It pays to be clear. As President James Monroe neared the end of his second term in office, contained within his written State of the Union Address to Congress in 1823 was this unambiguous sentence: “The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." Make no mistake about it; it was a bold warning from an up and coming world power to the powers of old.
What followed has been an interesting history of the policing of our global backyard. Of course, the Monroe Doctrine did not apply to European held territories established prior to 1823, and we looked the other way when our mother country expanded its presence on the Falklands and British Honduras (Belize).
Interestingly, we find the Monroe Doctrine (and its logical Roosevelt Corollary) playing out today on smartphone screens in our hands. Missile strikes on drug cartel boats in the Caribbean? The snatching of Latin dictators from their presidential palaces? A slow strangulation of Cuba’s dying Communist regime? All current actions that logically flow from an address hand delivered to Capitol Hill now more than two hundred years ago.
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” - W. Faulkner
Next Week: President James Monroe’s Domestic Policy Big Idea
Shane Morris is a retired soldier and teacher. Contact at sigm11@yahoo.com (Subject: NtC)
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