A year after meeting, James Monroe and Elizabeth Korthright were married on February 16, 1786. James met Elizabeth in New York, while he was serving in the Continental Congress. The Kortrights were longtime residents of the city. Through connections and trade, the family had been wealthy at one time.
Elizabeth’s father had not picked a side in the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), but the conflict altered the Kortrights’ fortunes. For James and Elizabeth, though, it was a love match.
When James’s term in the Continental Congress ended that October, the Monroes
