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Monroe's Summer Presidential Tours
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During the summer months of his presidency, Monroe often went on tours around the country. One of his first priorities upon election was to strengthen the nation's defenses, so in 1817 he embarked on a tour of military installations from Baltimore to Maine, returning along the Canadian border. He was the first president since Washington to make a tour of the country, and people turned out in the thousands to see him as he made his way north.
Monroe felt that it was important for the president to see the country, and he followed up his first tour with a cruise around Chesapeake Bay in 1818 and a visit to the southern states in 1819. His travels outside Washington started a precedent for future presidents that lasts today.
Many praised his practice of embarking on presidential tours. "Monroe's tours became great celebratory events, with parades, receptions, dinners, balls, and even breakfasts given in his honor, and with songs and poems written to mark the occasion," reported the Richmond Enquirer in May of 1819. Also that year, the Edenton (NC) Gazette wrote: "We cannot close this article without mentioning the favorable impression which has been made on all who have seen him by the manners of the President - unostentatious, mild and affable..."
Others did not approve of Monroe's travels. John Adams wrote to his daughter-in-law: "If the President can wander round the Universe and leave all the business of the Public to two or three of his ministers-I am sure your Husband can take upon himself to come to Quincy ... -What a Precedent is Monroe establishing for future Presidents? He will make the Office the most perfect Slavery that ever existed-The next president must go to Callifornia."
A documentary history of Monroe's presidential tours is compiled in Volume One of the Papers of James Monroe, edited by Daniel Preston. The book can be purchased through our museum shop.
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Objects on Exhibit at UMW's Simpson Library
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Brass and mahogany barometer made in London c. 1810.
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A selection of objects from the museum's collection are on exhibit in Simpson library on the University of Mary Washington's Fredericksburg campus.
If you visit there, you can see Monroe's chess set, which was part of many evenings Monroe spent in the company of his friends Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. (The chess set is mentioned in this article about chess-playing presidents.) You will also see a lace fan that belonged to Elizabeth Monroe, and a handsome wood "banjo-style" barometer that Mr. and Mrs. Monroe presented to their younger daughter, Maria Hester, on the occasion of her marriage.
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Museum's Board of Regents Meets
JMM's advisory Board of Regents met on July 2, 2012, after a hiatus of several years.
We will publish minutes from the biannual BOR meetings on a new page on our website.
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Membership Appeal
 2012 marks the 85th anniversary of the museum's founding and has already seen two exciting developments: the acquisition of a document representing the earliest-known example of James Monroe's signature, and the important loan of the Rembrandt Peale portrait of Monroe to the Virginia Governor's Mansion.
In recognition of this milestone year, we are running a special membership appeal. We are asking each member of the Friends of the James Monroe Museum to recruit at least one new member. As a thank-you, old and new members will be invited to a special reception with the UMW Board of Visitors in November.
We hope you will help us grow our museum family and make 2012 a banner year!
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