MONROE, James, Congress, NY (1799-1870)

MONROE, James, (nephew of James Monroe [1758-1831]), a Representative from New York; born in Albemarle County, Va., September 10, 1799; was graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., in 1815 and assigned to the Artillery Corps; served in the war with Algiers; served as aide to Gen. Winfield Scott 1817-1822; commissioned a second lieutenant in the Fourth Artillery in 1821 and served on garrison and commissary duty until 1832, when he was again appointed General Scott’s aide on the Black Hawk expedition, but did not reach the seat of war, owing to illness; resigned his commission September 30, 1832; moved to New York City in 1832; assistant alderman of New York City in 1832; alderman 1833-1835 and served as president of the board in 1834; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1841); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress; contested the election of David S. Jackson to the Thirtieth Congress in 1847, but the House decided that neither was entitled to the seat; declined a renomination for the vacancy thus created; member of the State senate 1850 and 1852; retired from public life; moved to Orange, N.J., where he died September 7, 1870; interment in Trinity Cemetery, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street and Broadway, New York City.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present