James Monroe
When the video is available, I’ll link to it here! ☝️
In 2026, I’m partnering with Ashland Public Library for a yearlong virtual presidential series. We’re tackling each president chronologically on the second Friday at 10:30 A.M. EST. It’s going to be a lot of fun. To register or see the full schedule, click here.
Additional reading
Daniel Tompkins was Monroe’s VP
Don’t let Kris Kringle tell you otherwise.
In Miracle on 34th Street, Santa says Tompkins was John Quincy Adams’ VP.
He’s pretty smug about it, too. Watch it here.
(The confusion with the writers may have been that Tompkins was the 6th VP and JQA was the 6th president.)
The Birdcage
Monroe’s tomb is unlike anything I’ve seen before
Bringing Eliza Home
Read or listen to the story of how Eliza was brought home
These two veterans didn’t cross together
Washington and Monroe were the only two veterans of the Revolutionary War to become president … but the crossing of the Delaware didn’t quite happen like in the famous painting.
Related blog posts
Not at all interchangeable.
still this was a fun post to pull together and the coincidences were too interesting to ignore.
Some crossover between Stephanie Dray’s The Women of Chateau Lafayette and Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green.
Georges Washington Lafayette came up in the presentation, but there are even more George Washingtons!
Q & A follow up
[to be filled in after]
Etc.
The Unopposed: James Monroe
Listen to this Presiquential Podcast episode
Sources
Doodles for this presentation were inspired by:
The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, by Harlow Giles Unger
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation, by Cokie Roberts
America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick, by Bob Crawford
Heirs of the Founders: Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants, by H. W. Brands
Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation, by Peter Stark
The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth, by Jermaine Fowler
The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn, by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, by Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky
Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, by K. Jack Bauer
Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, by Nathaniel Philbrick
The President Is Dead! The Extraordinary Stories of Presidential Deaths, Final Days, Burials, and Beyond, by Louis L. Picone
Also referenced:
499 Facts about Hip-Hop Hamilton and the Rest of America's Founding Fathers, by Stephen Spignesi
Everything You Need to Ace U.S. History in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide, by Workman Publishing, Lily Rothman, Editors of Brain Quest
Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: Strange Stories and Shocking Trivia from Inside the White House, by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, by William A. DeGreorio
Also mentioned:
The Women of Chateau Lafayette, by Stephanie Dray
Check out my bibliography for more.
Next up: John Quincy Adams
I have a to-do list of places to visit and things to do before then, so I should have some photos to add!
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library and is in collaboration with a multitude of MA and NH libraries.
MA: Amherst, Andover, Chatham, Chelmsford, Cohasset, Cotuit, Falmouth, Groton, Hanover, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Maynard, North Reading, Quincy, Shutesbury, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Wellesley, West Newbury, and Woburn; NH: Amherst, Dover, and Greenfield.
The Last Cocked Hat