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Zuzana Rytov

Aubrie Beukelman
Nadejda Butova

Introduction:
President James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, is addressing the United
States Congress on the issue of European intervention in the Americas. This historical,
political document was in response to the Napoleonic Wars that shattered the European
continent and resulted in the defeat of France, abdication and exile of Napoleon Bonaparte,
and the establishment of Holy (Russia, Prussia, Austria) and Quadruple (Russia, Prussia,
Austria, Britain) Alliances (1815);.The Alliances were aimed to prevent recurrence of French
aggression and ensure that none of the Europeans states gets powerful enough to become a
threat to the rest of the continent. In order to achieve that the Four Major Powers agreed to
concert the control over peace in Europe. Spain and Portugal, weakened by the Napoleonic
invasion and following revolutions, lost the majority of their colonies in Central and Latin
America. Therefore, the restoration of monarchies in those countries, and their potential
intention to recolonize lost American lands concerned the US deeply; this as well as the
threat of the Russian invasion of the Northern Coast at this time.

Content:
Within the context of this document, it becomes immediately apparent that the United
States has not participated in the European matters up to this point in time. It also becomes
apparent that The United States had no intention to intervene in the future. This is proclaimed
in the following statement, In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to
themselves we have never taken any part nor does it comport with our policy to do so. This
shows that the United States was declaring that they were separate from the European politics
and that they expect Europe to do the same.
The other main point of this document is that the United States will perceive any
attempt of European power to intervene in American affairs as a threat to their sovereignty,
and they will take action against it. Referring to the number of South American states that
gained their independence from Spain and Portugal (Chile 1917, Venezuela 1821, Brazil
1821) as the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose
independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged,
president Monroe in his speech makes it clear that the United States wants to establish the
American continent as their own sphere of interest and resist further colonization and
recolonization by the European States.

Consequences:
Following the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine, there were no immediate repercussions.
However, eventually, it altered the U.S foreign policy from the isolation of the United States
to a more involved and complex continent. Even though the initial implementation of the
Doctrine was not as successful as they had previously hoped, it did manage to have some
influence in the future years to come as the United States grew and become more
independent. The ideas in the Monroe Doctrine have carried on through time and its ideas
were used again in the Cold War, while stating that Latin America belongs to the American
zone to protect it from Soviet influence. These are the various outcomes that have come out
of the Monroe Doctrine and have had an influence on the world.

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