He was the last Founding Father to serve as president as well as the last president of the Virginia dynasty. He issued the Monroe Doctrine , a policy of limiting European colonialism in the Americas. Monroe studied law under Thomas Jefferson from to and subsequently served as a delegate to the Continental Congress as well as a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention.
He opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution. In , Monroe won election to the Senate where he became a leader of the Democratic-Republican Party. He left the Senate in to serve as President George Washington 's ambassador to France but was recalled by Washington in Monroe won the election as Governor of Virginia in and strongly supported Jefferson's candidacy in the presidential election.
As President Jefferson's special envoy, Monroe helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase , through which the United States nearly doubled in size. He unsuccessfully challenged Madison for the Democratic-Republican nomination in the presidential election , but he joined Madison's administration as Secretary of State in Monroe's wartime leadership established him as Madison's heir apparent, and he easily defeated Federalist candidate Rufus King in the presidential election.
During Monroe's tenure as president, the Federalist Party collapsed as a national political force and Monroe was re-elected, virtually unopposed, in In foreign affairs, Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams favored a policy of conciliation with Britain and a policy of expansionism against the Spanish Empire. In , Monroe announced the United States' opposition to any European intervention in the recently independent countries of the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine, which became a landmark in American foreign policy.
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. Following his retirement in , Monroe was plagued by financial difficulties and died on July 4, , in New York Cityβsharing a distinction with Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson of dying on the anniversary of U. Historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president.
