1822 James Monroe - West Point Military Academy

President James Monroe had many reasons to be proud of the West Point Military Academy.  Aside, from the "well trained and practical parts", of the academy, there was also his his namesake nephew James Monroe, son of his brother Andrew, who had recently graduated from West Point in 1815 and in 1822 just finished serving as an aide to General Scott. Prior to that he was wounded in the war with the Algerian pirates while fighting in Spain.

President James Monroe spoke proudly of what West Point could do for America's youth in his 1822 annual address to Congress.  He started out with a few words of the the army and it's organization into several corps.   He stated that the all should be quite satisfied with it's organization.  Each department was executing efficiently and securely, while keeping cherishing the military spirit.   And the same could be said about the Military Academy, which was "directing all the energies of the youthful mind to the attainment of useful knowledge".

"With the organization of the staff there is equal cause to be satisfied. By the concentration of every branch with its chief in this city, in the presence of the Department, and with a grade in the chief military station to keep alive and cherish a military spirit, the greatest promptitude in the execution of orders, with the greatest economy and efficiency, are secured. The same view is taken of the Military Academy. Good order is preserved in it, and the youth are well instructed in every science connected with the great objects of the institution. They are also well trained and disciplined in the practical parts of the profession. It has been always found difficult to control the ardor inseparable from that early age in such manner as to give it a proper direction. The rights of manhood are too often claimed prematurely, in pressing which too far the respect which is due to age and the obedience necessary to a course of study and instruction in every such institution are sometimes lost sight of. The great object to be accomplished is the restraint of that ardor by such wise regulations and Government as, by directing all the energies of the youthful mind to the attainment of useful knowledge, will keep it within a just subordination and at the same time elevate it to the highest purposes. This object seems to be essentially obtained in this institution, and with great advantage to the Union."

Monroe continued to share a few words about the "science, on which the military establishment rests".   This "science" was more than just military procedures, but it also included the organization and cooperation between the federally controlled regular army and the state militias.  The Military Academy served both the regular army and the state militias.  While  "many well- informed youths" would be available to fill the future vacancies of the regular  army in capacities such as engineer,  others would return to their home state  where they can be used by the states to train the militia.    With such an academy, Congress was using their vested power to organize, arm and discipline the militia.   The cooperation between the academy run by the federal government and the use of the trained men at the state level allowed the two governments federal and state to share in "mutual and harmonious cooperation" to secure our liberties.   Things were much different then.  The security of our nation was still largely in the hands of the state militias, with the federal army being a smaller force responsible for training and supplementing the militia as needed.  

"The Military Academy forms the basis, in regard to science, on which the military establishment rests. It furnishes annually, after due examination and on the report of the academic staff, many well- informed youths to fill the vacancies which occur in the several corps of the Army, while others who retire to private life carry with them such attainments as, under the right reserved to the several States to appoint the officers and to train the militia, will enable them, by affording a wider field for selection, to promote the great object of the power vested in Congress of providing for the organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia. Thus by the mutual and harmonious cooperation of the two governments in the execution of a power divided between them, an object always to be cherished, the attainment of a great result, on which our liberties may depend, can not fail to be secured. I have to add that in proportion as our regular force is small should the instruction and discipline of the militia, the great resource on which we rely, be pushed to the utmost extent that circumstances will admit."

In President John Quincy Adams' final State of the Union address in 1828, he shared a few words and an up date on West Point Military Academy.  After many words of praise, President Adams introduced the report from the Boards of Visitors that was delivered to the Secretary of War.  The report included many "repeated recommendations" that Adams seemed to agree with.

"Of these great national under-takings the Academy at West Point is among the most important in itself and the most comprehensive in its consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of the nation is applied to defray the expense of educating a competent portion of her youth chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is the living armory of the nation. While the other works of improvement enumerated in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress are destined to ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist the labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial results are already experienced in the composition of the Army, and their influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. The institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions proposed by several successive Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and repeated recommendations I cheerfully add my own."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29464
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29470

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10508b.htm

More than you will ever want to know about President Monroe's nephew James Monroe can be found here ...

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/.../Cullums_Register/131*.html