The original Monroe Doctrine was at once effective. Canning was so much interested in the result that he claimed it for himself and said (21 Dec. 1826): "I looked another way . . . I sought for compensation in another hemisphere. . . . I called the new world into existence to redress the balance of the old.* In reality it was John Quincy Adams who struck out the policy and clothed it in a set of appropriate phrases for his country. European intervention was abandoned; but when our Latin-American neighbors asked for a more distinct promise of military protection, at the Panama Congress of 1826, the United States took the ground that our neighbors must pro tect themselves in case of a fight with Euro pean powers; that the Monroe Doctrine was only a pledge by the United States to itself.
III. Enunciation In the 75 years from 1826 to 1900 a variety of official statements were made on Latin America by Presidents, Secretaries of State and other states men; and from time to time new questions were raised as to the application of the Monroe Doctrine to new circumstances. Out of these may be selected the following, as the principle attempts to state and apply the doctrine. (I) Van Buren, Webster and other statesmen, from 1829 to 1843, gave public notice that the United States would not permit the transfer of Cuba to any other European power; an extension of the doctrine to prevent the transfer of colonies from one European power to another. (2) President Polk in 1845 and 1848 favored the annexation of parts of America which mirht be in danger of European dominion. This statement was backed up by the Mexican War, as a practical demonstration that the United States was not bound by the Monroe Doctrine to refrain from enlarging her territory at the expense of Latin-American states. (3) In the disputes over the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in the fifties, the principle of the Monroe Doctrine was invoked against the British colony in Honduras, on the ground that it was an exten sion of European influence. (4) Secretary Seward, undoubtedly in accord with President Lincoln, from 1861 to 1865 warned the French not to force a foreign empire upon unwilling Mexicans, and in 1865 Seward gave formal notice that the French must leave Mexico, which was backed up by a display of military force on the border. Though Seward avoided the term Monroe Doctrine, he applied its prin. oples very effectively. (5) President Grant in 1869 repeated Polk's warning by announcing that no territory in America could be traria !erred to any European power, whether the inhabitants were willing or unwilling. (6) Secretary Fish in 1870 proposed that the United States should take the lead in a general politi cal and commercial policy for the republics of America. This is the first distinct statement of a policy of leadership by the United States, which had undeniably been in the mind of John Quincy Adams. (7) Secretary Evans in 1880
was the first American statesman to see the relation of the Isthmus Canal to the Monroe Doctrine. He claimed "paramount interest' for the United States in any land or water communication across the American isthmus. President Hayes added the significant declara tion that any inter-oceanic canal would be "virtually a part of the coast line of the United States.' (8) Secretary Blaine in 1881 made the position of the United States more precise by stating that for any European power to share in the construction and control of the canal would be an introduction of the European political system. (9) Secretary Blaine drafted for the Panama Congress of 1889 the state ment that the 'principle of conquest' should not be considered as admissible under American public law. This was intended to apply to the wars between Latin-American powers, and also to foreign invasion. (10) Secretary Olney in 1895 went to the farthest point in a protest addressed to Great Britain, in relation to a boundary dispute between that power and Venezuela. He stated that the Monroe Doc trine "has been the accepted public law in this country ever since its promulgation)); he thought 'any permanent political union between an European and an American state unnatural and inexpedient)); he asserted that "to-day the United States is practically sovereign on this continent and its fiat is law upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition.' Presi dent Cleveland restated the same principle in the words ((The Monroe Doctrine finds its recognition in those principles of international law which are based upon the theory that every nation shall have its rights protected and its just claims enforced' This series of utterances, along with others of a similar tenor, clearly show a steady growth of responsibility and authority in American affairs. The Panama Canal brought out many rival interests between the United States and European powers, and the State Department at Washington insisted that it was for this govern ment and no other to decide where, how and when the canal should be constructed. Secre tary Olney and President Cleveland pushed the doctrine far beyond anv previous statement. Their doctrine was certainly not the original Monroe Doctrine, for it really laid down the new principle that Great Britain, which for nearly three centuries had been one of the lead ing American powers, was no longer to exercise influence on Central and South America. Olney's farther expressions, if carried to their logical outcome, would justify the United States in doing anything and taking anything in North or South America that seemed desirable, under penalty of the hostilities at which President Cleveland distinctly hinted.