Leaders In America Research Paper

Throughout all of natural history, leaders have always arisen. Someone taking charge and leading for the greater good is a constant in every society. People being placed in charge for the benefit of everyone is the policy democracy is founded upon, and the United States lives by it. A large part of our government is founded upon the public electing the leaders of the country every few years. The most important of these elections is arguably the Presidential Election. For years before the actual election, people start campaigning and convincing people that they are the right person for the job; a good leader. However, American citizens may not always make the right choice in the end, and being elected does not mean that the president elect is
a good leader. It just means he is good at convincing people he is. It takes the actual presidency to show off the traits that lend to a great leader, and James Monroe was one of the best examples the United States has ever had. His skills in leadership and democracy led to him becoming one of the most influential leaders in American history.
To be a good leader, a person has to possess many specific traits.
Not just anyone can be put in charge of others. A leader has to be smart, charismatic, willing to compromise, and have a drive to improve those he has to lead. All of these especially apply to the role of the president of the United States. The president has to be smart, first and foremost. He can not lead the country effectively if he has no idea what he is doing. Being educated in matters of politics is a must. But traditional, “book-smart” intelligence is not the only kind need. Sometimes, being smart is knowing when to compromise. America would not be where it is today if people did not compromise in government. Unanimous decisions are very rare, and it usually takes two groups meeting each other halfway to get anything done. Without that mentality,
there would be no change. In that vein, a good leader has to be charismatic enough to actually convince others to compromise as well. No one likes to follow, or even agree with anyone who is rude or unpleasant to be around, no matter their position of power. This is especially important with the president. He has to be able to get people to actually like him to even get elected in the first place, and to get anyone in government to listen to what he has to say. Especially if he wants to actually change and further the nation. In the end, all of these traits are worthless if a president does not have the drive to actually create change. No matter what that change is, a leader has to Even though many people can fake these traits to get into power, actually possessing these traits is what makes someone effective at leading their charges and being remembered in history.
James Monroe is a perfect example of good leadership making someone memorable. As the fifth president of the United States, he had a tough act to follow with the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in the public’s recent memory. However, with his skills in leadership and democracy, Monroe carved his way into America’s story, and is now remembered as one of the most influential people in its history. All of this is due to him possession important traits of leadership. He was smart, charismatic, willing to compromise, and had a drive to improve the country. Without these, he would not have gotten far as a president, and certainly not go down in history as a positive figure.
Monroe is known today for many important accomplishments, and many of them relate to the traits of leadership. Through one of his most recognizable achievements, the Monroe Doctrine, he demonstrated his intelligence. It took foresight to realize that allowing Europe to continue to colonize the western world would cause a lot of trouble down the road for America, and James Monroe was smart enough to realize what he had to do to keep that trouble from happening. In the same vein, this doctrine created a special relationship between the U.S. and its southern neighbors, which allowed for constant cooperation in the future. Overall, it was a very intelligent decision to formally forbid European powers from interfering in the west, despite not technically preventing these countries from doing just that. The subtext of the document was what was really important.
James Monroe also showed great charisma in and before his presidency. He was able to successfully negotiate between many groups of people with differing wants and needs on many occasions. For example, in 1819, he was able to pacify the US Military, Native Americans, and the Spanish in what was then Spain’s territory in Florida. In the process, he even convinced the Spanish to sell the territory to the US. Earlier, before he was even the president, he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase as well, further expanding United States Territory. His people skills allowed for the original owners of the land to agree to sell it in the first place, which is not something most people can convince others to do. It takes a charismatic person to even get to the point where such a thing is possible. At the same time, these acts showed off Monroe’s drive to improve his country. He was directly responsible for doubling the size of the United States, which is about as direct an improvement as one can achieve. To a young nation, size is everything, and James Monroe was one of the most relevant people when it came to expansion to the west.
These were both very notable actions in Monroe’s political career, but one of the most important things he ever did was compromise.
In the aptly named Missouri Compromise quite possible kept the Civil War from happening earlier than it did. Despite not believing that Congress had the power to do such a thing, he conceded that outlawing slavery in some states but not others was the only way to keep things from spiralling out of control in the still new country of America. The ability to compromise is arguably his best trait. This is what saved the United States from going into a civil war it likely would not have recovered from so early in its history. Although he only delayed the inevitable, as history would soon come to see it, his actions brought some much needed time for the issue to develop more. Sometimes, buying time is simply the best course of action in government, and Monroe knew that he had to go against his beliefs in order to make that happen.
James Monroe may not have been as iconic a president as someone like George Washington, or even a founding father, but his contributions as a leader in the United States can not be ignored. He was responsible for expanding the country before and during his presidency. He was smart enough to secure safety down the road for the developing country. And most importantly, he was able to prevent disaster by knowing when to compromise. Truly, James Monroe was one of America’s greatest presidents and leaders, and should be remembered
as such.