Monroe, James

Autograph letter signed ("Ja^{s Monroe"), 1 1/2 pages (8 7/8 x 7 1/2 in.; 225 x 190 mm), Annapolis, Maryland, 16 December 1783, to Richard Henry Lee in Chantilly, Virginia, with the latter's draft reply (not signed) on the same paper, 3 pages; formerly folded, a few small stains, seal tear in last leaf which Lee has, of course, avoided and so without loss. Black half-morocco clamshell box.}

Monroe's letter is printed in Letters of Delegates to Congress, vol. 21, pp. 202-203; Lee's letter is printed in The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, ed. James Curtis Ballagh, vol. 2, pp. 287 ff.

formerly folded, a few small stains, seal tear in last leaf which Lee has, of course, avoided and so without loss.
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Requesting Lee's views on a standing army, commercial and foreign policy, a fine exchange of views.

James Monroe (1758-1831), finishing his law studies under Thomas Jefferson and recently elected to the Continental Congress as a Virginia delegate, finds himself at sea amidst the great questions of the new nation,  and seeks the counsel of his older and more experienced friend Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794): "I am called on a theater to which I am a perfect stranger. There are before us some questions of the utmost consequence that can arise in any councils of any nation ... I shall be particularly happy to have your sentiments upon these several subjects."

Lee begins his reply immediately below Monroe's signature. After thanking him for his favorable sentiments, "You do me much honor in asking my poor opinions ... You are perfectly right, sir, in your observation concerning the consequences of a standing army, and that it has constantly terminated in the destruction of liberty ... I think it is clear from the construction of human nature that it always will be so. And it is realy [sic] unfortunate for human freedoms safety and happiness that so many plausible arguments are ever at hand to support a system which both reason and experience prove to be indicative of the greatest of human evils, slavery. But it may be questioned, why, to avoid possible ills should we adopt measures which in their nature produce the highest evil? The spirit of the 4th section of the 6th article of the Confederation plainly discourages the idea of standing armies, by the special injunctions concerning a well regulated Militia, which is indeed the best defence and only proper security for a free people to venture upon."

He does not accept the argument that a standing army is required to prevent Indian attacks or the encroachments of our settlers in foreign territories: " ... surely it is the business of other powers to secure their own possessions & punish the violators of them ... As to the protection of our own frontiers, it would seem best to leave it to the people themselves as hath ever been the case, and if at anytime the frontier men should be too hard pressed they may be assisted by the midland militia ... whereas if they are protected by regulars, security will necessarily produce inattention to arms, and the whole of our people becoming disused to war, render the curse of a standing army necessary. In this light the Indians may be considered a useful people, for it is surely fortunate for a people to be under some necessity of keeping the whole body acquainted with the use of arms."

On commercial policy: "With respect to trade, its combinations are so many and so extensive, that it is not easy to say much with propriety on that subject hastily, but one thing respecting that subject is evident. It is, that the free nature and genius of commerce always requires as little restraint as possible, and that in young commercial states, to embarrass trade with heavy imposts or other charges is effectively to demolish it. How grievously do I lament that this is fully and fatally the case in our ill fated country."