America s Changing Foreign Policy - 2460 Words

The Monroe Doctrine was an assertion of President James Monroe regarding U.S. foreign policy in 1823. In the Doctrine, the President denounced European powers’ any further attempt to colonize and exploit Latin American countries, while promising not to interfere any existing European colonies in the Americas. The Monroe Doctrine was one of the greatest turning points in American foreign policy as it marked the beginning of America’s rapid development as a world power. Over the past two hundred years of history, the meaning of the Monroe Doctrine had been altered multiple times in order to suit America’s changing foreign policy. For example, in the 1840s, President James Polk used the Monroe Doctrine as an excuse to annex†¦show more content†¦In addition, after the defeat of Napoleon in September 1815, three European nations – Austrian Empire, Prussia, and Russia – formed the Holy Alliance, also known as the Grand Alliance, to endorse and st rengthen monarchism. The rapid growth of monarchy in Europe in the 1810s greatly threatened the United States and its democratic political structure. Amid such a crisis, the United States, under the leadership of President Monroe, issued the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 without hesitance. This action suggested the braveness of the young United States as a nation in defending democracy and fighting the growing imperialism of powerful European countries. In addition to the threat of the reviving European monarchism, the isolationism endorsed by President Washington was also a driving force of the Monroe Doctrine. In 1796, in President Washington’s Farewell Address, he warned the United States of the danger to ally with foreign countries. The Monroe Doctrine implemented ideas mentioned in the Farewell Address by drawing an invisible line between the Americas and the Eastern hemisphere, freeing the U.S. from any possible political alliance with foreign countries. In the political cart oon â€Å"Uncle Sam – That’s A Live Wire† by W. A. Rogers, the man on the right, who represented the United States, drew a line on the ground and separated himself from