The Roosevelt Corollary

I think that the Roosevelt Corollary altered the nature of the Monroe Doctrine and the intentions of its authors, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. The Monroe Doctrine was a statement against Imperialism stating that no one could colonize any longer; the Roosevelt Corollary was a declaration of (American) Imperialism. The consequences was a lasting conflict between the Latin American countries and the US.

The Roosevelt Corollary amended the Monroe Doctrine to include the possibility of U.S. intervention anywhere in the world if the U.S. saw it fit to do so. This was against Monroe and Quincy Adam’s intentions. They wanted no more colonization in anywhere from anyone. This gave only the United States the power to do so. This is very overly powerful and unnecessary to what the authors and Doctrine wanted. The Monroe doctrine at first was a very equal document, giving the same power to everyone. Now, this corollary gave the United States the most power.

Through this corollary and many other events, we were becoming more and more like Great Britain. The United States fought hard to get their independence, when they are becoming like the way they tried to get away from! By trying to achieve imperialism, it was causing tension between the different countries. The Roosevelt Corollary gave the United States and unfair advantage. The United States was trying to involve itself in other countries problems with this document.

Overall, this imperialistic viewpoint contradicted the Monroe Doctrine because the original statement said nothing of intruding into a country to help stabilize it if it couldn’t pay off international debts to European powers. The amendment was far more imperialistic and aggressive that it’s previous doctrine and in this way it distorted Monroe’s intentions. This addition to the Monroe Doctrine promoted the nations “Bad Neighbor” Policy that exerted influence over the controlled countries of the Caribbean and Central America. Ultimately the Monroe Doctrine was created as a non-intervention statement that kept America out of European affairs and vice versa. The Roosevelt Corollary was an aggressive justification for T.R. to continue his imperialist expansion that McKinley hesitantly started.