Presented is the signature of United States President James Monroe on a land grant to Addison Reed, a veteran of the “Army of the United States,” for a 160-acre tract of land in the Arkansas Territory.  The document is dated November 27, 1820.  Monroe has signed his name in black ink in the lower right corner of the 9 ½ x 12-inch white parchment paper certificate, with a white paper seal in the lower left corner. There are handwritten notes in black ink on the reverse side of the page, which has been folded in half and then in thirds. 

Monroe was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Monroe served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. In 1790, he won election to the Senate, where he became a leader of the Democratic-Republican Party. He left the Senate in 1794 to serve as President George Washington's ambassador to France but was recalled by Washington in 1796. Monroe won election as Governor of Virginia in 1799 and strongly supported Jefferson's candidacy in the 1800 presidential election. As President Jefferson's special envoy, Monroe helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, through which the United States nearly doubled in size. In April 1811 he joined James Madison's administration as Secretary of State. During the later stages of the War of 1812, Monroe simultaneously served as Madison's Secretary of State and Secretary of War. His war-time leadership established him as Madison's heir apparent, and he easily defeated Federalist Party candidate Rufus King in the 1816 presidential election. This document comes with a LOA from Steve Grad of Beckett Authentication.

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