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 Monroe Family Home Site James Monroe Family Home Site James Monroe Family Home Site, also known as James Monroe's Birthplace, is a historic archaeological site located near Oak Grove and Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County, Virginia. The site includes the ruins of the Monroe Family Home and birthplace of President James Monroe (1758-1831), which were uncovered in 1976, by a team from the College of William & Mary. Monroe spent his entire youth working the farm until he left for his education at the College of William & Mary. The archaeological team uncovered a house foundation measuring 20 feet by 58 feet. The known 1845