“It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.” — James Monroe, Inauguaral Address, March 1817

Disturbingly accurate, I think.

On April 28, 1758, James Monroe, Founding Father and 5th President of the United States, was born in the then-colony of Virginia. Monroe has the distinction, as one of the youngest of the Founding Fathers, of being the last of the Founders to serve as President. He was president from 1817 to 1825, an era known at the time as “The Era of Good Feelings”. The end of the War of 1812, successful diplomacy with Spain, and the expansion of the US territories laid the foundation for that label. Unfortunately, with that good, came a steep financial cost, and the country suffered a several year economic downturn brought about, in no small part, by banks leveraging assets they didn’t have (some things never change).

Monroe, who passed away in 1831, was best remembered for the Monroe Doctrine. Sparked by concerns that Spain would attempt to reassert control over South America, the Monroe Doctrine essentially declared European colonization of the western hemisphere over and done, and specifically forbade European countries from intervening in the affairs of the American continents.

Image courtesy of biography.com