Latin America and Post Bolivar
Throughout the decades of the 19th century, Central and South America turned to revolution. The idea of liberty motivated people of Latin America to gain their independence from the English colonies. Napoleon’s victory in Spain of 1808 gave the signal for Latin Americans to rise in revolt. By 1822, skillfully led by Simon Bolivar, all of Latin America, including Argentina, Southern Chile to Mexico, won liberation from the mother country.[1]
Latin America caught the United States’ attention in what seemed like a replication in the US’s own experience in breaking away from the European rule. The Latin American revolution confirmed that they too believed in self-government. President James Monroe, in 1822, was granted authority to recognize the new countries of Latin America and exchanged ministers with them. This recognition showed the world that the Latin American countries were now officially independent countries, individually detached from their previous European connections. [2]
At this time, Russia, Prussia, and Austria created an association called the Holy Alliance to protect themselves from revolution. The Alliance hoped to stop the spread of revolution into its dominions. The intent of the policy is the antithesis of the American ideal of self-determination.
When the Alliance announced their objective of restoring its former colonies to Spain, the United States became anxious and concerned. Britain determined to prevent Spain from restoring its territory because trade with Latin America was too imperative to the British commercial interests. London insisted the extension of Anglo-American agreements to Latin America, but Secretary of State John Quincy Adams persuaded Monroe to act unilaterally. In December 1823, with the information that the British navy would shelter Latin America from the Holy Alliance and France, President Monroe delivered his address to Congress to pronounce what would become known as the Monroe Doctrine – the refusal to tolerate any further allowance of European command in America. The essence of the Monroe Doctrine originated with the principles: separate the influence of European rule from America, and non-intervention and non-colonization. The declaration specified that the United States would not interfere in European affairs, and expected Europe to stay away from America, with the exception of colonies under European rule.[3]
The Monroe Doctrine demonstrated a spirit of camaraderie with the newly liberated republics of Latin America. The Latin American nations established new constitutions based of the North American model in recognition with their political affinity with the United States.
The Monroe Doctrine was entreated in 1865 when the United States government wielded diplomatic and military pressure in support of the Mexican President Benito Juarez. This support permitted Juarez to lead the victorious revolt against the French government led by Emperor Maximilian.[4]
Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, Great Britain’s concern with exerting its power on the rest of the world led it to agree to support the Monroe Doctrine. South America constituted a more fruitful market for British goods than the United States did. Ultimately, it was because of the support of Great Britain, not the Monroe Doctrine, which protected the independence of Latin America’s new self-governing nations.
In the 1890s, America extended the doctrine to include the right to decide how a quarrel between Venezuela and Great Britain over the frontiers of British Guiana should be established. The British, worried by the growth or Germany and Japan, could only comply in American pretensions. Nonetheless, Latin American nations protested in which Washington had chosen to preserve Venezuelan interests.[5]
Theodore Roosevelt’s famous corollary caused the greatest extension of the doctrine’s notion. He proclaimed that hereafter European nations would not be permitted to use force to collect debts owed to them by Latin American countries. To Roosevelt, the biggest difficulty was not European intervention, but the need to establish governments in Latin America that would be able to sustain order in their regions and to act justly with obligations towards foreigners. The Roosevelt Corollary became the reasoning for the interferences in Central America and the Caribbean, and the making of a series of semi protectorates on the order of the American-imposed Platt Amendment to the Cuban American Treaty of 1903. In 1898, the US went to war against Spain to free Cuba from colonial rule. With the Platt Amendment, conversely, Washington put strict limitations on Cuban freedom that lasted until the Castro revolution of 1959.[6]
Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” Latin American policy became identical to the Monroe Doctrine. Franklin D. Roosevelt declared his objective to replace the Big Stick with the Good Neighbor. At this decision, the United States relinquished the right to intrude in Cuban affairs under the Platt Amendment, but did not forfeit its naval base in Guantanamo Bay.
In 1904, about 40 years after the revolt, creditors from the Latin American countries threatened armed intervention to collect debts. President Theodore Roosevelt quickly proclaimed the right of the US to utilize the “international police power” to stop the wrongdoing. As a result, American marines were sent to Santo Domingo in1904, Nicaragua in 1911, and Haiti in 1915, to stop European influence.
1. Collin, Richard H. Theodore Roosevelt's Caribbean. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990.
2. Dent, David W. The legacy of the Monroe doctrine. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
3. HISTORY.com. "Monroe Doctrine - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com." 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/monroe-doctrine (accessed 18 Feb 2014).
4. Let.rug.nl. "Latin America and the Monroe Doctrine < Westward Expansion and Regional Differences < History 1994 < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond." 2014. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/history-1994/westward-expansion-and-regional-differences/latin-america-and-the-monroe-doctrine.php (accessed 20 Feb 2014).
5. Ourdocuments.gov. "Our Documents - Monroe Doctrine (1823)." 2014. http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=23 (accessed 18 Feb 2014).
6. Yahoo Contributor Network. "The Monroe Doctrine & US Intervention in Latin America." 2014. http://voices.yahoo.com/the-monroe-doctrine-us-intervention-latin-america-2325765.html?cat=37 (accessed 18 Feb 2014).
Latin America caught the United States’ attention in what seemed like a replication in the US’s own experience in breaking away from the European rule. The Latin American revolution confirmed that they too believed in self-government. President James Monroe, in 1822, was granted authority to recognize the new countries of Latin America and exchanged ministers with them. This recognition showed the world that the Latin American countries were now officially independent countries, individually detached from their previous European connections. [2]
At this time, Russia, Prussia, and Austria created an association called the Holy Alliance to protect themselves from revolution. The Alliance hoped to stop the spread of revolution into its dominions. The intent of the policy is the antithesis of the American ideal of self-determination.
When the Alliance announced their objective of restoring its former colonies to Spain, the United States became anxious and concerned. Britain determined to prevent Spain from restoring its territory because trade with Latin America was too imperative to the British commercial interests. London insisted the extension of Anglo-American agreements to Latin America, but Secretary of State John Quincy Adams persuaded Monroe to act unilaterally. In December 1823, with the information that the British navy would shelter Latin America from the Holy Alliance and France, President Monroe delivered his address to Congress to pronounce what would become known as the Monroe Doctrine – the refusal to tolerate any further allowance of European command in America. The essence of the Monroe Doctrine originated with the principles: separate the influence of European rule from America, and non-intervention and non-colonization. The declaration specified that the United States would not interfere in European affairs, and expected Europe to stay away from America, with the exception of colonies under European rule.[3]
The Monroe Doctrine demonstrated a spirit of camaraderie with the newly liberated republics of Latin America. The Latin American nations established new constitutions based of the North American model in recognition with their political affinity with the United States.
The Monroe Doctrine was entreated in 1865 when the United States government wielded diplomatic and military pressure in support of the Mexican President Benito Juarez. This support permitted Juarez to lead the victorious revolt against the French government led by Emperor Maximilian.[4]
Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, Great Britain’s concern with exerting its power on the rest of the world led it to agree to support the Monroe Doctrine. South America constituted a more fruitful market for British goods than the United States did. Ultimately, it was because of the support of Great Britain, not the Monroe Doctrine, which protected the independence of Latin America’s new self-governing nations.
In the 1890s, America extended the doctrine to include the right to decide how a quarrel between Venezuela and Great Britain over the frontiers of British Guiana should be established. The British, worried by the growth or Germany and Japan, could only comply in American pretensions. Nonetheless, Latin American nations protested in which Washington had chosen to preserve Venezuelan interests.[5]
Theodore Roosevelt’s famous corollary caused the greatest extension of the doctrine’s notion. He proclaimed that hereafter European nations would not be permitted to use force to collect debts owed to them by Latin American countries. To Roosevelt, the biggest difficulty was not European intervention, but the need to establish governments in Latin America that would be able to sustain order in their regions and to act justly with obligations towards foreigners. The Roosevelt Corollary became the reasoning for the interferences in Central America and the Caribbean, and the making of a series of semi protectorates on the order of the American-imposed Platt Amendment to the Cuban American Treaty of 1903. In 1898, the US went to war against Spain to free Cuba from colonial rule. With the Platt Amendment, conversely, Washington put strict limitations on Cuban freedom that lasted until the Castro revolution of 1959.[6]
Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” Latin American policy became identical to the Monroe Doctrine. Franklin D. Roosevelt declared his objective to replace the Big Stick with the Good Neighbor. At this decision, the United States relinquished the right to intrude in Cuban affairs under the Platt Amendment, but did not forfeit its naval base in Guantanamo Bay.
In 1904, about 40 years after the revolt, creditors from the Latin American countries threatened armed intervention to collect debts. President Theodore Roosevelt quickly proclaimed the right of the US to utilize the “international police power” to stop the wrongdoing. As a result, American marines were sent to Santo Domingo in1904, Nicaragua in 1911, and Haiti in 1915, to stop European influence.
1. Collin, Richard H. Theodore Roosevelt's Caribbean. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990.
2. Dent, David W. The legacy of the Monroe doctrine. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
3. HISTORY.com. "Monroe Doctrine - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com." 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/monroe-doctrine (accessed 18 Feb 2014).
4. Let.rug.nl. "Latin America and the Monroe Doctrine < Westward Expansion and Regional Differences < History 1994 < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond." 2014. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/history-1994/westward-expansion-and-regional-differences/latin-america-and-the-monroe-doctrine.php (accessed 20 Feb 2014).
5. Ourdocuments.gov. "Our Documents - Monroe Doctrine (1823)." 2014. http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=23 (accessed 18 Feb 2014).
6. Yahoo Contributor Network. "The Monroe Doctrine & US Intervention in Latin America." 2014. http://voices.yahoo.com/the-monroe-doctrine-us-intervention-latin-america-2325765.html?cat=37 (accessed 18 Feb 2014).