James Monroe

By Atlas MeyersThe 5th Presidency (1817–1825)

Length1h 9m

Summary

James Monroe presided over the "Era of Good Feelings," a label that serves as one of history's most successful pieces of propaganda. While the surface of the republic appeared calm the bedrock was cracking. We examine the years 1817 through 1825 as the incubation period of the American tragedy. This was the moment the United States turned its back on Europe and looked inward, only to find that its own reflection was distorted by the impossible contradiction of slavery. It is the story of the last Founding Father attempting to govern a nation that had outgrown the wisdom of the founding. We trace the expansion of the map into Florida and the Missouri territory, revealing how every acre of new land acted as a wedge, driving the North and South further apart. This volume chronicles the shift from a coastal republic to a continental empire, and the terrifying realization that the absence of political opposition does not create unity; it merely internalizes the war.