Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine, expressed in 1823, proclaimed that the Americas should be closed to future European colonization and free from European interference in sovereign countries' affairs. It further stated the United States' intention to stay neutral in European wars and in wars between European powers and their colonies but to consider any new colonies or interference with independent countries in the Americas as hostile acts toward the United States. It was issued by President James Monroe during his seventh annual address to Congress.

Further reading

• Dexter Perkins, The Monroe Doctrine, 1823-1826 (1927)
• Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (1949)
• Ernest R. May, The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (1975).
• Joel S. Poetker The Monroe Doctrine Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc, (1967).
• Donald Dozer The Monroe Doctrine: Its Modern Significance New York: Knopf (1965).