The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2015 | Page 30

The Monroe Doctrine: Repealing European Control in the Americas
Ken Oziah
How did the Monroe Doctrine affect the United States’ relations with the
European powers? What was its impact on the new nation’s trade and commerce?
The Monroe Doctrine represented a position adopted by President James Monroe
during his seventh annual address to Congress on 2 December 1823, which stated
that the United States would oppose overtures by European powers against former
and now independent colonies of Spain and Portugal in the Western Hemisphere.
British Foreign Minister George Canning had proposed that Britain and the
United States act together to prevent the resurgence of Bourbon power in the
region; however, Monroe, abiding by the counsel of his Secretary of State, John
Quincy Adams, chose to act unilaterally. As the policy served Great Britain’s
interests and the US was militarily weak relative to European powers, the Royal
Navy served as the primary enforcer of the policy.
To understand how the Monroe Doctrine, as the policy came to be called,
originated, one must first look at the continent of Europe after the fall of Louis
Napoleon. In reaction to the wars with revolutionary France, on 26 September
1815, Austria, Prussia, and Russia entered into a treaty known as the Holy
Alliance. Through the treaty, they sought to reestablish the control of absolute
monarchies on the continent. Other European powers quickly signed the accord,
including the re-established monarchy of France. France soon took measures to
restore the former Spanish King, Ferdinand, to power in Spain as Ferdinand VII in
1823. As the Bourbon monarchies reestablished control, matters concerning the
former Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere came under considerable
discussion. The United States’ Minister to Great Britain, Richard Rush,
participated in lengthy correspondence and visits with British Foreign Secretary
George Canning to discuss the potential impact of the Holy Alliance upon the
Americas.
Amongst the European powers, only Great Britain and Rome did not sign
the Holy Alliance accord—all the others eventually signed the compact. One
provision of the treaty, which greatly concerned the Anglo-American powers, was
a section that bound all parties to support and defend dynastic houses, and to
31