, thus maintaining the balance of power between North and South in the US Senate. As part of the compromise, the legislation prohibited slavery north of the 36°30' parallel except for Missouri. The 16th United States Congress passed the legislation on March 3, 1820, and President Monroe signed it on March 6, 1820.

Monroe was a member of the American Colonization Society, which supported the colonization of Africa by freed slaves, and Liberia's capital of Monrovia is named in his honor.

Monroe led an effort to create the state's first penitentiary, and imprisonment replaced other, often harsher, punishments.

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in his parents' house in a wooded area of Westmoreland County, Virginia. The marked site is one mile from the unincorporated community known today as Monroe Hall, Virginia.