The Monroe Doctrine:
A Case study of the Evolution of the American Foreign Policy
By the early 1800s, America was becoming its own country and trying to separate itself from Europe. In 1823, to discourage European nations from colonization that would threaten America, President James Monroe issued his Monroe doctrine, which became a lasting cornerstone of American foreign policy, guiding and shaping both America’s role in international affairs, and her role in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. By examining the implementation of this doctrine by different Presidents, one can observe the evolution of American foreign policy from a relatively self-contained stance, uninterested in entanglements in international affairs, to one focused on establishing hegemony in the western hemisphere, and ultimately to one aggressively invested in global politics and world influence. In the beginning, the Monroe Doctrine was a protective policy in keeping with the isolationist goals of the U.S government at the time. But as the doctrine began to be used to justify expansion and military intervention in Latin America, this approach signaled a change in America’s presence in international affairs from a passive spectator to a strong leader in diplomacy and world politics.
When President Monroe first announced his doctrine in his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress on December 2, 1823, he attempted to define the fledgling country in terms of international recognition. His doctrine precluded further attempts at European Colonization in the Americas, considering any such attempt as an act of aggression and a threat to American security, requiring U.S intervention[1]. The doctrine asserted that the Western Hemisphere was the exclusive zone of influence of the United States. In return, America would not interfere with the affairs and conflicts of Europe and would leave established colonies in the Americas alone. In short, the doctrine enforced a policy of self-protection and non-intervention unless provoked.[2] The New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, composed of entirely separate and independent nations. The Western Hemisphere was never to be colonized again, and any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be perceived as a direct threat to the U.S[3]. These efforts were all geared toward establishing the independence of the fledgling nation. Hence its original purpose focused on insuring protection of the nation from powerful European influences as opposed to any attempt at establishing a prominent international presence.
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... not participate in any affairs of European countries and will keep away from existing colonies in Western Hemisphere. Therefore, the Monroe Doctrine announced moral opposition ... annual address. By this doctrine America expressed its requirement to stop any European colonization and interference into the affairs of American countries. This ...
Originally, this doctrine could not possibly have been used as anything more than a feeble assertion of independence. The United States lacked the military power needed to enforce any grandiose demands. At the time of the announcement of the Doctrine in 1823, the United States Armed Forces had a total of a mere 9,863 men[4]. With a weak army and navy, lacking in both manpower and equipment, there was no plausible way to enforce the Doctrine against European superpowers like Spain and France, let alone attempt to establish international supremacy through this policy. Only through support from the impressive British Navy was the doctrine able to garner a sliver of respect.
France was at the moment occupying Spain in order to protect and support a weak Spanish monarchy from domestic rebellion. This occupation posed a threat to the stability of the Americas: Monroe and Adams feared that France would return the Latin American colonies to colonial rule. Since Great Britain also feared French intervention, the British government had originally proposed a joint United States-British declaration against foreign interventions in the Western Hemisphere.[5] Adams rejected the alliance in compliance with President Washington’s wish to avoid foreign entanglements, along with Washington’s desire that the United States act independently[6]. Though disregarded internationally, due to America’s weak army and navy, the Doctrine met with tacit British approval in line with the developing British policy of laissez-faire free trade against mercantilism. The Monroe doctrine aided the fast-growing British industry by ensuring the neutrality of Latin American countries. Included in the “Western Hemisphere” that Monroe claimed to be within the exclusive sphere of influence of the United States was Latin America, a territory incredibly significant to the trade aspirations of Great Britain. Continually seeking outlets for its manufactured goods, the British, in the middle of their industrial revolution, turned toward the newly independent Latin American states to protect them from foreign intervention, especially from Spain and France. If any Latin American states were reclaimed by Spain, the British access to these markets would have been cut off by the Spanish’s mercantilist policy.9 With this strategic support, the Doctrine gained more international significance and achieved greater eminence in international politics.
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Initially, then, the United States did not have the means nor the methods to aggressively implement this Doctrine as a way of pursuing international significance, even as close to home as Latin America. However, the policy instituted by the Monroe Doctrine was accepted warmly by Latin American countries, despite their awareness of the dependence of American power on British forces and their recognition that the “Monroe Doctrine was powerless if it stood alone against the Triple Alliance.”7 They clearly knew that “that their future of independence was in the hands of the powerful Great Britain.”[7] Simon Bolivar, president of Bolivia, welcomed the support of his Northern neighbor with enthusiasm and sincerity, while recognizing the miniscule power that America wielded in actuality. This perspective, though, was soon to be changed with the introduction of the Roosevelt Corollary and the Big Sister policy adopted by the U.S. based on the Monroe Doctrine.
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Before implementing a policy focused on establishing rule as a “Big Brother”, America first used the Doctrine to fuel the fevered spirit of westward expansion.[8] As time progressed and America gained international prominence, the doctrine was used less as an instrument of self-protection than as a justification for expansion of American policy in foreign affairs. No longer an infantile country lacking the resources and power to defend itself, the United States grounded its guiding principles upon ideals centered on expansion. One of the first significant instances of this transformation was in response to a proposed alliance between Britain and the newly created Republic of Texas in 1836. The U.S. government strongly objected to the alliance on the principle of the Monroe Doctrine, claiming that the British would be interfering with the affairs of the Western Hemisphere, the sole dominion of the United States, and threatened military intervention.[9] Soon after, the doctrine was reinterpreted in terms of the prevailing spirit of Manifest Destiny, the belief that it was America’s God-given destiny to expand over the entire continent. President James Polk, in his message to Congress of December 2, 1845, stated that European nations could not interfere with projected territorial expansion by the United States.
Previously, Monroe had only said that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open to European colonialism. Polk’s declaration was spurred by the perceived interference of France and Great Britain in America’s attempts to annex the State of Texas. In his statement to Congress, Polk declared: “The rapid extension of our settlements over our territories heretofore unoccupied… and our rising greatness as a nation are attracting the attention of the powers of Europe, and lately the doctrine has been broached…The United States…cannot in silence permit any European interference on the North American continent, and should any such interference be attempted will be ready to resist it at any and all hazards.” [10] Previous to this, only attempts at European colonialism on American land had called for aggressive, preventive measures. Now, however, American government no longer feared colonialism to an equal extent as it feared European intervention in the expansion of its perceived as destiny. As opposed to focusing on establishing a fledgling country, the focus shifted toward the push into and beyond the American frontier. Interference by European countries on these ideals became the new-found target of the Monroe doctrine.
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As America’s significance in international affairs grew exponentially, the Doctrine was evoked numerous times in increasingly aggressive manners. In 1842, U.S. President John Tyler implemented the Doctrine in the process of annexing Hawaii to the United States, warning Britain not to interfere.[11] In 1863, Napoleon III, commanding French Forces, occupied Mexico. After their invasion, Mexico was given to the Emperor Maximilian. Despite being in the thick of a bloody civil war, America immediately announced that the French had performed a grievous transgression of the Doctrine. At the conclusion of the Civil War, American soldiers were sent to the Rio Grande to demand that French Government cease its occupation[12]. In the 1870s, President Ulysses S. Grant and his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish endeavored to replace European influence in Latin America with that of the United States. Part of their efforts involved expanding the Monroe Doctrine by stating that “hereafter no territory on this continent [referring to Central and South America] shall be regarded as subject to transfer to a European power.”[13]
Making major strides in their goals of expansion and becoming increasingly invested in world politics as an influential international force, the United States began to take a more aggressive role in the affairs of Latin America, a role that few dared to challenge[14] In 1881, under the Presidency of James A. Garfield, Secretary of State James G. Blaine formulated the “Big Sister” policy[15]. Acting as an extension to the original Monroe doctrine, Blaine’s policy aimed to develop a stronger presence in Latin American trade, and call for Latin American nations to rally behind American leadership and open their markets to U.S. traders. He organized and led the First International Conference of American States in 1889 as a means to achieve this goal.[16]
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In 1895, President Grover cited the Doctrine through his Secretary of State Richard Olney, threatening strong action against the United Kingdom if the British failed to arbitrate a dispute with Venezuela. In his July 20, 1895 note to Britain, Olney stated “The United States is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition.”[17][13] After the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury took exception to the American language and proposed a joint meeting to clarify the scope of the Monroe Doctrine, the United States rejected their proposal. By failing to pursue the issue further, the British, according to historian George Herring, “tacitly conceded the U. S. definition of the Monroe Doctrine and its hegemony in the hemisphere.”[18][14]
On one occasion though, an American President, namely Theodore Rooselevelt, actually limited the range of the Monroe Doctrine. On December 29, 1902, when the Foreign Minister of Argentina, Luis María Drago, announced the so-called Drago Doctrine, which asserted the policy that no European power could use force against a Latin American nation to collect debt, President Roosevelt declared: “We do not guarantee any state against punishment if it misconducts itself” [19][15] But in 1904, President Roosevelt added his own corollary to the doctrine, the Roosevelt Corollary, which asserted the right of the United States to intervene in Latin America in cases of “flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American Nation.”[20] This was the most significant amendment to the original doctrine and was widely opposed by critics, who argued that the Monroe Doctrine was originally constructed merely to stop European influence in the Western Hemisphere. President Roosevelt’s amendment was designed to preclude violation of the doctrine by European powers that might ultimately argue that the independent nations were “mismanaged or unruly”[21](10).
Critics, however, claimed that the Corollary simply asserted U.S. domination in that area, essentially transforming America into a “hemispheric policeman.”[22]To this day, it is hard to argue that the Western Hemisphere is not entirely a United States sphere of influence.[23] (10)
In his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, President John F. Kennedy cited the Monroe Doctrine as a basis for America’s confrontation with the Soviet Union over Russia’s provocative campaign to install ballistic missiles on Cuban soil.[16] Subsequently, the doctrine has been re-interpreted and applied in a variety of other fashions and circumstances.
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As the above outline indicates Monroe initiated a shift in American Policy that evolved far beyond his initial vision. As America became more protective of her interests and expanded her economy, her foreign policy became increasingly aggressive, expanding the goals of peace and security. But, as the doctrine got reinterpreted and further stretched, America’s hands may have become dirty in the process.
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[1] Rodrigue Tremblay. The New American Empire (pp 133-134).
Retrieved 2008-12-20
[2] Message of President James Monroe at the commencement of the first session of the 18th Congress, (The Monroe Doctrine), 12/02/1823; Presidential Messages of the 18th Congress, ca. 12/02/1823-ca. 03/03/1825; Record Group 46; Records of the United States Senate, 1789-1990; National Archives
[3] Herring, George C., From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776, (2008) pp. 153-155
[4]
[5] Norton page 243-244
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[7] John A. Crow. “Areil and Caliban”. The Epic of Latin America, Fourth Ed.. pp. 676. ISBN 0520077237.
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[14] Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc. “Volume 8”. New Encyclopædia Britannica, Fifteenth Ed.. pp. 269. ISBN 1593392923.
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[16] Lens, Sidney; Howard Zinn (2003).
illustrated. ed. The forging of the American empire: from the revolution to Vietnam, a history of U.S. imperialism. Human Security Series. Pluto Press. pp. 464. ISBN 0745321003.
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[20] Theodore Roosevelt (1904-12-06).
“State of the Union Address”. TeachingAmericanHistory.org. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
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[22] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406400597.html
[23]
