James Monroe Papers

The Papers of James Monroe is a documentary editing project based at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  The goal of the project is to publish a scholarly ten-volume collection of selected letters and papers documenting the life and career of the fifth president of the United States.  Volumes published to date feature Monroe’s earliest documented correspondence, including items written from Valley Forge during the winter of 1777, and continue through his service as Secretary of State and War in 1814.

Volume 7, published in 2020, begins in 1814 and presents documents from Monroe’s final years as Secretary of State, during the overhaul and reorganization of the State Department following the War of 1812.  It continues through his election as fifth president of the United States, in 1816. Volumes 8 and 9, forthcoming in 2025 and 2030, will detail Monroe’s two presidential terms during the Era of Good Feelings.

James Monroe, by Rembrant Peale
(image courtesy of James Monroe Museum)