What James Madison knew and what we know now      James Monroe, 4th President of the United States of America, creator of the Monroe Doctrine      The Monroe Doctrine was born primarily from James Monroe's 1823 State of the Union Address. In it he made clear that, despite the American republic's youth and position in the world, it would not tolerate the practice of European imperialism in the American Hemisphere and the American continents. We've done our part in the past. We've defended the