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MONROE DOCTRINE

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 739 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONROE See also:DOCTRINE . That the See also:United States should avoid entangling itself in the politics of See also:Europe was a policy recommended by See also:Washington. The counterpart of this, that See also:European See also:powers should be prevented from taking a controlling See also:share in the politics of the See also:American See also:continent, See also:grew gradually as the importance and See also:influence of the United States increased. This American attitude towards the European powers became crystallized in what is known as the Monroe Doctrine, since it was first announced officially in a See also:concrete See also:form, though not originated, by See also:President Monroe. His See also:declaration was the result of American See also:apprehension that the See also:combination of European powers known as the See also:Holy See also:Alliance would interfere in See also:South See also:America to restore the See also:Spanish colonies, which had asserted their See also:independence, to the See also:crown of See also:Spain. To meet and check this See also:movement, in his See also:message to See also:Congress on the 2nd of See also:December 1823, Monroe made the following pronouncement: In the See also:wars of the European powers in matters See also:relating to them-selves we have never taken any See also:part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparations for our See also:defence. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of See also:necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The See also:political See also:system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. . . . We owe it, therefore, to candour, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare that we should consider any See also:attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our See also:peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European See also:power we have not interfered and shall not interfere.

But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have on See also:

great See also:consideration and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European power in any other See also:light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. . . 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 See also:Southern brethren, if See also:left to themselves, would adopt it of their own See also:accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition in any form with indifference. Earlier in the same message, while discussing negotiations for the See also:settlement of the respective claims of See also:Russia, Great See also:Britain, and the United States in the See also:north-See also:west, Monroe also said: In the discussion to which this See also:interest has given rise and the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the See also:free and See also:independent See also:condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. With this message Great Britain was in hearty agreement. Indeed it was See also:Canning's policy, summed up three years later by his famous reference to the necessity of calling the New See also:World into existence to restore the See also:balance of the Old. This announcement of policy, it will be noticed, involved, firstly, a declaration aimed at See also:foreign intervention in the political affairs of independent American states; secondly, a warning against future European colonization on the American continents. The first was avowedly based on the right of self-defence; it was a policy, not a See also:law; it was not to constrain the See also:minor republics, but to protect them. The second, as explained by See also:John See also:Quincy See also:Adams, was intended to See also:state the fact that the American continent was occupied by contiguous states, leaving no See also:room for further colonization and introduction of foreign See also:sovereignty. No legislative See also:sanction was given to Monroe's statement of policy at the See also:time, and in fact none was needed, for the See also:mere announcement served to prevent foreign See also:action in South America. It has never formed part of the See also:body of See also:International Law, being unilateral.

Nor has the United States See also:

bound itself by compact with the other republics of the American continent to protect them from European aggression. Thus it hesitated to send delegates to the See also:Panama Congress in 1826, and took no part in any congress with the Latin American states until 1889. Nevertheless, on several occasions since its conception the Monroe Doctrine has been enforced. Its spirit permeated the See also:Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, in which Great Britain and the United States, in 185o, mutually renounced the right of colonizing, fortifying or occupying any porton of Central America. It was enforced against See also:Maximilian, who, by See also:French intervention in See also:Mexico, had been made See also:emperor, and until the See also:close of the American See also:Civil See also:War had perforce been left undisturbed. Its applicability was urged when de See also:Lesseps's Panama See also:Canal was thought possible of completion. Both See also:Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands at various periods have See also:felt its influence, the See also:general, though not consistent policy of the United States being, while disclaiming the See also:desire of See also:annexation itself, to deny the right of any European power (except Spain in Cuba's See also:case, until 1898) to See also:control them. And it was applied to the claims of See also:British See also:Guiana to Venezuelan territory by President See also:Cleveland's message in 1895, which proposed a See also:commission to See also:settle the boundary and threatened war if its See also:line were not accepted. This commission never reported, but the disputants finally agreed to arbitrate, and the British claim was in the See also:main upheld. Between 1823 and 1895 the development and enlargement of this policy on the part of the United States was very striking. To prevent the overthrow of an independent See also:republic is one thing; to interfere in the settlement of a boundary dispute between two states, also on the ground of self-defence, is quite another. Yet Cleveland's doctrine met with general See also:acceptance, and in fact it had been in a sense anticipated by President See also:Grant, who, in urging the annexation of See also:San Domingo upon the United States See also:Senate in 1870, used this See also:language: The Doctrine promulgated by President Monroe has been adhered to by all political parties, and I now deem it proper to assert the equally important principle that hereafter no territory on this continent shall be regarded as subject of See also:transfer to a European power.

Never having been formulated as law or in exact language, the Monroe Doctrine has meant different things to different persons at different times. It has become deeply rooted in the American See also:

heart, and a permanent part of the foreign policy of the United States. It tends to See also:change into the principle that every portion of the American continent must be free from European control. It is still coupled, however, with the converse principle that America takes no part in European politics, as the See also:disclaimer of the American delegates to the first Peace See also:Conference at the See also:Hague proved. See See also:Tucker's Monroe Doctrine; See also:Gilman's See also:Life of Monroe; See also:Wharton's International Law See also:Digest (See also:title, " Monroe Doctrine ") ; See also:Snow's American See also:Diplomacy; also an See also:article by See also:Sir See also:Frederick See also:Pollock in the Nineteenth See also:Century and After (1902). (T. S.

End of Article: MONROE DOCTRINE

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