"liberated & set free at Mr. Monroe's dying request": Peter Marks' White House Story
On July 4, 1831, President James Monroe died after months of illness. Many Americans mourned the loss of the last “Founding Father” president. But for one man, Peter Marks, the impact of Monroe’s death was very different.Peter Marks (sometimes spelled Marx) was enslaved in Monroe’s household for most of his life. Sometime in the final few months of his life, Mo