MONROE DOCTRINE MONROE DOCTRINE
would infinitely prefer to see us abandon it than to see
us put it forward and bluster about it, and yet fail to
build up the efficient fighting strength which in the last
resort can alone make it respected by any strong foreign
power whose interest it may ever happen to be to
violate it. (At Chicago, Ill., April 2, 1903.) Presidential
Addresses and State Papers I, 265.
____________. The Monroe Doctrine lays down the
rule that the western hemisphere is not hereafter to be
treated as subject to settlement and occupation by Old
World powers. It is not international law; but it is a
cardinal principle of our foreign policy. (1913.) Mem.
Ed. XXII, 575; Nat. Ed. XX, 495.
that we do not intend it to be used as a warrant for
letting any of these republics remain as small bandit-
nests of a wicked and inefficient type. (To Spring Rice,
July 24, 1905.) The Letters and Friendships of Sir Cecil
Spring Rice. (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, (1929), 1,
480.
MONROE DOCTRINE AND ENGLAND. As far as
England is concerned I do not care a rap whether she
subscribes to the Monroe Doctrine or not, because she
is the one power with which any quarrel on that
doctrine would be absolutely certain to result to our
immediate advantage. She could take the Philippines
and Porto Rico, but they would be a very poor offset for
the loss of Canada. I should regard a war with England
as a calamity because of its future results to both
powers and especially to England ; but its immediate
effect would be beneficial to the United States. (To H.
C. Lodge, June 19, 1901. ) Lodge Letters I, 494.
MONROE DOCTRINE AND INTERNATIONAL
LAW. The Monroe Doctrine is not international law;
but there is no necessity that it should be. All that is
needful is that it should continue to be a cardinal feature
of American policy on this continent; and the Spanish-
American states should, in their own interests,
champion it as strongly as we do. We do not by this
doctrine intend to sanction any policy of aggression by
one American commonwealth at the expense of any
other, nor any policy of commercial discrimination
against any foreign power whatsoever. Commercially,
as far as this doctrine is concerned, all we wish is a fair
field and no favor; but if we are wise we shall
strenuously insist that under no pretext whatsoever shall
there be any territorial aggrandizement on American
soil by any European power, and this, no matter what
form the territorial aggrandizement may take. (At
Minnesota State Fair, September 2, 1901.) Mem. Ed.
XV, 335 ; Nat. Ed. XIII, 475.
____________. The Monroe Doctrine is not
international law, and though I think one day it may
become such, this is not necessary as long as it remains
a cardinal feature of our foreign policy and as long as
we possess both the will and the strength to make it
effective. This last point, my fellow-citizens, is all
important, and is one which as a people we can never
afford to forget. I believe in the Monroe Doctrine with
all my heart and soul ; I am convinced that the immense
majority of our fellow-countrymen so believe in it; but I
MONROE DOCTRINE AND THE CANAL. As to
the Monroe Doctrine. If we invite foreign to a joint
ownership, a joint guaranty of a canal], of what so
vitally concerns us a little way from our borders, how
can we possibly object to similar joint action say
Southern Brazil or Argentina, where our interests are so
much less evident? If Germany has the same right that
we have in the canal across Central America, why not
in the partition of any part of Southern America? To my
mind, we should consistently refuse to all European
powers the right to control, in any shape, any territory
in the the Western Hemisphere which they do not
already hold. (To Secretary John Hay, February 18,
1900.) Mem. Ed. XXIII, 168 ; Bishop I, 145.
MONROE DOCTRINE AND THE NAVY. The
Monroe Doctrine is as strong as the United States navy,
and no stronger. (1916.) Mem. Ed. XX, 261; Nat. Ed.
XVIII, 225.
____________. The Monroe Doctrine won’t be
observed by foreign nations with sufficient strength to
disregard it when once it becomes their interest to
disregard it, unless we have a navy sufficient to make
our assertion of the Doctrine good.
The Monroe Doctrine, unbacked by a navy, is an
empty boast; and there exist but few more contemptible
characters, individual or national, than the man or the
nation who boasts and when the boast is challenged,
fails to make good. (At Naval War College, Newport,
R. I., July 22, 1908.) Mem. Ed., XVIII, 333; Nat. Ed.
XVI, 252.
MONROE DOCTRINE. See also BIG STICK; LATIN
AMERICA; NAVY; SANTO DOMINGO ; VENEZUELA.
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