James Monroe while expanding the United States at the expense of the Spanish Empire, from which he obtained Florida and the recognition of a border across the continent. Faced with the breakdown of the expansionist consensus over the question of slavery, the president tried to provide both North and South with guarantees that future expansion would not tip the balance of power between slave and free states, a system that, Weeks remarks, did indeed allow the continuation of American expansion for the best of four decades. Monroe pursued warmer relations with Britain in the aftermath of the War of 1812. In 1817
James Forsyth (college president) James Forsyth (college president) James Forsyth (September 8, 1817 – August 10, 1886) was an attorney, businessman, and the seventh president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was born in Peru, New York. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1839 and was admitted to the bar in 1842. The following year, he moved to Troy, New York where he practiced law, and was a director and counsel of several local banks and companies. He was a founder and trustee of the Union Trust Company of New York, and President of the Troy & West Troy Bridge Company. He also