The Founders recognized in America the opportunity for a new order. An ocean’s distance from the endless squabbles and power-politics of Europe, America represented the possibility to begin again – a new government, a new culture, a new way of life. They envisioned a world when European wickedness would be safely constrained within the borders of Europe. Monroe began the realization of this dream.

A deft diplomat and foreign policy adept of the first rank, Monroe’s achievements line up behind a single, common theme: the expulsion of European colonial powers and the consolidation and expansion of American strength in the Western Hemisphere. By achieving this, Monroe guaranteed the freedom of the New World.

Monroe’s first major step toward this goal was the Louisiana Purchase. Joining Livingston in Paris, Monroe, a seasoned diplomat and personal friend of both President Jefferson and Secretary of State Madison, spoke with the weight and authority of the administration. With Livingston, Monroe secured the sale of the entire Louisiana territory. Instantly, the purchase doubled the size of the United States, reduced France’s New World holdings to virtually nothing, and “laid the foundations of [the United States as] a future major power.” 1 The United States was practically assured its future role as the dominant force in North America.

Also, Monroe’s handling of Anglo-American relations clearly advanced the goal of a free hemisphere. Originally an advocate for peace, Monroe grew to understand not only that conflict was inevitable [quote] and that “war could not do us more injury than the present state of things’,”2 but that America stood to reap substantial gains. He proved accurate in his understanding. The War of 1812, concluded by the Treaty of Ghent3 forced the British to recognize “that war with the United States was almost invariably not worthwhile”4 and that the US “could no longer [be] regarded … as a joke.”5 With this recognition of America as, at the least, a reckoning force, Britain began “to treat the United Sates in every respect as an equal:”6 America “was never again denied the treatment due an independent nation.”7 Following the struggle, the newly-elected President Monroe proved one of “three statesmen who did most to preserve the peace.”8 Ever expanding and solidifying America’s strength, Monroe negotiated, in quick succession, the Rush-Bagot Agreement9, which demilitarized the Great Lakes, fishing rights off eastern Canada, the US-Canadian border,10 and joint occupation of Oregon.11 The War, the peace, the subsequent treaties, all extended American influence, limited the authority of Britain in the New World, and established the United States as the supreme force in North America – and all results of Monroe’s skilful diplomacy.

Although not so glorious as the Louisiana Purchase and its virtual removal of France from the hemisphere, Monroe’s acquisition of Florida and partial expulsion of Spain from the New World nevertheless deserve considerable note. Events began to unfold during the First Seminole War: Andrew Jackson, possibly on orders from the President, “invaded Spanish Florida, crushed the Seminoles … and overthrew the Spanish governor”.12 A great uproar in the Cabinet ensued, with many urging “that the general be repudiated, while Adams … recommended that his conduct be approved.”13 Monroe, ever the shrewd individual, chose a middle-of-the-road approach, neither condoning nor condemning Jackson, thus reconciling his secretaries while maintaining his newfound “lever needed to pry Florida from Spain.”14 Adams, meanwhile, was sent to inform Spain “that it had violated the Spanish-American Treaty of 1795 … [and must] control the area (a task that they admitted was impossible) or cede it to the United States.”15 Spain, salvaging its pride, agreed to sell16 Florida to the States, along with her claim to the Pacific Northwest.17 Thus, Monroe, transforming a bad situation into a blessing, expanded the scope of America and, at the same time, partly drove Spain from the New World – one more step towards a free hemisphere.

Near the end of his term, Monroe achieved another success. Russia, whose activities had been sneaking down “as far South as San Francisco Bay,”18 and which had “issued an imperial ukase…closing the surrounding waters,”19 agreed to “confine their operations north of 54’60”,” and also to abandon “their efforts to establish a mare clausam [closed sea] in the Pacific.”20 The Russo-American Treaty of 1824 not only “further protected America’s claim to Oregon,”21 now only disputed by Britain, but also served early vindication of Monroe’s ideal of hemispheric independence.

Eclipsing all these, of course, is Monroe’s magnum opus – the Monroe Doctrine. With the one masterstroke Monroe freed America’s hands and tied Britain’s, announced America’s eternal support for a free Latin America, declared America’s preeminence in the Western hemisphere, and established what would become the foundation of America’s foreign policy.

The circumstances leading up to the declaration deserve elaboration. Many of Spain’s Latin American colonies had revolted. Monroe, “deeply sympathetic to the revolutionary movements,”22 nevertheless withheld formal recognition until after the Florida negotiations.23 Then, in March 1822, Monroe extended formal recognition to the new nations, and announced that he “would support inter-American congresses dedicated to the development of economic and political institutions fundamentally differing from those prevailing in Europe.”24 Meanwhile, the Holy Alliance, consisting of France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, had begun plotting “to re-establish the authority of Spain in the New World.”25 Indeed, some suspected that France, who would lead “Franco-Spanish expeditionary force to South America,”26 would attempt “to lay the foundation for another French empire in America.”27 George Canning, Britain’s Foreign Minister, needing to protect “British trade and investment in Latin America,”28 suggested that Britain and the United States, so recently enemies, “jointly announce their opposition to further European intervention in the Americas.”29 However, Canning had an ulterior motive: he wished to prevent, “through the mutual disavowal of territorial ambitions, future United States expansion into Texas and the Caribbean.”30 The stage was set.

Monroe and Adams correctly concluded that “a self-denying alliance with Britain would not only hamper American expansion … but it was unnecessary.”31 Knowing the power of the Royal Navy, Monroe confidently concluded that Latin America was safe. Though Adams wished simply to circulate a private diplomatic note, Monroe had the prescience to pronounce his doctrine in public, thereby forever ensconcing it in the policy of posterity. He took the occasion to declare that “the American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”32 In the immediate course of events, the doctrine freed America’s hands and tied Britain’s, threatened Europe, announced America’s hemispheric ascendancy and promoted a liberated Latin America. All helped safeguard a free hemisphere.

One test of greatness is the effect a person has on later generations. Monroe, then, knows true greatness – for his shadow not only falls across later ages, but his hand continues to steer their actions. Immediately the Monroe Doctrine was important; later, it has proved fundamental. Indeed, “[f]or the greater part of American history, the Monroe Doctrine [has] served as an operating definition of the American national interest.”33 Polk, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and almost all of the modern presidents have relied upon its words. The idealistic proclamation has reverberated through the decades, and continues to dictate American foreign and economic policy. In the Western hemisphere, Europe has been expelled and American hegemony has been established – a free hemisphere has been made.

Few have labored so hard for a free hemisphere. Monroe, like all the Founders, sought tirelessly for a world free of Europe’s woes. His achievements read as a steady march towards a day without the darkness of Europe – when the United States would reign in the New World. His efforts realized this, accomplishing much, and setting in motion the rest. Monroe was – is – the guardian of a free Western Hemisphere.

Works Cited

1 Thomas A. Bailey, The American Pageant (Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1994), 215.

2 W.P. Cresson, James Monroe (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946), 252-3, quoted in William DeGregorio, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents (New York: Dembner Books, 1989), 77.

3 Monroe merits considerable “credit for the selection of the very able delegation which was sent to negotiate” the treaty, as well as for “draft[ing] the original instructions for the peace commissioners as well as the later modification authorizing them to abandon” certain American demands. See “James Monroe,” Dictionary of American Biography, reproduced in Biography Resource Center (Farmington Hills: Thomson Gale, 2006): http://galenet.galegroup.com. See “James Monroe,” The Presidents: A Reference History, 2nd ed. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996), reproduced in History Resource Center (Farmington Hills: Gale Group). http://galenet.galegroup.com.

4 Hugh Brogan, The Longman History of the United States of America (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1985), 261.

5 Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager, The Growth of the American Republic, vol. 1, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), 445.

6 Ibid., 445.

7 Samuel Eliot Morison, Henry Steele Commager and William E. Leuchtenburg, A Concise History of the American Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 170.

8 Ibid., 178.

9 Begun in Madison’s administration, with Monroe, the Secretary of State, supervising. See Morison, The Growth of the American Republic, 82.

10 Curiously, America “gained considerable territory by securing a treaty boundary rather than the natural boundary of the Missouri River.” See Bailey, The American Pageant, 252.

11 The joint occupation of Oregon practically assured eventual American dominance of the region, as American settlers, unlike scattered British traders, could populate the area ten times as fast. Eventually, this is just what happened. See Bailey, The American Pageant, 383.

12 DeGregorio, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, 82.

13 “James Monroe,” The Presidents: A Reference History.

14 Ibid.

15 Bailey, The American Pageant, 252.

16 The term “sell” is used loosely: America did not actually pay for the land, only agree “to honor $5 million in damage claims by Americans against Spain.” See James Martin and others, A Concise History of America and Its People (New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1995), 210.

17 A dubious claim at best. See Bailey, The American Pageant, 252.

18 Ibid., 253.

19 Richard B. Morris, ed., Encyclopedia of American History (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 161.

20 Ammon, Henry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1971), 528.

21 Ibid., 528.

22 “James Monroe,” The Presidents: A Reference History.

23 Monroe did not wish to upset the Spanish and risk the loss of his chance to get Florida. See “James Monroe,” Dictionary of American Biography.

24 “James Monroe,” The Presidents: A Reference History.

25 Richard B. Morris, Great Presidential Decisions: State Papers that Changed the Course of History (Philadelphia: U.B. Lippincott Company, 1967), 83.

26 Eliot, A Concise History of the American Republic, 180.

27 Norman Graebner, Gilbert Fite and Philip White, A History of the American People (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975), 229.

28 Ibid., 229.

29 Martin, A Concise History of America and Its People, 210.

30 Graebner, A History of the American People, 229.

31 Bailey, The American Pageant, 254.

32 Monroe, quoted in Brogan, The Longman History of the United States of America, 262.

33 Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994), 812-813.