# 810 - 1938 5c Monroe, bright blue

Issue Date: July 21, 1938
First City: Washington, DC
Quantity Issued: 2,568,730,000
Printing Method: Rotary press
Perforations: 11 x 10 ½
Color: Bright blue

 

Birth Of James Monroe 

When Monroe was a teenager, both of his parents died, leaving him the family tobacco farm. After attending the Campbelltown Academy, Monroe enrolled in Virginia’s College of William and Mary at the age of 16.

Monroe and his classmates quickly became involved in revolutionary activities. In one instance, he and his classmates raided the arsenal at the British Governor’s Palace with 24 older men. The young revolutionaries captured 200 muskets and 300 swords, which they gave to the Virginia militia.

Once the war was over, Monroe studied law with Thomas Jefferson and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. After his election to the Continental Congress in 1783, Monroe met Elizabeth Kortright, who he married in 1786. Shortly after the wedding, the couple moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Monroe began his law practice.

In 1790, Monroe was appointed to the U.S. Senate, where he worked closely with James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Four years later, President Washington sent Monroe to Paris as the U.S. minister to France. Despite his sympathies for the French revolutionaries, Monroe remained a neutral force for the United States.

Monroe returned to the U.S. in 1797, and in 1799 began his first of three one-year terms as governor of Virginia. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent Monroe to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe remained in Europe until 1807, serving as U.S. minister to Britain. Following his return, Monroe was again elected governor of Virginia, but chose to return to Washington, D.C., to serve as secretary of state, and at one point, secretary of war, until 1817.

Monroe began his term in office with a 15-week presidential tour through the northern states, making him the most visible sitting President. Monroe was so well received in Boston that one newspaper wrote that it was the beginning of the “Era of Good Feelings” for America. The nation’s success in the War of 1812, coupled with the booming economy, allowed Monroe to focus on domestic issues.

Despite Monroe’s popularity and the general optimism of the American public, not all circumstances could be predicted. Early in his term, the Panic of 1819 (likely caused by the boom-bust cycle common today) led to widespread unemployment, foreclosures, and bankruptcies. Although this situation was common for a new economy, there was little the President could do to reduce the strain on the nation.

Within the same year, Monroe was faced with another crisis. The Missouri territory was soon to be admitted to the Union, but its status as a slave state would have thrown off the legislative balance between the North and the South. As a result, Congress negotiated with Massachusetts to admit the northern counties of the state as the new free state of Maine, retaining the balance between free and slave states. The Missouri Compromise also required that western territories in the Louisiana Purchase (above the 36/30’ north latitude line) prohibit slavery. President Monroe, who supported the compromise, ensured that it was constitutional and signed the bill admitting the two new states to the Union.

In response to this, neighboring European countries issued threats of an alliance to help Spain retake control of its former territories in the Americas. Monroe’s friends and colleagues Thomas Jefferson and James Madison urged him to accept the British offer of an alliance against France and Spain. Monroe chose instead to follow the advice of John Quincy Adams, who believed America should not be influenced by European encroachments.

At the end of his second term, and after more than 40 years serving the public, Monroe and his wife retired to their estate in Virginia. Deeply in debt from his years in public service, Monroe requested that the government ease his financial burden by repaying him for past services. They eventually obliged, paying him a portion of what he requested. Following his wife’s death in 1830, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his daughter Maria. On July 4, 1831, James Monroe became the third U.S. President to die on Independence Day.

 

Known affectionately as the “Prexies,” the 1938 Presidential series is a favorite among stamp collectors. 

 

The series was issued in response to public clamoring for a new Regular Issue series. The series that was current at the time had been in use for more than a decade. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed, and a contest was staged. The public was asked to submit original designs for a new series picturing all deceased U.S. Presidents. Over 1,100 sketches were submitted, many from veteran stamp collectors. Elaine Rawlinson, who had little knowledge of stamps, won the contest and collected the $500 prize. Rawlinson was the first stamp designer since the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began producing U.S. stamps who was not a government employee.