Opinion of James Monroe

[ElectionsGuy]

George Washington: 77.6% Approval
John Adams: 87.0% Approval
Thomas Jefferson: 70.4% Approval
James Madison: 81.0% Approval

5th President of the United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe

A decent FF.

[TDAS04]

FF.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Look at the 1820 map. Despite all issues of the day, he won every state. (Of course, three electors died before they could vote and a faithless elector voted for John Quincy Adams, but the point remains.)

[Maxwell]

FF.

[Cassius]

Not a fan of the Monroe Doctrine. HP.

[Sol]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

[Lambsbread]

Lean HP.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

[Rooney]

Monroe flip flopped on the waste known as internal improvements. He opposed the National and Cumberland Road Act before he approved of them. Then he signed a bill that extended the Cumberland Road from Wheeling to Zanesville, Ohio. Additionally, he overreacted to the Panic of 1819 by supporting the policy proposed by Secretary of Treasury William Crawford which relaxed payment terms on mortgages for lands purchased from the federal government. This move only encouraged federal land speculation which would lead to the Panic of 1837.

J.Q. Adams and Monroe's much heralded doctrine has never protected a single Latin American nation from European meddling but has allowed the United States a blank check to intervene in the affairs of Venezuela, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Nicaragua to only name a few. The Monroe Doctrine was a power grab, more or less, by the United States. I guess we can applaud Adams and Monroe for having the foresight to see that the U.S. would eventually be strong enough to behave however it wanted towards it's southern neighbors. However, one can hardly call that a positive thing.   

All in all he is not a favorite president of mine.

[Sol]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

Yeah- it doesn't make it any less reprehensible.

[Ichabod]

I'm from Chile + Monroe Doctrine = HP

[H. Ross Peron]

FF

[Flake]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

[Dancing with Myself]

FF

But I always found him very boring.

[Flake]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

[Goldwater]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

[Earthling]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

[Sol]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

It's not like there were any people in the time period who opposed slavery, or entire states where it was abolished...

[PJ]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

It's not like there were any people in the time period who opposed slavery, or entire states where it was abolished...

The very next president we'll vote on was an abolitionist as well…

[Earthling]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

It's not like there were any people in the time period who opposed slavery, or entire states where it was abolished...

The very next president we'll vote on was an abolitionist as well…

True. But being opposed to slavery did not say you were pro civil-rights. Many people didn't like slavery as a institution, but they didn't like blacks either.

In many ways the Abraham Lincoln of 1860 would be considered a horrible racist in our time, while in 1860 he was a progressive on the issue of slavery.

[PJ]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

It's not like there were any people in the time period who opposed slavery, or entire states where it was abolished...

The very next president we'll vote on was an abolitionist as well…

True. But being opposed to slavery did not say you were pro civil-rights. Many people didn't like slavery as a institution, but they didn't like blacks either.

In many ways the Abraham Lincoln of 1860 would be considered a horrible racist in our time, while in 1860 he was a progressive on the issue of slavery.

That's not the issue though. Slavery was a controversial issue at the time of Monroe's presidency, so calling him an HP for owning slaves is not setting him to the modern standard.

[Earthling]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.o

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

It's not like there were any people in the time period who opposed slavery, or entire states where it was abolished...

The very next president we'll vote on was an abolitionist as well…

True. But being opposed to slavery did not say you were pro civil-rights. Many people didn't like slavery as a institution, but they didn't like blacks either.

In many ways the Abraham Lincoln of 1860 would be considered a horrible racist in our time, while in 1860 he was a progressive on the issue of slavery.

That's not the issue though. Slavery was a controversial issue at the time of Monroe's presidency, so calling him an HP for owning slaves is not setting him to the modern standard.

It wasn't that controversial around 1820. Slavery was still pretty normal. And the American Civil War started 30 years after he died. He was hardly the exception. And I don't believe that being a slave-owner in the early 19th century makes you a immediate horrible person.

[PJ]

Owned slaves=automatic HP.o

Does that include the free blacks that also owned slaves?

I love how you basically assume he's okay with slavery as long as black people own other people.

I love how he assumes owning slaves makes someone an HP by default.

You are owning other human beings.

Nobody is defending the act of slavery here. It's just a bit ridiculous to slave owning as a factor in an opinion poll about someone born in the 18th century.

Agreed. Most of the 18th century politicians in the western world would be horrible racist scumbags by todays standards. But applying modern standards is not fair to those people.

It's not like there were any people in the time period who opposed slavery, or entire states where it was abolished...

The very next president we'll vote on was an abolitionist as well…

True. But being opposed to slavery did not say you were pro civil-rights. Many people didn't like slavery as a institution, but they didn't like blacks either.

In many ways the Abraham Lincoln of 1860 would be considered a horrible racist in our time, while in 1860 he was a progressive on the issue of slavery.

That's not the issue though. Slavery was a controversial issue at the time of Monroe's presidency, so calling him an HP for owning slaves is not setting him to the modern standard.

It wasn't that controversial around 1820. Slavery was still pretty normal. And the American Civil War started 30 years after he died. He was hardly the exception. And I don't believe that being a slave-owner in the early 19th century makes you a immediate horrible person.

Slavery was already illegal in your state during Monroe's presidency. It was simply a wedge issue that America was divided on for a long period of time. It's not just that Monroe was a slave owner, but since he owned slaves, he opposed prohibition of it, which makes someone an HP at a time when states were banning slavery.

[Lief 🗽]

Saying that slavery wasn't controversial in 1820 is offensive revisionist history.