James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States.

Important events during President Monroe's administration were:

• Construction on the Erie Canal began on July 4, 1817.

• Mississippi was admitted as the 20th state on December 10, 1817.

• The White House was rebuilt and made bigger in 1818, costing $50,000.

• Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and twenty stars (one star for each state in the Union at the time) on April 4, 1818.  A new would be added when a new state is added to the Union.

• Illinois was admitted as the 21st state on December 3, 1818.

• A treaty was signed in Spain which gave Florida to the United States.

• Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state on December 14, 1819.

• The population in 1820 reached 9.6 million.

• Congress voted on March 3, 1820 to pass the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

• Maine was admitted as the 23rd state on March 15, 1820.

• The first high school was opened in May 1820 in Boston, Massachusetts.

• Missouri was admitted as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.

• William Becknell blazed the Santa Fe Trail in the spring of 1822, which created a trade route to the southwest.

• President Monroe sends his Monroe Doctrine to Congress for vote on December 2, 1823.

James Monroe was

• the fourth President born in Virginia.

• the first President to be inaugurated on March 5th.

• the first President who had been a senator.

• the first President inaugurated outdoors.

• the first President to have a daughter to be married in the White House.