Monroe Doctrine

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The Monroe Doctrine, issued by President James Monroe in his annual message to Congress in December 1823, offers a sweeping assertion of American autonomy in the southern and northern halves of the continent in the face of European colonization and aggression. This statement provides an elegant summation of the previous thirty years of American foreign policy, as it affirms the longstanding principles of neutrality and independence from European intervention.

“Future Colonization by Any European Powers”

Because the Monroe Doctrine was issued as part of his annual presidential address to Congress, this speech deals with a wide variety of domestic and international issues in addition to this pronouncement. The first principle of the Monroe Doctrine appears separately from the other three and offers the boldest and most memorable statement of the doctrine: the American continents are “not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” Noting a common heritage that involved colonization and then liberation, this statement recognizes the “free and independent condition” of the American continents. By issuing this statement, the United States was asserting its autonomy as well as that of its southern brethren from all forms of European intervention and control, particularly colonization.

This end of European colonization in the Western Hemisphere is the part of the Monroe Doctrine most often associated with the ideas of John Quincy Adams, who previously had expressed similar noncolonial sentiments in a Fourth of July address delivered in Washington in 1821. Adams had promoted this nonintervention position in July 1823 when he warned Russia that the United States would not tolerate its territorial claims in North America, particularly those in the Pacific Northwest.

Neutrality

The second principle of the Monroe Doctrine reaffirms the nation's longstanding policy of neutrality, stating, “In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so.” Later in this paragraph, the doctrine also stresses that the United States has not and will not interfere “with the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power” despite its opposition to further colonization in the Western Hemisphere. Both of these statements continue an American foreign policy that has stressed, since the government's establishment in 1789, the twin principles of neutrality and nonintervention in European affairs.

Despite its stated intention of remaining neutral, the United States had struggled to attain this goal, particularly during the 1790s, as Britain and France each sought the allegiance of the young nation in its long-running animosities with the other. While the French Revolution and the resulting Reign of Terror permitted the United States to distance itself from France, Britain remained an overbearing ally, particularly in the area of transatlantic trade. The Jay Treaty, ratified in 1796, represented an unsuccessful effort to achieve a diplomatic solution. Later, the more assertive Embargo Act of 1807 sought to curtail British trading access as a way to produce concessions. Neither approach worked, and the War of 1812 offered a military solution where diplomacy and economic pressure had failed. The two-year war was largely a stalemate, as each side enjoyed its share of military successes and failures, and the Treaty of Ghent mirrored these results by reaffirming the status quo of the prewar world. Nonetheless, the War of 1812 was a greater victory for the United States than the 1815 treaty indicated, because Britain finally recognized American autonomy by ceasing many of the aggressive trade policies that had led to the war. The world after the War of 1812 produced an environment in which the United States could issue a statement that reaffirmed its independence and increased its autonomy.

“The Political System of the Allied Powers Is Essentially Different”

The third principle of the Monroe Doctrine concerns the historical and political similarities that exist among the sovereign nations of the American continents. Each country had once been a colony belonging to a European power and had fought to achieve its independence. The systems of government on each side of the Atlantic were also different—the United States had adopted a republican form of government that stressed popular sovereignty and representation, while European countries still embraced the monarchical government that the American Revolution had rejected. In fact, the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars had witnessed the restoration of monarchy in France. As Monroe and Adams surveyed the post-1815 landscape, they realized that North and South America shared more than geographic proximity; the two continents also shared a common history that abhorred European intrusions. America's newfound strength after the War of 1812 permitted the formulation of a new foreign policy that affirmed the common ground among the American nations that rendered them historically and politically separate from Europe. The diplomatic recognition that President Monroe and Congress extended to the newly independent South American states of Buenos Aires, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, and Peru in 1822 served as a significant step in an increasingly American-centered foreign policy. This recognition naturally paved the way for further expression of hemispheric solidarity in the Monroe Doctrine of 1823.

“As Dangerous to Our Peace and Safety”

The fourth principle of the Monroe Doctrine deals with the consequences of Europe not respecting the statement's three principles: noncolonization, neutrality, and a shared tradition of independence and self-government. As the enforcement clause of the document, this fourth principle appears throughout the second section in various forms. Immediately following the declaration of the nation's long history of neutrality, the enforcement clause is then invoked to explain situations where the nation would get involved: “It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense.” A few sentences later, a similar warning appears, this time in relation to any efforts of new colonization or, a more pressing concern, recolonization through military force: “We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.” Finally, in the last portion of the speech devoted to this doctrine, Monroe warns that both European political systems and military interference in the Western Hemisphere would be seen as “endangering our peace and happiness.” Explicitly mentioning Spain for the first time, he says that Spanish attempts to retake their colonies would be impractical because of the expense and the distance. Instead, these new states should be allowed to prosper on their own. Nonetheless, Monroe ends with a final warning: Any interposition by Europe will not be met with indifference by the United States. While military action is never explicitly stated, it is certainly implied throughout these sections, which are designed to enforce the three earlier provisions of the Monroe Doctrine.

Upon entering the presidency in 1817, Monroe encountered an international landscape that was substantially different from what had existed four years earlier when he had served as Madison's secretary of state. The 1815 Congress of Vienna had ended the Napoleonic Wars and had begun rebuilding Europe. In South America, independence movements were successfully overthrowing European colonial governments, particularly Spanish ones. As Europe regrouped and the Americas adopted an increasingly assertive approach to European incursions, the United States reoriented its foreign policy, which had been preoccupied with affairs in Europe and on the Atlantic, and looked to the West and the South. Building upon the successful outcome of the Treaty of Ghent as well as the acquisition of Florida from Spain through the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, the United States was now in a position to assert a new approach to foreign policy that reflected strengthened American continents. The resulting pronouncement was the Monroe Doctrine, which boldly declares the Americas closed to colonization while also reiterating American neutrality. It also identifies a common political and historical heritage among the American continents that European countries did not and could not share. Finally, this doctrine warns that neutrality is not pacifism and that there would be consequences to any European attempt to interfere militarily or politically in the Western Hemisphere. Issued from a position of strength, the Monroe Doctrine serves as an enduring and effective statement of American autonomy and neutrality as well as hemispheric solidarity to warn against potential European incursions into the region's affairs.