The US Response to Latin American Independence and the Monroe Doctrine

US Response to Latin American Independence Recognized the new countries of Latin America and exchanged ministers with the new nations First nation (outside Latin America) to recognize Gran Colombia in 1822 Reasons for US Support Ideological support Viewed Latin America as an important US export market Enhance US security and support US expansion

Causes of the Monroe Doctrine US began to get concerned with European intervention in the newly independent Latin American countries, so Monroe issued a warning to European powers Warning was mainly directed at both Russia, who had claimed some land around Alaska and the French who the US feared would try and regain their world power status through further expansion

Monroe Doctrine Created in 1823 James Monroe (President of the US) was giving his annual message to Congress, and during this speech, he addressed the relationship between the Americas and Europe; later became known as the “Monroe Doctrine” 2 basic parts: non-colonization: stated that the US would not tolerate any further colonization or puppet governments in the Americas non-intervention: warned Europe to stay out of the affairs in the Western Hemisphere and in return the US would stay out of European affairs No mention in the warning about what the United States would do if the Monroe Doctrine was violated but European countries accepted it

Response to the Monroe Doctrine Latin American countries initially embraced the Monroe Doctrine with both Colombia and Brazil endorsing it. However, it would soon become obvious that the United States were in fact imperialistic and were warning off European countries so that they may expand themselves. In all actuality, the Monroe Doctrine was issued not to protect Latin America, but the United States itself. They feared future invasions from European countries and used the warning for self defense and imperialistic visions for their future country.