The Pan American Origin of the Monroe Doctrine

Abstract

So much has been written regarding the origin of the Monroe Doctrine and on the supposed effects of the various causes contributing to its origin, toward its application at various times to different situations, that the only excuse that can be offered for discussing this phase of it must be to cover it from some fresh point of view.The distinguished Peruvian diplomatist and author, Dr. Anibal Maúrtua, on page 20 of his book La Idea Panamericana y la cuestión de Arbitraje, published in Lima in 1901, refers to President Monroe’s message of December 2, 1823, announcing the Monroe Doctrine, as a “Pan-American Declaration.” The great Argentine international jurist, Carlos Calvo, called it “declaratory of complete American independence,” and the Peruvian author, Carlos Arenas y Loayza, states in his excellent monograph on the Monroe Doctrine, published in Lima in 1905, that “the Monroe Doctrine is linked with our past and with our present, and gives us the key of the future of these Republics, considered in relation to the events of our times and the indications of the future; which republics, extending over the same continent, form one sole body, are called on to have one and the same spirit and to work in accord, in edifying friendship for justice and peace on earth.”