1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Hey, history fans, if you want a double dose of history, 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: here's a rerun for today, brought to you by Tracy V. Wilson. 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: We hope it makes previous episodes for this date easier 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: to find in the feed. Welcome to this day in 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: History Class from how Stuff Works dot com and from 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: the desk of Stuff you Missed in History Class. It's 7 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,319 Speaker 1: the show where we explore the past one day at 8 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: a time with a quick look at what happened today 9 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. It's December two. 10 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: The Monroe Doctrine was issued on this day in eighteen 11 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: twenty three. That makes it sound like somebody published a 12 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: document that said the Monroe Doctrine up at the top, 13 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: and it was a published piece of writing. Really, it 14 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: was that President James Monroe gave his annual address to Congress, 15 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: and in that address he described some foreign policy decisions, 16 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: and that came to be called the Monroe Doctrine. These 17 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,479 Speaker 1: policy decisions were also heavily influenced by Secretary of State 18 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: John Quincy Adams, who advocated not only for what these 19 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: policies said, but also for them to exist at all. 20 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: This whole thing grew out of Europe's colonization of the Americas, 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: which is where the United States came from. A lot 22 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: of these American colonies had then become independent from Europe, 23 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: so the United States was independent from Britain. A whole 24 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: collection of Latin American colonies had become independent from Spain, 25 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: and the years leading up to this, France had sold 26 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,479 Speaker 1: a lot of its North American territory to the United 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: States and so on. At the time, the Russian Empire 28 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: still controlled what's now Alaska, and there were worries that 29 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: Russia would try to take over more territory outside what 30 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: it already controlled. So the United States was concerned concerned 31 00:01:54,760 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: about Russia, concerned about European nations recolonizing the America's. Britain 32 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: actually had a lot of the same worries as the 33 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: United States did about Russia, Spain, and France, and initially 34 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: Britain had proposed that Britain in the United States issue 35 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: a joint statement, and that's one of the ways that 36 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: John Quincy Adams played a part in all of this. 37 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: He thought that a joint statement would make the United 38 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: States look like a hanger on, with Great Britain being 39 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,079 Speaker 1: the one doing all the work and making all the decisions, 40 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: and the United States just going along with whatever it was. 41 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: So in this address before Congress, James Monroe articulated three 42 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: main ideas. The first was that the world had two 43 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: spheres of influence. The America's were their own sphere outside 44 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: of the European sphere of influence. The America's were also 45 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: not up for further colonization by European powers, and the 46 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: United States would not interfere in the internal matters of 47 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: other nations, including maintaining neutrality when it came to wars 48 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: in Europe. The Monroe Doctrine did not, though, include anything 49 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: to deter the United States westward expansion through North America. 50 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: When Monroe made this speech, though, the United States didn't 51 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: really have the military might to enforce what the Monroe 52 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,639 Speaker 1: Doctrine was saying, and while other nations didn't really try 53 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: to test it, the response from some of the world's 54 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: other leaders was somewhere between dismissive and annoyed because the 55 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,959 Speaker 1: United States was basically saying you're not welcome here without 56 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: actually having the means to keep other people out. The 57 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: points articulated in this address became known as the Monroe 58 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: Doctrine by the eighteen fifties, and they continued to influence 59 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: American foreign policy for decades after that. President Theodore Roosevelt 60 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: further built on the Monroe Doctrine and his annual messages 61 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: to Congress in nineteen o four and nineteen o five, 62 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: saying that it wasn't just that the America's were not 63 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: open to colonization by Europe, that also the United States 64 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: had a responsibility to defend those nations of the Western Hemisphere. 65 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: Thanks to eve's Jeff Cote for her research work on 66 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: Today's show, and the Casey Pigram and Chandler Maze for 67 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: their audio work, you can subscribe to This Day in 68 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, the I Heart 69 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: Radio app, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Tune 70 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: in tomorrow for a trial that some places describe as 71 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: political but others describe as criminal. Depends on who you ask.