Unger, Harlow
Giles. The Last Founding Father: James
Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness. Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press,
2009.
I started to read The Last Founding Father as part of my
effort to understand more about James Monroe the fifth president of the United
States. Almost all of my colleagues told
me that it was a terrible book, that “it was full of inaccuracies,” and how “Unger
played it fast and loose with the facts.”
This of course made me want to read the book all the more. I could not
believe that the book was as bad as all that.
I didn’t want to simply jump on the critical band wagon, I wanted to
give the book a fair chance. Needless to
say I read the book. I don’t have time to present a full book review, so here
is a “limited book review.”
The
Last Founding Father, is a relatively short biography, only
347 pages; almost two hundred shorter than the other major James Monroe
Biography. Harry Ammon wrote James Monroe: The Quest for National
Identity in 1971 and focuses primarily on James Monroe’s political career,
creating a robust James Monroe encyclopedia.
In contrast, Harlow Unger’s book reads a lot faster (a welcome change after
reading Ammon). Another thing to take
into account is that Unger’s book is a popular biography, a book designed
welcome any reader and introduce them to the world of James Monroe. Harlow Unger actually does this fairly well,
he does not get bogged down in minute detail. This is something that would get on a professional
historian’s nerves. I tried to not let
this bother me and take it for what it was designed to do, however there were
some things that did bug me. Here is a list of four things that I could not let
go un-criticized.
1.) When the White House was called the White
House (277).
Unger starts the sixteenth
chapter by explaining the presidential mansion was still being repaired by
1819, (The Mansion had been burned down in 1814 by the British in the War of
1812). Unger goes on to explain, that
the workers covered some charred pieces on the exterior with a thick layer of
white paint and that this is why the White House is called the White
House. This anecdote may very well be
true, but Unger refers to the President’s Mansion as the White House implying
that the White House was called “The White House” from that day to this. According the official White House page,
(whitehouse.gov) The White House officially became the White House in 1901 under
Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency.
2.) James
Monroe wrote the Monroe Doctrine, or did he (313)?
Unger got my attention with his most
controversial statement in the book, “Contrary to the writings of some
historians, Monroe’s proclamation was entirely his own creation – not Adam’s
(313).” Perhaps, I am too biased on this point, I am a huge JQA fan consider
his input in the Monroe Doctrine to be unmatched by anyone. Unger goes on to underestimate Adams’
diplomatic abilities by saying “President James Monroe had almost eight years
of experience as an American diplomat in Paris, London and Madrid…” posts that
Unger claims were “more taxing than Quincy Adam’s five years of ‘dinners,
balls, parades,’ in St. Petersburg, Russia…(314).” This disregards Adams’ other postings, in
addition to Russia, he was also envoy to Holland and Prussia as well as being
one of three negotiators sent to Ghent, to negotiate a peace with Britain during
the War of 1812 (Christopher Keating, “John Quincy Adams: View of America,” The
Weaving Chronicle, August, 28, 2013, https://theweavingchronicle.blogspot.com.
3.) Monroe
Graduated (314)!?
In the same vein, Unger
asserts that Monroe graduated from “…one of America’s most respected colleges,
with a law degree that allowed him to practice before the United States Supreme
Court (314).” Assumedly the “respected college” is the College of William and
Mary (Monroe did attend in 1774-1776), James Monroe dropped out to enlist in
the Continental Army. James Monroe did not graduate but he did become a lawyer,
he trained under Thomas Jefferson to pass the bar. (http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-monroe,
http://www.biography.com/people/james-monroe-9412098)
4.) Monroe
Addressed Congress (314)
To top the list off Unger
said, “On December 2, 1823, Monroe strode into Congress to deliver his seventh
annual message to that body (314).” He
is referring to the annual state of the union address that American’s have
become so familiar with. Unger goes into
great detail, painting the scene as one of the greatest moments in James Monroe’s
career, the revealing of the Monroe Doctrine.
The problem with this scene is that it never happened. State of the
Union address stopped with Thomas Jefferson and would not be reintroduced until
Woodrow Wilson gave his first in 1913. (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php,
http://history.house.gov/Institution/SOTU/State-of-the-Union/).
(Important to note! Later editions have corrected this last point and says "sent" the message to congress rather than saying that Monroe gave the speech in person.)
There
are more things to criticize in this book, as well as some things to praise but
this is a limited book review. I like
pop-history in its many forms but one must be sure to get the facts right. This books greatest positive is that it gives
a fairly readable account of one of the most under-appreciated presidents in
our history. Read the book, double check the sources and let me know what you
thought. Comment either in the comments below or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Historianforeva/)
or on Twitter (@Historianforeva
).
