Download Volume 6 Number 041 Monroe Doctrine - II

Volume 6
Number 041
Monroe Doctrine - II
Lead: With the Monroe Doctrine,
the United States placed itself across
the path of to hemispheric power by
the major nations of Europe.
Amazingly it worked.
Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan
Roberts.
Content: Fearful of Russian
expansion in the American northwest
and emboldened by a growing
national enthusiasm for manifest
destiny, President James Monroe
issued the proclamation that came to
be known as the Monroe Doctrine.
Despite the youth of the American
republic and its relative weakness in
comparison to the great international
powers, the policy was largely
honored in the breach. The U.S.
assertion
forced
Russia
into
negotiation and, by treaty in the next
year, the Czarist regime shifted its
claim and settlements back north
from
California
into
Russian
America, the future Alaska.
While many agreed with the
disparaging
French
newspaper
editorial that it “is ridiculous that a
republic only forty years old…could
take all of the two Americas under its
control,” it was not until the 1860s
that the major powers attempted to
challenge
the
Doctrine’s
main
assertion, which was that the western
hemisphere was unique and should
henceforth be free of political and
military adventures by European
powers. Spain was especially warned
not to try re-asserting power over its
former colonies.
In the 1860s with the United States
distracted by Civil War, Britain,
Spain, France, and Austria tested
America’s resolve. From 1861 to 1865
Spain tried but failed in its attempt
re-take Santo Domingo.
In Mexico, anti-U.S. sentiment
after the Mexican War animated
Mexican leaders to seek a European
presence as a counterweight to United
States’ strength. Having opened itself
to Europe’s powers, however, the
Mexicans were horrified to find
themselves occupied in 1861 by Spain,
France and England. The Europeans
installed
Austrian
Archduke
Maximillian on the Mexican throne,
but his usurpation was short-lived. In
1866, emboldened when the U.S.
government, no longer burdened by
civil war, could turn its attention to
foreign interference in the Americas,
Mexican revolutionaries promptly
overthrew Maximillian and executed
him. Once again the Europeans had
yielded to the reality of superior U.S.
power and proximity thus leaving the
Western hemisphere to determine its
own destiny.
At the University of Richmond,
this is Dan Roberts.
Resources
Clark, J. Reuben. Memorandum on the Monroe Doctrine.
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1930.
Perkins, Dexter. The Monroe doctrine, 1823-1826.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965.
Perkins, Dexter. The Monroe Doctrine, 1826-1867.
Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1933.
Thomas, David Y. One Hundred Years of the Monroe
Doctrine. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company,
1927.
Copyright by Dan Roberts Enterprises, Inc.