The Monroe Doctrine is a United States foreign policy position that opposes any foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere. Originally concerned with European colonialism, it holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States. The doctrine was central to American grand strategy in the 20th century.
President James Monroe first articulated the doctrine on December 2, 1823, during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress (though it was not named after him until 1850). At the time, nearly all Spanish colonies in the Americas either had achieved or were close to independence. Monroe asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain separate spheres of influence, and that further efforts by European powers to control or influence sovereign states in the region would be viewed as a threat to U.S. security. In turn, the United States would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European countries.
Because the U.S. lacked a credible navy and army at the time of the doctrine's proclamation, it was largely ignored by the colonial powers. While it was successfully enforced in part by the United Kingdom, which used it as an opportunity to enforce its own Pax Britannica policy, the doctrine was ignored several times over the course of the 19th century, notably with the second French intervention in Mexico. By the beginning of the 20th century, in what is regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of its foreign policy, the United States itself was able to successfully enforce the doctrine. It has been invoked by many U.S. statesmen and several U.S. presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump.
After 1898, the Monroe Doctrine was reinterpreted by lawyers and intellectuals as promoting multilateralism and non-intervention. In 1933, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States affirmed this new interpretation in co-founding the Organization of American States. Into the 21st century, the doctrine continues to be variably denounced, reinstated, or reinterpreted.
Origins of the Monroe Doctrine
According to Samuel Eliot Morison, "as early as 1783, then, the United States adopted the policy of isolation and announced its intention to keep out of Europe. The supplementary principle of the Monroe Doctrine, that Europe must keep out of America, was still over the horizon".
Despite the United States' beginnings as an isolationist country, the foundation of the Monroe Doctrine was already being laid almost immediately after the end of the American Revolution. Alexander Hamilton, writing in The Federalist Papers, was already wanting to establish the United States as a world power and hoped that it would suddenly become strong enough to keep the European powers outside of the Americas, despite the fact that the European countries controlled much more of the Americas than the U.S. did itself. Hamilton expected that the United States would become the dominant power in the New World and would, in the future, act as an intermediary between the European powers and any new countries blossoming near the U.S.
A note from James Madison (Thomas Jefferson's secretary of state and a future president) to the U.S. ambassador to Spain, expressed the U.S. government's opposition to further territorial acquisition by European powers. Madison's sentiment might have been meaningless because, as was noted before, the European powers held much more territory in comparison to the territory held by the U.S. Although Jefferson was pro-French, in an attempt to keep the U.S. out of any European conflicts, the federal government under Jefferson made it clear to its ambassadors that the U.S. would not support any future colonization efforts on the North American continent.
The U.S. feared the victorious European powers that emerged from the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) would revive monarchical government. France had already agreed to restore the Spanish monarchy in exchange for Cuba. As the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) came to an end, Prussia, Austria, and Russia formed the Holy Alliance to defend monarchism. In particular, the Holy Alliance authorized military incursions to re-establish Bourbon rule over Spain and its colonies, which were establishing their independence.
British foreign policy was compatible with the general objective of the Monroe Doctrine. Britain went as far as covertly assisting the South Americans in their fight against Spain. Britain offered to declare a joint statement concerning the doctrine, as they feared trade with the Americas would be damaged if other European powers further colonized it. In fact, for many years after the doctrine took effect, Britain, through the Royal Navy, was the sole nation enforcing it, as the United States Navy was a comparatively small force. The U.S. government did not issue a joint statement due to the recent War of 1812; however, the immediate provocation was the Russian Ukase of 1821For the text of the Ukase of 1821, see: asserting rights to the Pacific Northwest and forbidding non-Russian ships from approaching the coast.
Doctrine The full document of the Monroe Doctrine, written chiefly by future president and then secretary of state John Quincy Adams, is long and couched in diplomatic language, but its essence is expressed in two key passages. The first is the introductory statement, which asserts that the New World is no longer subject to colonization by the European countries:
The second key passage, which contains a fuller statement of the Doctrine, is addressed to the "allied powers" of Europe; it clarifies that the U.S. remains neutral on existing European colonies in the Americas but is opposed to "interpositions" that would create new colonies among the newly independent Spanish American republics:
Monroe's speech did not entail a coherent and comprehensive foreign policy. It was mostly ignored until proponents of the European non-intervention in the Americas tried to craft a cohesive "Monroe doctrine" decades later. It was not until the mid-20th century that the doctrine became a key component of U.S. grand strategy.
Effects
International response Because the United States lacked both a credible navy and army at the time, the doctrine was largely disregarded internationally. Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria was angered by the statement, and wrote privately that the doctrine was a "new act of revolt" by the U.S. that would grant "new strength to the apostles of sedition and reanimate the courage of every conspirator."
The doctrine, however, met with tacit approval from Britain, which enforced it tactically as part of the wider Pax Britannica, which included enforcing the freedom of the seas. This was in line with the developing British policy of supporting laissez-faire free trade and opposing mercantilism. Britain's fast-growing industries sought markets for their manufactured goods, and, if the newly independent Latin American states became Spanish colonies again, British access to these markets would be cut off by Spanish mercantilist policies.
Latin American reaction The reaction in Latin America to the Monroe Doctrine was generally favorable but on some occasions suspicious. John A. Crow, author of The Epic of Latin America, states, "Simón Bolívar himself, still in the midst of his last campaign against the Spaniards, Santander in Colombia, Rivadavia in Argentina, Victoria in Mexico—leaders of the emancipation movement everywhere—received Monroe's words with sincerest gratitude". Crow argues that the leaders of Latin America were realists. They knew that the president of the United States wielded very little power at the time, particularly without an alliance with Britain, and figured that the Monroe Doctrine was unenforceable if the U.S. stood alone against the Holy Alliance.
While Latin Americans appreciated and praised their support in the north, they knew that the future of their independence was in the hands of the British and their powerful navy. In 1826, Bolivar called upon his Congress of Panama to host the first "Pan-American" meeting. In the eyes of Bolivar and his men, the Monroe Doctrine was to become nothing more than a tool of national policy. According to Crow, "It was not meant to be, and was never intended to be a charter for concerted hemispheric action". At the same time, some people questioned the intentions behind the Monroe Doctrine. Diego Portales, a Chilean businessman and minister, wrote to a friend: "But we have to be very careful: for the Americans of the north [from the United States], the only Americans are themselves".Uribe, Armando, El Libro Negro de la Intervención Norteamericana en Chile. México: Siglo XXI Editores, 1974.
In the case of Cuba, which the United States considered to be part of their sphere of influence and even considered annexing at various points in the early nineteenth century, the Monroe Doctrine served to shield the island from possible British inference. Since the British Empire had taken steps towards gradually abolishing slavery, a British takeover would endanger the lucrative slave economy of the island. The Monroe Doctrine sought to ensure the continuation of slavery in Cuba and thus promote American economic interests.
Post-Bolívar events
In Spanish America, royalist guerrillas continued the war in several countries, and Spain attempted to retake Mexico in 1829. Only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule, until the Spanish–American War in 1898.
In early 1833, the British reasserted their sovereignty over the Falkland islands, thus violating the Monroe Doctrine. No action was taken by the U.S. and the historian George C. Herring wrote that inaction "confirmed Latin American and especially Argentine suspicions of the United States." From 1838 to 1850, the Río de la Plata of Argentina was blockaded first by the French navy and then by the British and French navies. As before, no action was undertaken by the U.S. to support Argentina as stipulated in the doctrine.
In 1842, U.S. president John Tyler applied the Monroe Doctrine to the Hawaiian Kingdom and warned Britain not to interfere there. This began the process of annexing Hawaii to the U.S. On December 2, 1845, U.S. president James K. Polk announced that the principle of the Monroe Doctrine should be strictly enforced, reinterpreting it to argue that no European nation should interfere with American western expansion ("manifest destiny").
In 1861, Dominican military commander and royalist politician Pedro Santana signed a pact with the Spanish Crown and reverted the Dominican nation to colonial status. Spain was wary at first, but with the United States occupied with its own civil war, Spain believed it had an opportunity to reassert control in Latin America. On March 18, 1861, the Spanish annexation of the Dominican Republic was announced. The American Civil War ended in 1865, and following the reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine by the U.S. government, this prompted Spanish forces stationed within the Dominican Republic to extradite back to Cuba within that same year.