Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The heart of the Roosevelt Corollary occupies as a main subject a single paragraph in Roosevelt's annual message. He begins in his first sentence by disclaiming “any land hunger” or other designs on the countries of the Western Hemisphere “save such as are for their welfare.” The American goal is to see to it that “the neighboring countries” are “stable, orderly, and prosperous.” The president then adds that any country “whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship.” This type of language from the government was customary in approaching Latin American nations.

Roosevelt then sets up the problem that he hopes to resolve with his new approach to the Monroe Doctrine. For a nation that behaves “with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations,” the United States will not be a large element in its international relations. Then, Roosevelt comes to the core of his argument. He cites “chronic wrongdoing” and “an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society” as a cause for American concern. The Dominican Republic, of course, is on his mind, but he refers also to events with Colombia and Venezuela as examples of his argument.

In the remainder of this key sentence, Roosevelt notes that if the misbehavior he has mentioned necessitates intervention by some civilized nation, it might trigger the Monroe Doctrine and require the United States to exercise “an international police power.” The civilized nations he alludes to are Great Britain, Italy, and Germany, which recently had used their naval power to compel Venezuela to pay its debts. Since the U.S. government is not pleased with the prospect of European countries wielding military force in the Western Hemisphere, the only alternative to Roosevelt's way of thinking is for the United States to compel correct policies through the application of diplomacy and, if necessary, force.

The president then cites the example of the island of Cuba, which had been liberated from Spanish rule during the war with Spain in 1898. Out of that process had come a new Cuban Republic, of which Americans during the Roosevelt era were very proud. To ensure that Cuba would not become the pawn of a European country, however, in 1901 the United States insisted that the new nation adhere to the terms of the Platt Amendment. That document, named after the Republican senator Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, was part of congressional action related to Cuba. The United States required that Cuba agree to the amendment's terms. The language included the right of the United States to intervene in Cuba to prevent dominance by a foreign power. The United States also received a perpetual lease on the naval base at Guantanamo Bay on the island. The Cuban Republic had regained its sovereignty but under terms that limited its autonomy to what the American government would accept. Roosevelt concludes in his address, “If every country washed by the Caribbean Sea would show the progress in stable and just civilization which with the aid of the Platt Amendment Cuba has shown since our troops left the island, and which so many of the republics in both Americas are constantly and brilliantly showing,” there would be no need for the United States to intervene.

The president asserts that the United States and its southern neighbors have identical interests. If they follow the rules of civilized society, they have nothing to fear. Roosevelt promises in the next sentence that any intervention would be “only in the last resort” if the country in question “violated” American rights or “invited foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations.” The president, in closing his main discussion of affairs in Latin America, maintains that independence and international responsibility are inseparable. As he writes, “The right of such independence can not be separated from the responsibility of making good use of it.”

In his next paragraph, Roosevelt discusses when the United States should be involved beyond its borders. He claims, “The cases in which we could interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put a stop to intolerable conditions in Cuba are necessarily very few.” But it is in the national character for Americans to protest against atrocities that befall Jews in Russia or Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The president then passes on to subjects relating to these problems.