Commentary to the corollary to the monroe doctrine
703 mots
3 pages
Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary to the Monroe DoctrineThis document is an extract from Roosevelt’s Annual Message to Congress from 1904. Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, right after the period, when the political leaders realized the country’s industrial power. So far the country’s foreign policy was determined by George Washington’s testament, which was reinforced by the Monroe doctrine. They wanted the United States to be independent in order to keep it safe from the European authorities and wars. The three guidelines were : telling the European countries that the colonisation was over, so they wanted them not to interfere and in exchange they promised not to interfere in their conflicts neither. In his speech Roosevelt use these ideas, but not with the same background and certainly not with the same purpose. In the first part I’m going to show how he develops his argument based on the Monroe doctrine. In the second one we’re going to see the differences between these two documents.
First of all he assures the readers that the United States is a peaceful country, who wants only to make sure that the other countries have also a beneficial political system : « It is not true that the Unites States feels any land hunger … this country desires to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly and prosperous ». Then he sais that whenever a nation is in trouble, another country has to help it : « Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society … ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation ». He even gives us an exemple, which happened during the mandate of the previous president : « If every country … would show the progress in stable and just civilization which with the aid of the Platt Amendment Cuba has shown since our troops left the Island ». He emphasizes that this is a difficult choice, but the United States is ready to take the responsability : « we