JAMES MONROE
A REGISTER OF ADDITIONS TO HIS PAPERS
IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Prepared by
Michael McElderry, 1979; David Mathisen, 1985
Revised and expanded by
Nan Thompson Ernst
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C. 1996
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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Additions to the papers of James Monroe (1758-1831),
soldier, attorney, statesman, and president of the United States,
consist of material received through gift and purchase by the
Library of Congress during the years 1969-1991.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Readers interested in consulting any of the division's
collections are advised to write or telephone the
Manuscript Reading Room at (202) 707-5387 before visiting.
Many processed and nearly all unprocessed collections are
stored off site, and advance notice is needed to retrieve
these items for research use.
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Linear feet of shelf space occupied: 3
Approximate number of items: 215
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
1758, April 28 Born, Westmoreland County, Va.
1774 Moved to King George County under the guardianship of his
uncle, Joseph Jones
Entered College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
1775 Commissioned second lieutenant, Third Virginia Regiment
1775-1779 Fought with George Washington and William Alexander in New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, rising to the rank of
lieutenant colonel
1779 Studied law with Thomas Jefferson in Williamsburg, Va.
1782 Representative, King George County, Virginia House of
Delegates
1783-1786 Delegate from Virginia, Fourth Congress of the Confederation
1786 Married Elizabeth Kortright (died 1830)
Practiced law, Fredericksburg, Va.
1788 Delegate to the Virginia state convention to ratify the
Federal constitution
1790-1794 Senator from Virginia, First Congress of the United States
1794-1796 Minister Plenipotentiary to France
1799-1803 Governor of Virginia
1803 Minister Plenipotentiary to France; signed Louisiana
Purchase
1803-1807 Minister to England
1811 Governor of Virginia
1811-1817 Secretary of state
1813 Secretary of war, _ad interim_
1814 Joined Maryland militia at Bladensburg
1814-1815 Secretary of war and secretary of state, acting in dual
appointments
1817-1825 President of the United States
1830 Moved to New York, N.Y., to make his home with daughter
Maria and son-in-law Samuel Gouverneur
1831, July 4 Died, New York, N.Y.
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SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Additions to the James Monroe Papers are organized as Series 4, Addenda.
They include correspondence, photocopies and typescripts of correspondence,
property and financial records, and miscellaneous documents dated from 1778 to
1831 and arranged in subseries by the year the addition was processed.
The 1979-1985 addition is arranged in four parts. Part A includes
original letters from Monroe to William Benton, James Bowdoin, Henry Dearborn,
Lord Thomas Erskine, Richard H. Henderson, David Humphreys, Thomas Law, John
Francis Mercer, Edmund Randolph, Spencer Roane, and others. A letter from
William Wirt is the only letter written to Monroe in this folder. Part B
contains photocopies of correspondence, a diary, and miscellaneous documents.
The bulk of the photocopied correspondence consists of negative copies of
manuscripts owned by the United States Military Academy at West Point. Part
D, Miscellany, includes index cards that, in conjunction with a State
Department pamphlet, form a calendar to the Monroe papers in the collection of
Mary Digges Lee Gouverneur.
The 1996 addition includes a letter to Andrew Jackson and property and
financial notes arranged by type of material.
The James Monroe Papers housed in the Library of Congress before 1960
were arranged in three series and microfilmed. Those series are indexed and
described in _Index to the James Monroe Papers_ published by the Library of
Congress in 1963. None of the papers in Series 4, Addenda has been
microfilmed or indexed.
A microfilm edition of James Monroe Papers in the New York Public Library
is available for consultation in the Manuscript Division reading room.
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CONTAINER LIST
Container Nos. Contents
SERIES 4. ADDENDA, 1778-1831, n.d.
Box 1 1979-1985 additions
Part A, Originals
Correspondence and miscellany, 1783-1831, n.d.
(7 folders) _See also Oversize_
Part B, Photocopies
Correspondence, 1796-1828, n.d. (2 folders)
Diary, Feb. 1825
Documents on loan to exhibit at the National Archives
(1958)
Miscellany, 1778
Monroe Doctrine (partial)
Part C, Typescripts
Correspondence, 1795-1830, n.d.
Miscellany
Box 2 Part D, Miscellany
_A Calendar of the Papers of James Monroe, Forming the
Collection in the Possession of Mrs. S. M.
Gouverneur_, n.d.
Card index to the Gouverneur collection
Part 1
Box 3 Part 2
Box 4 Holograph notes (undated) which list correspondence of
James Monroe, 1780-1814
Box 5 1996 addition
Correspondence, 1811, 1818-1829
Covenant, promissory note and other financial records,
and a genealogical note fragment, 1813-1814, 1819,
1825, n.d.
OVERSIZE, 1802
Box OV 1 Land deed, 18 Oct. 1802 (Container 1)
*** Last updated 09/20/99 (mal) ***
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