June 28, 2026

The Traveling Patriot: James Monroe’s 1817 Tour and the Quest for National Unity

The Traveling Patriot: James Monroe’s 1817 Tour and the Quest for National Unity

Year(s) Discussed: 1817

At the start of his presidency, James Monroe embarked on a nearly 3,000-mile journey which transformed from a planned strategic military inspection of national defenses to a powerful mission of national conciliation. During the course of his travels, he used his Revolutionary War experience to bridge partisan divides in an aim to define a new era of American political history in the post-war nation. As he would learn as he traveled through New England and the Midwest, however, despite the many changes in the United States, the divisions of the past would still cloud the path forward.

Sources used for this episode can be found at https://www.presidenciespodcast.com.

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Season 505 - James Monroe

Special thanks to David from Tudoriferous and Cody and Stephen from Imperfect Men for providing the opening quotes for this episode! Special thanks also to Christian of Your Podcast Pal for his audio editing work on this episode!

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  • Irwin, Ray W. Daniel D. Tompkins: Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States. New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1968.
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2017-2026. https://www.presidenciespodcast.com.
  • Philip, Cynthia Owen. Robert Fulton: A Biography. New York and Toronto: Franklin Watts, 1985.
  • Preston, Daniel, ed. The Papers of James Monroe, Volume I: A Documentary History of the Presidential Tours of James Monroe, 1817, 1818, 1819. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 2003.
  • Seale, William. The President’s House: A History, Volume One. Washington, DC: White House Historical Association, 1986.
  • Taylor, George Rogers. The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860: The Economic History of the United States, Volume IV. New York, Evanston, and London, Harper & Row, 1968 [1951].

Featured Image: "Lafayette enters the city of Philadelphia in 1824" by T Holt [c. 1852], courtesy of Wikipedia