58 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



Mr. Seward in 1863, at the very time he was protesting against 

 the French occupation of Mexico, the only violation of the true 

 Monroe doctrine ever attempted, wrote Mr. Adams: 



"In regard to our foreign relations, the conviction has univer- 

 sally obtained that our true national policy is one of self reliance 

 and self conduct in our domestic affairs, with absolute uoii-iiitcr- 

 ference with those of other countries. " 



Again in 1866 Mr. Seward* in advising against interference in 

 behalf of Chili said: 



"If there is any one characteristic of the United States which 

 is more marked than any other, it is that they have from the time 

 of Washington adhered to the principle of non-intervention and 

 have perseveringly declined to seek or contract entangling alli- 

 ances, even 7ii'it/i the most friendly states.'' 



Quotations of this character might be multiplied indefinitely but 

 enough have been given to prove that the teaching of the founders 

 from Washington to Monroe and John Quinc}' Adams was non- 

 intervention and peace. Their authority cannot rightfully be 

 invoked in support of any other policy. 



Recent construction of the Monroe doctrine is a perversion of the 

 true meaning of the original declaration. I venture this assertion 

 without fear of contradiction by any special student of international 

 law or of our political history. The Monroe doctrine consists of 

 two parts corresponding to the two causes which occasioned its 

 issue. John Quincy Adams wrote the first part, Jefferson the 

 second, and Monroe embodied both in his'annual messages for 1823 

 and 24. Adams, Jefferson and Monroe may therefore properly be 

 considered its joint authors. f 



The first part respects colonization. America is not subject to 

 future European colonization. In 1821 the Czar Alexander of 

 Russia issued a proclamation claiming the western coast of North 

 America as far south as the 51st parallel. That territory was then 

 claimed both by Great Britain and the United States. The procla- 

 mation of the Czar was accepted by both as evidence of an inten- 

 tion to establish a Russian colony in America. It is difficult for us 

 to-day to reproduce in imagination the situation of the United 

 States at that time. Our territory then as now extended from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific but that portion between the Alleghanies 

 and the Mississippi was still sparsely settled and the vast expanse 

 between the Mississippi and the Pacific, with the exception of 



*" Works." Vol. 5, pp. 444-5. 



+It is well known that Madison was consulted and advised the issue of the declara- 

 tion. He, however, merely seconded Jefferson's suggestions. 



