Speech

The Monroe Doctrine as a text is a little unusual because it's only part of a speech. The full speech is much, much longer. The reason these paragraphs have been separated out as their own special thing is that they're historically a lot more significant than the rest of the speech.

Of course, in history we try to not make too many value judgements, but let's be real—there's an entire section of the address focused on budget issues relating to the expansion of post roads. Did you know that the postmasters owed the government $26,548.64 in July of 1823? Well, now you do.

No one really ever talks about how Monroe delivered his address to Congress, so the legacy of the Monroe Doctrine is mostly through the written form of the speech. Of course, that's true for any speech once it's been given, but the scene when Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address is pretty well documented, even without video cameras.

The fact that Monroe's message was a speech to Congress is important to remember, because it tells us who the intended audience was; that being said, in those days these types of speeches were generally also printed in newspapers, like we still do now with the State of the Union address and CNN.

So, although the Monroe Doctrine comes from a speech, its influence, like The Odyssey or those poems we wrote for an ill-fated open mic night, has been mostly through the written version.

How it Breaks Down

We Can See Russia from Our House

The opening section of what is now considered the Monroe Doctrine has to do with recent negotiations with Russia over the Pacific Northwest. Monroe uses this incident to segue to his first major statement: that the Americas are closed for further European colonization.

Don't Mess with Us, Europe, and We Won't Mess with You

The larger middle portion is the heart of the Monroe Doctrine. The president reminds his audience that the U.S. has stayed out of European business and claims that the United States has a much more vested interest in the western hemisphere than Europe does. Therefore, the U.S. won't bother current colonies, but if Europe tries to add any more, America will see it as a direct threat to its safety.

Keep Your Power Struggles Over There

Monroe reminds everyone that the U.S. doesn't take sides in European power struggles, like the recent one in Spain. America happily deals with whatever government happens to be in place at the time.

However, it's a different story over in the American continents, where obviously these new republics don't want any of that monarchical mumbo-jumbo. So everyone should leave them to choose their own system (a.k.a. republic, like their big bro the U.S.).