Page 253 - American Stories, A History of the United States

9.1 Read the Document The Monroe doctrine (1823)

9.2

9.3

thE MonRoE DoctRinE President James Monroe presented this doctrine as part of his annual message
to congress in December 1823. He proposed it at a time when the Old World powers were losing their colonial
interests in the New World. The United States had recognized the former colonies of Argentina, chile, Peru, Mexico,
and colombia as independent nations in 1822. Monroe was in the unenviable position of trying to maintain a
strong stance with the European powers, who were struggling over a balance of world power.

other nations, and the spokesmen for burgeoning British industrial capitalism antici-
pated a profitable economic dominance over Latin America. In early 1823, the British
foreign secretary, George Canning, tried to exact from the French a pledge that they
would not try to acquire territories in Spanish America. When that venture failed, he
sought to involve the United States in a policy to prevent the Grand Alliance from
intervening in Latin America.
In August 1823, Canning broached the possibility of joint Anglo-American action
against the Alliance to Richard Rush, U.S. minister to Great Britain. Rush referred
the suggestion to the president. Monroe welcomed the British initiative because he
believed the United States should take an active role in transatlantic affairs by playing
one European power against another. However, Secretary of State Adams favored a
different approach. Adams distrusted the British and believed that avoiding entan-
glements in European politics while also discouraging European intervention in the
Americas would best serve the national interest.
Political ambition also predisposed Adams against joint action with Great Britain;
he hoped to be the next president and did not want to give his rivals the chance to label
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