Monroe Doctrine facts for kids

U.S. President James Monroe

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, author of the Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy proclaimed by the United States in 1823 during the presidency of President James Monroe. It said that European powers do not belong in the Americas. They could not come to the United States to make new colonies or regain power.

President Monroe established the doctrine mainly because most of the Spanish Empire in South America had recently become independent, due to the wars against France. Spain had won the Peninsular War and wanted its empire back, and the Monroe Doctrine made sure Spain knew that the United States would resist giving any American land back to Spain. The United Kingdom agreed and helped enforce the Monroe Doctrine.

Interesting Facts about the Monroe Doctrine

• The Secretary of State, and future President of the United States, John Quincy Adams was one of the main authors of the doctrine.
• President Monroe also wanted to stop the influence of Russia in western North America. The Monroe Doctrine would apply to any country trying to gain power in North America.
• President Monroe first presented the doctrine during his State of the Union Address to Congress on December 2, 1823.
• The doctrine has been referred to by several United States Presidents:
  • In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added the "Roosevelt Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine. He used the doctrine to stop what he called "wrongdoing" in several countries. It was the beginning of the U.S. acting as an international police force in the Americas.
  • In 1962, President John F. Kennedy invoked the Monroe Doctrine during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The U.S. placed ships around Cuba to prevent the Soviet Union from installing ballistic missiles on the island.
  • In 1982, President Ronald Reagan invoked the Monroe Doctrine to fight communism in the Americas including countries such as Nicaragua and El Salvador.
• The Monroe Doctrine helped establish the United States as a dominant power.

Images for kids

• 

  The Chilean Declaration of Independence on February 18, 1818

• 

  Gillam's 1896 political cartoon, Uncle Sam stands with rifle between the Europeans and Latin Americans

• 

  Spain fails to reconquer Mexico at the Battle of Tampico in 1829

• 

  French intervention in Mexico, 1861–1867

• 

  President Cleveland twisting the tail of the British Lion; cartoon in Puck by J.S. Pughe, 1895

• 

  Spanish–American War, the result of U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence

• 

  The U.S.-supported Nicaraguan contras

See also

In Spanish: Doctrina Monroe para niños