THE MONROE DOCTRINE 299 



new era. Old party lines were dissolving, and the violent 

 issues of the past twenty years were obsolete. The formative 

 period of its existence was over, the experiment of demo- 

 cratic government was succeeding admirably. The nation 

 had greatly expanded in territory and wealth, and was 

 assuming a degree of self-confidence, a sense of power, that 

 enabled it to study its own foreign policies in a calm, philo- 

 sophic light, and to speak of them, if need be, more authori- 

 tatively. For forty years a nebulous public sentiment had 

 been steadily approaching the positive form it subsequently 

 took ; in 1823 a definite threat coming from without, it sud- 

 denly crystallized into a clearly and an openly expressed 

 policy. 



II 



< 



The immediate causes leading to the enunciation of the 

 Monroe Doctrine in 1823 are to be found in a series of 

 events beginning with the revolutionary movements in South 

 and Central America and culminating in the threat on the 

 part of a European alliance of strong powers to intervene 

 in behalf of Spain and in the interests of monarchical 

 government. 



The operations of Napoleon in Spain had left that already 

 palsied nation in a deplorable condition of helplessness. 

 Profiting by her weakness, her American dependencies 

 began, one after another (from 1812 to 1820) to set up 

 their own standards, and establish themselves as independent 

 republics. In the South American struggles for freedom, 

 North American sympathy was strongly aroused. Neutrality 

 was duly proclaimed, but material aid was continually fur- 

 nished by citizens of the United States to the South and 

 Central Americans, while frequent expressions of sympathy 

 were made" by Congress. Even before the colonies had 

 actually revolted, and while absolutism in Spain was receiv- 

 ing a thrust from the French army, Jefferson, watching the 

 contest from afar, understood well the import of events and 

 the probable effect on the cause of popular government. He 

 wrote to Governor Claiborne (October 29, 1808) : - 



