Rick Allen: “I rise today on the 198th anniversary of his birth, to recognize James Monroe, a Virginia patriot, and honor his service…”

“I rise today on the 198th anniversary of his birth, to recognize James Monroe, a Virginia patriot, and honor his service to our Nation as a soldier, a diplomat, a legislator and as the fifth President of the United States of America. James Monroe, born April 28, 1758 in Westmoreland County, was born, raised, and educated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Foregoing his studies at the College of William and Mary, James Monroe joined the Williamsburg Militia in 1775 in defiance of the British King. He served gallantly in the Continental Army on the battlefield at Harlem Heights, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A student of Thomas Jefferson's after serving in the Revolutionary War, James Monroe was an adherent of Mr. Jefferson's principles of individual freedom and restrained representative government, which would guide him through fifty years of public service.”