The Founding's Go-To Man
James Monroe. His Administration was called "The Era of Good Feeling" which he, as much as anyone else created. It's as if every President who followed him had a bracelet saying "What Would Monroe Do?"
1. He dropped out of college to volunteer for combat.
2. He was the hero of the Battle of Trenton, knocking out the Hessians' only chance of defending themselves. He was one of the few American wounded because he prevented everyone else from getting shot.
3. As Governor of Virginia, he worked his way from having no power to absolute control through the force of his wisdom.
4. In 1800, he threated to march on the federal government with his state's militia to prevent the corrupt Aaron Burr from stealing the Presidency, which made the Electoral College finally quit stalling and
concede the election to Jefferson.
5. Jefferson wrote him constantly, showing that Monroe was not the NPC that academic scribblers made him out to be.
6. After the incompetent John Jay failed to get anywhere with Napoleon, Jefferson knew that Monroe would get the job done. He was the real father of the huge Louisiana Purchase. Typical of his take-charge character, he saw an opportunity to get far more than Jefferson had assigned him to get, which was merely New Orleans.
7. He took over the War of 1812 from the nerdy wimp Madison, who had a mental breakdown, (not the Constitution's absurd Vice-Presidency doing that), and was the sole reason for our victory. Notice that Andrew Jackson reported to him, not President Madison, about the Battle of New Orleans.
8. As President, he ordered Jackson to take Florida and then Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean, but the Zero-Grown Northeast plutocracy prevented him from expanding that much. The Monroe Doctrine was a weak compromise and not what Monroe himself knew was best for our Manifest Destiny. Having the Caribbean Islands would have given the South more votes and prevented the Civil War.
9. He opposed the Constitution and was proven right by everything that followed, especially the fact that the Louisiana Purchase was unConstitutional.