Monroe'sDoctrine
In theearlynin eteenthcenturymostofCentral
and SouthAmerica,orLatinAmerica,was ruled
by Spain. In th e 1820s these Spanish colon ies
rebelled.
The Span ishgovernmentasked theg reatpowt'rs
o f Europe to help it todefeat th e rebels. When
Amer icansh eardthis the ywerealarmed.T he ydid
no t want the ar m ies and navies of po w erful
Eur o peannationsmtheirpartoftheworld, T he
rebel Spanish colonies were the United States'
nearest neighbors. A mericans felt th at it was
importanttoth eircountry'ssafetytomake sure
thatnoforeignenemies gamedinfluenceinthem.
In lH23 Preside nt Monroe warned Europea n
nationsnortointerferein LatinAmerica naffairs.
" T he Americancontinentsarchenceforth notto
be conside redassubjectsfor future colon izatio n
b y Eu ro pean powers, " Monroeto ld Congress.
" Weshould cons ider anyattem pt on theirpartto
exten d theirsys temtoan yportio nofthishemi-
sphere[halfo f th e worldj asd an gero us to our
peace and safety."
Mo n roe 'sstatementcametobe caned the "Monroe
Doctrine,"Itbecameoneofth e most im portant
ideas inAmericanfo reignpo licy.Ame rica,How?By m akin grhemaccept"Anglo-
Saxo n"ruleorguidan ce.
From 1H95onwardsfeelin gso f th i s kind were
focused moreandmoreupo nC u ba,w h ichlay o nly
ninetym ilesfromtheAmericancoast.Man y
Americanshadin vested mo ney in sugarand tobacco
plantations there .Bu r ar thistimeC ubawasa
Spanish co lo ny.
In IH95 thepeopleofC uba ro seinreb ellio n against
theirSpanishrulers.The rebelsraide dandb ur ned
villages.sugarplantationsand railro add epots. T o
cutoffthereb els' supplies.Spanishsoldier sm oved
thousandsofCuban civiliansintoprison cam ps .The
campsbeca mebadlyo vercrowded. Asmanyas
2tXl,OOOpeopledi edin themofd iseaseand hu nger.
Hearst and anotherA merican new spaperowner
namedj osep hP ulit ze r published sensa tion al accoun ts20 ANA .YlUlICANE.\IPIREofth e struggleinCuba.Dayafterday million s of
Americansreadhow, a ccordingtoHearstand
Pulitz er ,C ub an sw ere beingbadlytreated byrh e
Spaniards.By 1898man yA mericansfelr thatth e
U nitedStaresshould d o some thi ng to help the
C ubans. Ir wasroshowits sym pathy for therebels
thattheAmer icangovcru mc n tsentth e.\faiIlCto
H avana.
Whenth eMaineb lewlip,peo plebegancalling for
w ar withSpain."Rem em berth eM aill e"becam ea
battlecr y.In Apri lPres id ent McK in ley dem and ed
th at Spainsho u ldwithdraw fro mCuba, anda few
dayslaterSpainand th eUnited States wen t[0w ar.
The Spanish-AmericanWarwasfo u ghrin rwoparts
ofth e \vorld.One wasCuba:th eothe rwasthe
Philippines.
T he Philippinesw as anotherbigSpanish colonyncar
th e coast of South east Asia,Itw as saidthatP resid ent
McKinley had to searc ha globe to findoutexact ly
wh ereit w as.Buthe sawth attheisland swouldbe
usefulfor rhcUnitedSrares[0control.Frombasesin
th e P hil ip pinesAmerican sold iersandsai lo rswould
be able toprotectthe growingnumbero f American
traders inChina.- AndR o o se v elt' sCorollary
T heoriginalMonroeDoctrine[Old Europeansnot
toint erfere in Latin America. In 1904 President
Theo d o re Roo se veltmadeanaddition, or"co rol-
lary" to it .H e saidthattheU ni tedStatesw ould
int erveneth ere w henever it tho u ght necessary.
Roo sevelt believed that bydoingth istheUnited
Statesw oul d be able[0ensure the int ern al stability
o f its Latin Ame ri ca n neighbo rs andsoremove
any excuse fo r Eu rop ean s to in te rfere in their
affairs.
In th e ne xt twenty yearsAmericangove rnment s
often acteduponRoosevelt'sCorollary. American
soldierslandedin countrieslike Nicaragu a,Haiti
andtheD o m inican Republic, and tooko vertheir
governments fo r years at a ti me. Often the
Americansm ad e bigim p ro vem cnt s -. payin goff
debts.d rainin gs",.·amps,buildingroads,Burth is
d id not stopLatinAmericansfromresentin g their
inter f er ence.
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