THE MONROE DOCTRINE

The fact that America now was beginning to consider itself a major world power was demonstrated by the Monroe Doctrine, announced by President Monroe in 1823. Many Latin American nations had announced their independence in the Napoleonic era, and many in Latin America and in the United States felt that the Spanish and the French might send armies to reassert their control of the region. The Monroe Doctrine stated that countries in the Western Hemisphere were now off-limits to European control (these states “henceforth are not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers”).