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Monroe Doctrine: The Controversial Cornerstone of US Foreign Policy

The Monroe Doctrine, a significant piece of United States foreign policy, was first articulated by President James Monroe in 1823, and it essentially warns the powers of Europe from meddling in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere, claimed by the US as its own sphere of influence. Initially, the doctrine was meant to oppose European colonialism while simultaneously asserting the US as a rising regional power. By the turn of the 20th century, it had taken on a new meaning and was often used as justification for the 'policing' of Latin America by the US. Since its inception, the Monroe Doctrine has routinely been invoked to justify various US foreign policy positions and remains relevant today.

Origins

Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), a wave of revolutions swept across Latin America. Spain had been ravaged by the armies of Napoleon I (reign 1804-1814; 1815) and could barely afford to keep control over its colonial empire in the Americas, a weakness that liberty-seeking revolutionaries managed to exploit. Under the leadership of men like Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) and José de San Martín (1778-1850), the revolutionaries cast off the shackles of Spanish colonial rule and established independent republics based on the ideals of the Enlightenment. But even then, with the taste of victory still on their lips, it was clear that these republics' grasp on independence was tenuous at best. As the great European powers rallied and rebuilt after the downfall of Napoleon, it was clear that it would be only a matter of time before they turned their imperialist eyes back West, toward the lost colonies of the Americas.

Indeed, plans to recolonize the New World were already materializing in the Old. Austria, Prussia, and Russia – three of the victors in the wars against Napoleon – sought to cleanse the world of radical Enlightenment ideals and restore the kind of absolute monarchism that had been the status quo before the French Revolution (1789-1799) had turned the world upside down. These empires formed a coalition called the Holy Alliance and vowed, among other things, to return the Bourbon Dynasty to the Spanish throne and resubjugate the Latin American peoples to Spanish domination. Naturally, this worried the fledgling republics, which knew that they could do little to resist a European incursion upon their shores. Fortunately, there seemed to be two stronger nations that opposed the Holy Alliance and might be able to help.

The first of these potential allies was Great Britain, then the foremost world power. A constitutional monarchy, Britain was ideologically opposed to the absolutist empires of the Holy Alliance. Moreover, the British had spent years cultivating a lucrative market for trade in South America and would be loath to see these eager customers fall back under Spanish rule. The other nation, of course, was the United States. Another republic founded on Enlightenment ideals, the US had won its own independence barely half a century earlier and would not stand to see absolutism take root in its own backyard. Less altruistically, the US dreamt of expanding its own empire ever westward – an "empire of liberty" as Thomas Jefferson once put it – which would eventually put it at odds with Russia, which had long laid claim to the Pacific Coast, and a post-Napoleonic France, which was eyeing its own return to the Americas. If the US could not prevent European recolonization, it may as well kiss its own imperialist dreams goodbye.

Seeing as both Britain and the US opposed the Holy Alliance's intervention in Latin America, it seemed sensible for them to make common cause. Indeed, British Foreign Minister George Canning offered to do exactly that and proposed that the two nations issue a joint statement warning the Holy Alliance to stay out of the Americas. At first, US President James Monroe (served 1817-1825) thought this was a good idea, but he was soon dissuaded by his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). A shrewd diplomat, Adams understood that by making a joint statement, the US would be perceived as merely a junior partner doing the bidding of Britain. But if the US were to issue a statement on its own, it would be asserting its authority in the Western Hemisphere and would be claiming the status of a rising power. "It would be more…dignified," Adams wrote, "to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France then to come in as a cockboat in the wake of the British man-of-war" (quoted in Crandall & Crandall). Monroe, ultimately, agreed.

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Burning of Washington

The burning of Washington (24 August 1814) by a British force was a pivotal moment in the War of 1812 and in US history. Hoping to pull US military resources away from Canada, the British landed at Chesapeake Bay, defeated an American force at Bladensburg, then pushed on to Washington, D.C., where they burned the Capitol Building and White House.

Burning of Washington, D.C.

Paul M. Rapin de Thoyras (Public Domain)

Background

In the summer of 1814, the British-American War of 1812 entered its third year with no satisfactory end in sight. The war had begun as a dispute over the Royal Navy's impressment of American sailors on the high seas, as well as over Britain's support for a burgeoning confederacy of Native American nations hostile to the United States. But by now, circumstances had rendered both of these issues more or less irrelevant; the British had rescinded their 'Orders in Council' that allowed for the capture of US merchant ships, while Tecumseh, the leader of the Native American confederacy, had been killed, ending all hopes for an independent, Anglo-backed Native American state. Despite this, the conflict dragged aimlessly on. As diplomats slowly gathered in the Flemish town of Ghent (in modern Belgium) for peace talks, a US army crossed over into Canada, leading to some of the bloodiest fighting of the war at the Battle of Lundy's Lane (25 July 1814) and the Siege of Fort Erie (4 August to 21 September 1814).

The British were eager to divert American attention away from Canada by striking somewhere on US soil, and for the first time in the war, they had the manpower to do it. In the previous two years, the British and Canadians had been forced to remain on the defensive, since the bulk of Britain's military resources were bogged down in Europe, fighting the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. But in April 1814, Napoleon finally abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba, freeing up thousands of battle-hardened British soldiers to be sent to North America. Many of these soldiers were sent first to Bermuda, where Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane was putting together an expedition to strike the US coast. His primary objective, of course, was to force the US to pull its army out of Canada, but a secondary goal was to satisfy British national honor by burning a major American city or town. This would be in retaliation for the burning of several public buildings in York (present-day Toronto), the provincial capital of Upper Canada, by American troops after the Battle of York (27 April 1813). Though the Americans claimed these fires were accidental, they certainly had many other sins to answer for, as American soldiers had also torched the Canadian frontier towns of Newark, Port Dover, and St. Davids.

After consulting with his subordinate, Rear Admiral George Cockburn, Cochrane decided to land at Chesapeake Bay and target the cities of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. The first was chosen because it was relatively defenseless and because the fall of the US capital was expected to have a major psychological impact on American citizens. The second was chosen because Baltimore was a major trade hub and was also where many of the American warships were built. Cockburn, who had spent the previous months raiding the Chesapeake region, knew the area well and provided Cochrane with the necessary information. When all was ready, the British set sail and arrived in Chesapeake Bay in mid-August.

James Monroe

James Monroe (1758-1831) was an American statesman who served as the fifth president of the United States (1817-1825). The fourth president to belong to the so-called 'Virginia Dynasty', and the last of the generation of the Founding Fathers to hold the office, Monroe is primarily remembered for the Monroe Doctrine and the Era of Good Feelings.

Early Life & Revolution

James Monroe was born on 28 April 1758 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the eldest son of Spence Monroe, a craftsman, and Elizabeth Jones Monroe, the daughter of a family of wealthy Welsh immigrants. James grew up on the 600-acre family farm on which he was born, and, at the age of eleven, he was enrolled in Campbelltown Academy, considered the best school in Virginia. Here, he excelled in Latin and mathematics and befriended fellow student John Marshall, future chief justice of the US Supreme Court. In the early 1770s, both of Monroe's parents died, forcing him to drop out of school to take care of his younger siblings and to look after the property he had inherited, which included several enslaved people. In 1774, Monroe was able to return to school and attended the College of William and Mary, where he became increasingly involved in Whig politics and the opposition to Parliamentary taxes.

For the past decade, British Parliament had imposed a series of direct taxes on the colonies that American Whigs, or 'Patriots', had condemned as unconstitutional, on the basis that they were not represented in Parliament. The conflict had gradually escalated until, in April 1775, the American Revolutionary War broke out between Britain and the rebellious colonies. In the days leading up to the war, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, dissolved the colony's elected legislative body, the House of Burgesses, and sent British soldiers to confiscate arms and ammunition belonging to the colony's militias. Outraged, Monroe and hundreds of other Virginians followed Patriot leader Patrick Henry to the Governor's Mansion in Williamsburg, to demand the weapons' return; the conflict, later known as the Gunpowder Incident, was de-escalated when Dunmore agreed to pay the Patriots £330. Monroe, feeling this was not good enough, later broke into the Governor's Mansion with 23 other students and stole hundreds of muskets and swords for the Patriot cause.

In 1776, Monroe dropped out of college and enlisted in the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army. That December, he crossed the icy Delaware River with General George Washington and participated in the ensuing Battle of Trenton (26 December 1776). During the battle, he was severely wounded in the shoulder while capturing a Hessian cannon and nearly died of his injuries. After recovering, he was promoted to captain for his valor and saw further action at the Battle of Brandywine (11 September 1777) and Battle of Germantown (4 October 1777). He spent the winter shivering with the rest of the Continental Army at Valley Forge, where he befriended Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, and shared a cabin with his old schoolmate John Marshall. The following year, he served at the Battle of Monmouth (28 June 1778) and was later promoted to lieutenant colonel, with recommendations from both Washington and Alexander Hamilton.

American War of Independence, 1775 - 1783

Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)

In 1780, Monroe resigned from the army and returned to Williamsburg to study law. Here, he was mentored by none other than Thomas Jefferson, who took Monroe under his wing and influenced his political development. In 1782, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, which he used as a stepping stone to win election to the Confederation Congress the following year. During his three years in Congress, Monroe supported the westward expansion of the United States as well as the Northwest Ordinance, which laid out the procedure whereby such lands could be admitted into the Union as states. He strongly supported the right of the US to navigate the Mississippi River – which was a point of contention with Spain – and argued against the need for a stronger central government than the one laid out in the Articles of Confederation.

On 16 February 1786, the 27-year-old Monroe married Elizabeth Kortright, the 17-year-old daughter of a prominent New York City family. Monroe retired from Congress that same year, and the couple settled in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Monroe opened a law practice. The couple would have two daughters: Eliza (1786-1840) and Maria (1802-1850); a son, James, was born in 1799 but tragically died sixteen months later. Monroe re-entered politics in 1788 when he attended the Virginia Ratifying Convention, tasked with ratifying the newly drafted US Constitution for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Though by now Monroe agreed that the feeble Articles of Confederation should be amended, he was concerned that the Constitution left the federal government too powerful and ultimately voted against it. Nevertheless, Virginia voted to ratify the Constitution by a narrow margin, and it went into effect nationwide in March 1789, with Washington elected as the first president.

Doctrina Monroe: El pilar controversial de la política exterior estadounidense

La Doctrina Monroe, una pieza significativa de la política exterior de los Estados Unidos, fue enunciada por primera vez en 1823 por el presidente James Monroe y esencialmente les advierte a las potencias europeas que no se inmiscuyan en los asuntos del hemisferio occidental, reivindicado por los EE. UU. como su propia esfera de influencia. Al principio, la doctrina fue concebida para hacer oposición al colonialismo europeo mientras que al mismo tiempo reafirmaba a los EE. UU. como una potencia regional en ascenso. Al llegar el siglo XX había tomado un nuevo significado y se utilizó frecuentemente como justificación para «ejercer la vigilancia policial» de América Latina por los EE. UU. Desde sus inicios, la Doctrina Monroe se ha invocado habitualmente para justificar varias posiciones de la política exterior de los EE. UU. y sigue siendo relevante hoy.

Doctrine Monroe: Un pilier controversé de la politique étrangère américaine

La doctrine Monroe, pièce maitresse de la politique étrangère des États-Unis, fut formulée pour la première fois par le président James Monroe en 1823. Elle met essentiellement en garde les puissances européennes contre toute ingérence dans les affaires de l'hémisphère occidental que les États-Unis revendiquent comme relevant de leur propre zone d'influence. À l'origine, cette doctrine visait à s'opposer au colonialisme européen tout en affirmant la puissance régionale montante des États-Unis. Dès le début du XXe siècle, elle avait pris un nouveau sens et était souvent utilisée pour justifier le "maintien de l'ordre" des États-Unis en Amérique latine. Depuis sa création, la doctrine Monroe a régulièrement été invoquée pour justifier diverses positions de la politique étrangère américaine et reste d'actualité aujourd'hui.