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Okla-homey
12/2/2006, 09:28 AM
Dec 12, 1823 : Monroe Doctrine declared

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183 years ago today, during his annual address to Congress, President James Monroe proclaims a new U.S. foreign policy initiative that becomes known as the "Monroe Doctrine."

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Primarily the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the Monroe Doctrine forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts.

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The origins of the Monroe Doctrine stem from attempts by several European powers to reassert their influence in the Americas in the early 1820s. In North America, Russia had attempted to expand its influence in the Alaska territory, and in Central and South America the U.S. government feared a Spanish colonial resurgence. Britain too was actively seeking a major role in the political and economic future of the Americas, and Adams feared a subservient role for the United States in an Anglo-American alliance.

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The Doctrine's 1923 Centennial inspired the minting of a US coin

The Monroe Doctrine states three major ideas, with one more added by President Theodore Roosevelt. First, it conveys that European countries cannot colonize in any of the Americas: North, Central, or South. Second, it enforces Washington's rule of foreign policy, in which the U.S. will only be involved in European affairs if America's rights are disturbed. Third, the U.S. will consider any attempt at colonization a threat to its national security. Roosevelt added to the doctrine, and summed up his additions with the statement, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

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The United States invoked the Monroe Doctrine to defend its increasingly imperialistic role in the Americas in the mid-19th century, but it was not until the Spanish-American War in 1898 that the United States declared war against a European power over its interference in the American hemisphere.

The isolationist aspect of the Monroe Doctrine was also a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy in the 19th century, and it took the two world wars of the 20th century to draw a hesitant America into its new role as a major global power.

To read the Doctrine as expressed by President Monroe, go here:

http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/monrodoc.shtml

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royalfan5
12/2/2006, 10:32 AM
I made a Monroe Doctrine joke when out drinking with South Americans last night. The Regular Americans thought it was way funnier than they did.

SoonerProphet
12/2/2006, 11:01 AM
Sinopec has been slowly moving into the area. The encroachment of China into the oil of South and Central America seems to cast some doubt on the current status of the Monroe Doctrine.


China has already begun to pick up the slack. Within the next decade, Venezuela hopes to supply as much as 20 percent of China's oil and both sides are working to build the necessary infrastructure. The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has been given the rights to operate 15 fields in eastern Venezuela (which could yield one billion barrels of oil), to participate in the development of the 200-billion-barrel Orinoco Belt, and is already receiving 160,000 barrels of oil and refined products per month from Venezuela. Meanwhile, Sinopec, another Chinese government-owned company, is pursuing a wide range of petrochemical joint ventures in Venezuela, including a large fertilizer plant in Zulia state, a major petrochemicals facility in gas-rich Sucre state, and a substantial stake in the giant Paraguana refining complex, Venezuela's main source of gasoline exports.

http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=11912