James Monroe (July 18, 1821 – July 6, 1898) was an American politician who served five terms as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

from 1871 to 1881.

Early life

Born in

Plainfield, Connecticut Plainfield is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. The town comprises four villages: Plainfield (south, ZIP code 06374), Moosup (northeast, 06354), Wauregan (northwest, 06387), an ...

, Monroe attended the common schools and Plainfield Academy. He was graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in 1846. He pursued a postgraduate course in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and was a professor at Oberlin College from 1849–1862.

Career

He served as a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

in 1856–1859. He served in the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

from 1860–1862, during which time he was chosen to serve as president pro tempore from 1861 and 1862. In October 1862, he resigned his seat in the Senate to accept the position of United States Consul in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and served from 1863 to 1869. Following that, he served for several months in 1869 as Chargé D'Affaires ad interim to Brazil. Monroe was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the Forty-second and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1881). He served as chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor ( Forty-third Congress) and was not a candidate for renomination.

Later career

After his terms in the House of Representatives, he returned to Oberlin College as a professor from 1883–1896.

Personal life

He was married twice, first to Elizabeth Maxwell (1825-1862), and later to Julia Finney (1837-1930). He had four children, including: *Mary Katherine Monroe (1851-1891) *Charles Edwin Monroe (1861-1947) He died in

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of the ...

, July 6, 1898 and was interred in Westwood Cemetery.

Legacy

The house in which Monroe and his wife Julia lived when they returned to Oberlin from his consul appointment in Rio de Janeiro is currently preserved as part of the

Oberlin Heritage Center The Oberlin Heritage Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, governed by an 18-member Board of Trustees. The organization is funded by memberships, annual fund contributions, investments, grants, fund-raising projects and planned gifts. O ...

. The current interior of the house presents decor and information from the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s, and uses Monroe's commitments to education and the abolition of slavery to highlight important events in the history of the city of Oberlin.

Writings

References

External links

* *
"Monroe House." Oberlin Heritage Center.
Retrieved 2015-09-30. {{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe, James 1821 births 1898 deaths People from Plainfield, Connecticut American Congregationalists American consuls Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Presidents of the Ohio State Senate Republican Party Ohio state senators People from Oberlin, Ohio 19th-century American diplomats Oberlin College alumni Oberlin College faculty 19th-century American politicians Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio