James Monroe — 5th President (1817–1825)

**James Monroe** presided over the "Era of Good Feelings" and authored the Monroe Doctrine — the audacious declaration that the Western Hemisphere was closed to European colonization. He was the last Founding Father president, the last to wear a powdered wig, and a capable executive whose greatest talent was creating consensus where none existed. Monroe was shot during the Revolution, served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War simultaneously, and governed during a period of national expansion and relative harmony.