Why was the Monroe Doctrine created

The United States was wary of European intervention in Florida, the Pacific Northwest, and Latin America. In 1821, Russia claimed control of the entire Pacific coast from Alaska to Oregon and closed the area to foreign shipping. This development coincided with rumors that Spain, with the help of European allies, was planning to reconquer its former Latin American colonies.

European intervention threatened British as well as American interests. Britain had a flourishing trade with Latin America, which would decline if Spain regained its New World colonies, and had claims to territory in the Oregon country of the Pacific Northwest. In 1823, British Foreign Minister George Canning proposed that the United States and Britain jointly announce their opposition to further European intervention in the Americas.

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams opposed a joint declaration. He convinced President Monroe to make a unilateral declaration of American policy—known as the Monroe Doctrine. Monroe announced that the Western Hemisphere was henceforth closed to further European colonization or puppet monarchs. He also said that the United States would not interfere in internal European affairs.

For much of the nineteenth century, the United States lacked the military strength to prevent European intervention in the New World. But since European meddling threatened British as well as American interests, the Monroe Doctrine was enforced by the Royal Navy. Nevertheless, for the American people, the Monroe Doctrine was the proud symbol of American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. Unilaterally, the United States had defined its rights and interests in the New World.

An image of the portion of the address known as the Monroe Doctrine is available here.
A transcript of the Doctrine excerpted from the newspaper printing is available.

Excerpt

Our policy, in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting, in all instances, the just claims of every power; submitting to injuries from none. But, in regard to those continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different.

It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent, without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can any one believe that our Southern Brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition, in any form, with indifference. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new governments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States, to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course.

Read the introduction, view the image, and read the excerpt. Then apply your knowledge of American history as well as the content of the document to answer the following questions:

1. Use a map of the Western Hemisphere to locate and identify areas that the United States was concerned would be threatened by European intervention and colonization in 1823.
2. President Monroe wrote of the importance of maintaining cordial relations with European nations. He used phrases such as “sentiments the most friendly” and the need “to cultivate friendly relations.” Yet he also noted that if the Europeans made “any attempt . . . to extend their system” to the Western Hemisphere, it would be viewed as a provocative action. Why did James Monroe include these vastly different comments?
3. Explain why it was in the best interest of Great Britain to support the principles of the Monroe Doctrine.
4. Some historians have written that without the support of Great Britain, the Monroe Doctrine was nothing more than a bluff. Take a position on this idea and use specific facts to support or refute the claim.

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The Monroe Doctrine was first introduced in 1823 by President James Monroe in his annual message to Congress. The Doctrine became the United States’ primary foreign policy document, declaring the Western Hemisphere closed from European colonization or intervention. Any breach of the Monroe Doctrine would be a threat to the United States. The Monroe Doctrine deeply effected the United States’ foreign policy relationship with Latin American countries. In Latin American countries such as Spain, it had a positive effect because the U.S. demanded Spain to leave the U.S. alone based on the isolationist position. However, it caused a negative effect on Spain because America would no longer be helping or aiding them with troops during wars with other countries. Paradoxically, the Monroe docrtine also justified the expansionist ideas that the United States had at the time, as well as the conflicts over land that were often a result of these ideas. Although the Monroe Doctrine was created to protect Latin America from Europe, it also served America’s best interests. The Monroe doctrine was in a sense a doctrine reastablishing American independence, but also including Latin American countries interests. The way in which the United States chose to intervene in Latin America, especially in Cuba, Mexico, Gran Colombia, and the Falkland Islands, was greatly influenced by the benefits and interests of the nation at the time. It is meant that the reason the United States chose to intervene in these countries were so that the United States could recieve other entities in return. The entities being protected and fulfiled through the interests of the Monroe Doctrine were land, economic prosperity, and the ideologies of the United States.

Portrait of President James Monroe

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In his December 2, 1823, address to Congress, President James Monroe articulated United States’ policy on the new political order developing in the rest of the Americas and the role of Europe in the Western Hemisphere.

The statement, known as the Monroe Doctrine, was little noted by the Great Powers of Europe, but eventually became a longstanding tenet of U.S. foreign policy. Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams drew upon a foundation of American diplomatic ideals such as disentanglement from European affairs and defense of neutral rights as expressed in Washington’s Farewell Address and Madison’s stated rationale for waging the War of 1812. The three main concepts of the doctrine—separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe, non-colonization, and non-intervention—were designed to signify a clear break between the New World and the autocratic realm of Europe. Monroe’s administration forewarned the imperial European powers against interfering in the affairs of the newly independent Latin American states or potential United States territories. While Americans generally objected to European colonies in the New World, they also desired to increase United States influence and trading ties throughout the region to their south. European mercantilism posed the greatest obstacle to economic expansion. In particular, Americans feared that Spain and France might reassert colonialism over the Latin American peoples who had just overthrown European rule. Signs that Russia was expanding its presence southward from Alaska toward the Oregon Territory were also disconcerting.

For their part, the British also had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, with all the trade restrictions mercantilism imposed. Earlier in 1823 British Foreign Minister George Canning suggested to Americans that two nations issue a joint declaration to deter any other power from intervening in Central and South America. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, however, vigorously opposed cooperation with Great Britain, contending that a statement of bilateral nature could limit United States expansion in the future. He also argued that the British were not committed to recognizing the Latin American republics and must have had imperial motivations themselves.

The bilateral statement proposed by the British thereby became a unilateral declaration by the United States. As Monroe stated: “The American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” Monroe outlined two separate spheres of influence: the Americas and Europe. The independent lands of the Western Hemisphere would be solely the United States’ domain. In exchange, the United States pledged to avoid involvement in the political affairs of Europe, such as the ongoing Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire, and not to interfere in the existing European colonies already in the Americas.

By the mid-1800s, Monroe’s declaration, combined with ideas of Manifest Destiny, provided precedent and support for U.S. expansion on the American continent. In the late 1800s, U.S. economic and military power enabled it to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine’s greatest extension came with Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary, which inverted the original meaning of the doctrine and came to justify unilateral U.S. intervention in Latin America.