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The Monroe Doctrine is a declaration of principles of U.S. foreign policy ("America for Americans"). The doctrine was proclaimed on December 2, 1823 in the annual message of U.S. President James Monroe to the U.S. Congress. The doctrine played a major role in the foreign policy of the United States for the entire 19th century and also in the early 20th century.
According to the Monroe doctrine, European countries were obliged to respect the Western Hemisphere as the sphere of interests of the United States. The doctrine had the main goal: to consolidate the role of the United States as an arbitrator and judge in the Western Hemisphere and exclude Western powers from its zone of interests.
The idea of the exclusive status and dominant role of the United States in the Western Hemisphere originated long before Monroe's address to Congress. The tendency to expansion is present in the politics of almost any state. But the idea of expansion has been inherent in the USA since the American Revolutionary War. There were conditions for this - both geographical and socio-economic. Expansion of the territory was vital for the slave-owning plantation economy of the South.
In the period beginning with the War of 1812 against England and before the adoption of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the United States annexed Western and Eastern Florida, began the development and settlement of Texas, concluded several agreements with Indian tribes on the purchase of land.
The main ideas of the Monroe Doctrine were:
- The United States does not interfere in internal affairs or any wars between European powers under any conditions;
- The United States recognizes and will not interfere in the affairs of existing colonies in the Western Hemisphere;
- The possibility of further colonization of the Western Hemisphere is excluded;
- Any actions of the European powers in the field of increasing their influence in the Western Hemisphere will be considered as unfriendly towards the United States.
The doctrine essentially became an announcement of the special hegemony of the United States in the Western Hemisphere. The trend only increased in the XX century with Roosevelt's 1904 statement that the United States was "the American police".
Over time, the Monroe Doctrine led only to the distrust and dislike of the United States. Latin American countries were increasingly convinced that they had much more reason to fear US intervention than any European power. In the XXI century, the doctrine was actually abandoned, but its elements are still found in American foreign policy.
