Episode 5.10 The Monroe Doctrine

[Transcript]

Hello, and welcome to America’s First Ladies. I’m your host, Risa Weaver-Enion.

Episode 5.10 The Monroe Doctrine

We left off last week in the spring of 1820. Missouri and Maine had been admitted to the Union as a slaveholding state and a free state, respectively, and Maria Monroe had just married her cousin Samuel in a “White House Wedding.”

Caucusing for the 1820 election was unfolding throughout the spring. Republicans were hardly united on re-nominating James. Northern Republicans were mad at him for working behind the scenes to allow Missouri to enter the Union without meaningful restrictions as to slavery, and Southern Republicans were mad at him for allowing Missouri to enter the Union with the 36 degrees 30 arcminutes restriction in place. It was a very “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for him.

Some factions of the Republican party were trying to get DeWitt Clinton nominated. And of course, the Federalists were essentially non-existent at this point. Many of them would have supported Clinton over Monroe but were also likely to not participate at all in the election.

Meanwhile, also in the spring of 1820, the new Spanish minister finally arrived in America. It had now been about a year since the Adams-Onís Treaty had been approved by the Senate. Under its terms, Spain only had six months to sign or renege. As they had reneged the previous year, it was unclear what would happen next in the event they changed their mind, and whether James would have to re-submit the treaty for the Senate’s approval all over again.

As it turned out, Spain was not ready to change its mind; in fact, Minister Vives brought instructions to re-open negotiations from scratch, which James absolutely did not want to do. He and his Cabinet were debating whether they should just take Florida by military force when news came that there had been a bit of a revolution in Spain. King Ferdinand VII was still on the throne, but it seems that the government around him had been ousted. It was unclear what this meant for the treaty, so James decided to take a wait and see approach. Secretary of State Adams sent word to the U.S. Minister in Spain that he should accept Spain’s signature on the treaty, if that’s what it decided to do.

In the meantime, Speaker of the House Henry Clay continued to press James to offer official recognition to the new republics in South America. He introduced a resolution calling for the President to send a minister to the new governments, arguing, “There was a time when impressions are made on individuals and nations, by kindness toward them, which lasts forever. Do you mean to wait until those republics are recognized by the whole world, and then step in and extend your hand to them, when it can no longer be withheld?” The resolution passed, but James was under no obligation to comply with it, and he continued to advocate neutrality in the situation.

The Monroes left Washington after Congress adjourned that spring and went first to Oak Hill in Loudon County. Elizabeth’s illnesses were becoming more frequent, and they had to make the journey to Highland in stages. They spent the summer at Highland, returning to Washington in the second half of September. Unlike every time Dolley and James Madison returned to Montpelier during the summer months, it doesn’t seem that the Monroes did a lot of entertaining while they were at Highland. They socialized with Jefferson and the Madisons, but the combination of Elizabeth’s illness and their constant lack of money probably made it too difficult to do the sort of large scale entertaining that the Madisons engaged in (and which all but bankrupted them in the end, I might add).

When Congress reconvened in November, there was a new Speaker of the House. Henry Clay’s wife was expecting their 11th child, and he had delayed his arrival in Washington and resigned as speaker. New Yorker John Taylor was chosen as the new Speaker. 

Good news arrived in time for James to make his annual state of the union report to Congress: Spain had finally signed the original Adams-Onís Treaty in October. But because their signature came well past the six month deadline, James decided that the treaty had to be resubmitted to the Senate for reapproval. As Tim McGrath writes in James Monroe: A Life, “senators picked it apart…as if they were reading it for the first time.” Their main point of contention was the fact that Texas was not included. But in the end, the Senate did ratify the treaty again, and on February 22, 1821, the treaty became effective and the United States finally—FINALLY—owned the Floridas.

In the 1820 election James was re-elected president, with an electoral college vote of 231 out of 235 total electors. But since technically he ran unopposed, it wasn’t quite the overwhelming victory that it appears to be. Three electors abstained from voting, and one from New Hampshire voted for John Quincy Adams as a protest against Monroe’s economic policies. There’s a myth that this elector purposely threw away his vote because he wanted George Washington to remain the only president unanimously elected, but that’s not actually why he did it.

I should clarify that comment about three electors abstaining, because I’m not quite sure that’s accurate. Harlow Giles Unger makes that statement in his book, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness. But the truth seems to be more complicated. Tim McGrath goes into more detail and although he’s not explicit about this, I think those three electors belonged to Missouri and weren’t counted on purpose, rather than actively abstaining. 

After the Missouri Compromise was worked out, Missouri had to form a state constitution in order to officially be admitted as a state. But when they formed their constitution, they included a clause stating that free Blacks were not allowed to enter the state of Missouri. They didn’t want the enslaved Blacks to see the free Blacks and get dangerous ideas about freedom and human rights. 

But this provision was clearly unconstitutional. So Congress was divided on whether or not Missouri’s electoral college votes should be counted. Henry Clay suggested that Congress certify two electoral college tallies: one with Missouri and one without. Considering that James was running virtually unopposed, this was a distinction without a difference. Obviously, even without Missouri’s three votes, James was going to win the election. But when Unger says three electors abstained, I think he’s taking the lazy way out and not explaining what actually happened with those three votes. So now you have the full backstory. You’re welcome.

James was inaugurated on March 5, 1821, because the fourth fell on a Sunday. It was either raining heavily or had snowed prodigiously the night before (my sources disagree), so the swearing-in was held inside the House of Representatives. John Quincy Adams described James’s old-fashioned style of dress: a black suit with knee breeches, long silk hose, and shoe and knee buckles. 

As with every other inauguration, the crowds were keen to see everything. Adams wrote, “a great crowd of people were assembled and the avenues to the hall of the House were so choked up with persons pressing for admittance that it was with the utmost difficulty that the President made his way through them. … There was much disorder of loud talking and agitation in the gallery, not even ceasing while the President was reading his address, which he did immediately after taking the oath.”

There’s no mention of Elizabeth in the descriptions of his second inauguration, but one assumes she was there. Harlow Giles Unger says that James and Elizabeth hosted a reception at the President’s House after the inauguration, so presumably she was present at the swearing-in. There was an inaugural ball later that evening at Brown’s Hotel, but no one provides any details. According to John Quincy Adams, the presidential couple “retired before supper [after] a fatiguing and bustling day.”

In the spring of 1821, Maria gave birth to her first child, and the Monroe’s second grandchild. The baby was a girl, but none of my sources provides her name. Fever had been raging in Washington, so the family decamped first to Oak Hill and then to some healing waters, in what is today West Virginia, but it didn’t help, and the infant became sick and then died in September.

Over the winter Elizabeth was “dangerously ill,” but I have no other details. In the spring of 1822, family drama reared its ugly head again in the form of a dispute between Eliza and Maria & Samuel Gouverneur. The Gouverneurs were becoming fed up with Eliza’s behavior. According to Harlow Giles Unger, Eliza felt that Samuel had stolen Maria from her and was resentful. It made for a very uncomfortable life for them to be under the same roof as Eliza, so the Gouverneurs decided to move to New York. Maria was pregnant with her second child at this point, and the child seems to have been born in September of 1822, but it’s unclear whether the Gouverneurs moved to New York before or after the baby was born. It was a boy, and they named him James Monroe Gouverneur. 

Louisa Adams had some choice words about Eliza in her diary, “[She is] full of agreeables and disagreeables, so accomplished and ill bred, so proud and so mean. [Her] love for scandal left no reputation safe in her hands.” It’s not surprising that Maria would have a hard time tolerating her older sister’s behavior, but Eliza’s ire seemed to be mostly aimed at Samuel.

Spring 1822 also brought about a pretty significant diplomatic development. After years of maintaining neutrality with regard to the South American colonies declaring and fighting for independence from Spain, James decided to officially recognize Buenos Aires (which is now Argentina), Chile, Colombia, and Peru, along with Mexico, which was engaged in its own independence struggle. James informed Congress of his intention in March 1822. 

The Monroes hosted the traditional New Year’s Day Open House on January 1, 1823, but John Quincy Adams commented that it was, “Not so full as usual.” James may have been grateful for this from a financial standpoint. He wrote to Jefferson, “I have long indulged a hope that I should be able to retire from this office, without the sale of any portion of my property, but I begin to despair of it.” He then asked his friend for help in getting Highland appraised so that he could perhaps sell it.

1823 also brought with it a sticky situation with Russia. The land that is now Alaska had long been claimed as Russian territory, but in 1821, Tsar Alexander I declared that Russian territory extended all the way down to the 51st parallel, which is where Calgary, Canada is located. The Tsar banned all foreign ships from sailing within 100 miles of the coast, and he sent a new minister to America, Baron de Tuyll. In a meeting with de Tuyll in July, Secretary of State Adams informed him that the U.S. would “contest the right of Russia to any territorial Establishment on this Continent. … the American Continents [sic] are no longer subjects for any new European Colonial Establishments.”

The Monroes made their final visit to Highland in September 1823, visiting with Jefferson and the Madisons as usual. By the time they left to return to Washington, the plantation was officially for sale. They were only back in Washington for a few days when Elizabeth fell so ill, James thought it was best to remove her to Oak Hill in Loudon County. He remained there with her until November.

That fall, the big question on James and his Cabinet’s minds was whether the monarchies of Europe who had formed an alliance to beat back democratic advances, would be so bold as to invade Mexico and South America and try to restore them as Spanish colonies. In the end, that didn’t happen, but the possibility is what led James to formulate the thing he is most known for today: The Monroe Doctrine.

No doubt you’ve heard of the Monroe Doctrine, but you likely don’t really know much about it. It doesn’t help that many presidents since Monroe have distorted the original idea all out of context and used it to justify things that it was most definitely never meant to justify. Before today is over, we’ll have a full understanding of just what the Monroe Doctrine is.

James intended to unveil his new policy in his annual message to Congress, so he and the Cabinet worked around the clock on it throughout November. Monroe and Adams also held multiple one-on-one meetings, hammering out details and figuring out how far to go without going too far. No one wanted the policy to come off as belligerence against Europe that might provoke a military response, but they wanted it to be firm and clear.

Congress reconvened on December 1, 1823, and James’s annual message was delivered to them the next day. The text that would later come to be known as the Monroe Doctrine was about 1000 words long, contained within the 7000-word state of the union. It wasn’t even presented as a cohesive policy stance. There are three principles to the Monroe Doctrine. The first one appears in the seventh paragraph of the address, and the second and third appear near the end. 

I could do as most historians do, and just quote you a few select sentences. But I think that you’ll get a better idea of what the Monroe Doctrine actually is if I read it to you verbatim. I would usually do this sort of thing in a supplemental, but it’s so integral to Monroe’s legacy as President, that I think it’s better off in the main body of this episode. Here’s the first part:

“At the proposal of the Russian Imperial Government, made through the minister of the Emperor residing here, a full power and instructions have been transmitted to the minister of the United States at St. Petersburg to arrange by amicable negotiation the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the northwest coast of this continent. A similar proposal has been made by his Imperial Majesty to the Government of Great Britain, which has likewise been acceded to. The Government of the United States has been desirous by this friendly proceeding of manifesting the great value which they have invariably attached to the friendship of the Emperor and their solicitude to cultivate the best understanding with his Government. In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”

The last sentence is the one doing all the work here. All the rest of that paragraph is diplomatic gobbeldy-gook. All you need to know is that James was officially announcing that our hemisphere was off limits to European colonial powers. Now, here’s the part that appears toward the end of the address:

“Of events in that quarter of the globe (note: he means Europe, which he had been discussing in previous paragraphs) with which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. 

The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. 

It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparations for our defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. 

The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective Governments; and to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted.

We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.

In the war between those new Governments and Spain we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this Government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the United States indispensable to their security.

The late events in Spain and Portugal shew [sic] that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced than that the allied powers should have thought it proper, on any principle satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed by force in the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent such interposition may be carried, on the same principle, is a question in which all independent powers whose governments differ from theirs are interested, even those most remote, and surely none more so than the United States.

Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it; and to preserve those relations with a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none.

But in regards to those continents (note: he’s now referring to North and South America) circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can anyone believe that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition in any form with indifference. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new Governments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course.”

So this part basically means, we stay out of your European wars except when our interests are directly threatened, as was the case in the War of 1812, so you better stay out of our affairs, and by “our” I mean all of North and South America, not just the United States. And oh by the way, if you do interfere in our part of the world, we will take it as a national insult and act accordingly.

So the Monroe Doctrine boils down to the United States putting Europe on notice that our half of the globe is off limits to them from here on out. It has absolutely nothing to do with extending our reach and influence to the rest of North and South America, let alone extending our reach and influence across the oceans to Europe or Asia. And it most definitely does not suggest, support, or condone the United States actively invading any other country in our hemisphere. And every subsequent president who has tried to claim that the Monroe Doctrine somehow supports their actions abroad is wrong and totally misreading the Monroe Doctrine. 

The only case I know of off the top of my head that could even remotely be construed as falling within the intended scope of the Monroe Doctrine is when President Kennedy objected to the Soviet Union (a European power) putting missiles in Cuba (a country clearly in our hemisphere) and took action against it. But even in this case, it’s murky because the Soviet Union was acting in concert with the Cuban government. So Kennedy’s reaction could be seen as paternalistic, rather than protective. I’m sure we’ll talk more about this when we finally get to Jacqueline Kennedy, several years from now. But my point is, the Monroe Doctrine is quite limited in what it actually says, and it’s been misconstrued ever since it was first presented in James’s 1823 address to Congress.

Reaction to the new policy was mixed, but mostly favorable. Some people lamented Monroe’s reiteration of American neutrality when it came to matters in Europe. Greece was engaged in a struggle to throw off the yoke of the Ottoman Empire, and some Americans thought that was a struggle worth getting involved in. But overall, people in America seemed supportive of the policy, and the Kentucky and Pennsylvania legislatures went so far as to pass resolutions praising it.

The reaction from Europe was also mixed. Great Britain was surprisingly supportive. And of course the Marquis de Lafayette wrote from France, “I am delighted with your message, and so will be every liberal mind in Europe and South America.” But Russian Tsar Alexander declared that the policy “merits only the most profound contempt.” The most important reaction though was that there was no more talk of the European powers sending a military force to help reconquer the South American countries on behalf of Spain. And really, that’s what James was trying to prevent in the first place.

The newly independent republics in South America welcomed James’s new policy, but it turned out to be not exactly what they hoped for. After the message was made known, the Colombian government reached out to negotiate an alliance with the U.S., but James declined. With the possible threat of invasion by the European powers off the table, he saw no need to enter into formal alliances with the new republics. Recognizing them was one thing, entering into official treaties with them was something else.

And now we’re going to jump ahead a bit to 1824. In April, the United States and Russia entered into a treaty that resolved many of the differences over the Tsar’s previous decrees claiming the west coast of what is today Canada and banning all foreign ships from coming within 100 miles of the coast. The agreement itself has an absurdly long name, which is usually shortened to either The Russo-American Treaty of 1824 or the Saint Petersburg Convention. 

In a nutshell, the treaty gave both countries the right to navigate and fish in the Pacific Ocean for a period of 10 years; U.S. ships would be allowed within the 100-mile radius of the coast; and Russia agreed to limit its land claims to the latitude of 54 degrees, 40 arcminutes, instead of all the way to the latitude of 51 degrees, aka the 51st parallel. The U.S. would be free to settle territory south of the 54 degree, 40 arcminute boundary line.

The United States also came close to entering into an agreement with Great Britain to end the slave trade, but despite the fact that the House had almost unanimously supported such an agreement in 1823, 1824 was an election year, and the Republicans suddenly decided that they didn’t want to hand a win to President Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who was hoping to replace him as president. So pettiness won out once again in Congress, as it often does in our own time, and no agreement to end the slave trade was finalized.

Elizabeth was once again deathly ill in the summer of 1824. The Monroes retreated to Oak Hill, hoping that the country air would help, but it did not. One of James’s friends was worried about what would happen if Elizabeth did not survive, writing to his wife, “I fear she will die. If she does, the president will not survive her long.”

Thankfully, Elizabeth did not die, but she also didn’t get better. James hoped that a visit from Maria and her family would make Elizabeth feel better, but it didn’t work out. Maria had given birth in May 1824 to a daughter they named Elizabeth Kortright Gouverneur. She was recovering from the birth just fine, but they had just received some bad news from the family doctor: their two year old son James was deaf.

Elizabeth and James actually had some experience with a deaf child. When they were living in London during the Jefferson Administration, Virginia Republican John Randolph of Roanoke asked for the Monroes’ help with his orphaned 12-year-old nephew, John St. George Randolph, who was deaf. The senior Randolph had heard about a school for the deaf in London but was having trouble locating it. James found the school, and the young Randolph boy was sent to London, where he was taken in by the Monroes and flourished at the school. I don’t know how long young Randolph was with the Monroes in London, but it’s clear that they treated him as one of their own children during that time.

Young James Monroe Gouverneur’s diagnosis was a blow to the family, but there’s not much more information available about him. Tim McGrath writes that the boy was eventually sent to the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and did well there. He lived to be 63 years old, dying in 1885 at the Spring Grove Asylum in Baltimore.

When the Monroes returned to Washington in the autumn, James was very much looking forward to the end of his second term as president. He wrote to Jefferson, “I shall be heartily rejoiced when the term of my service expires, & I may retire home in peace with my family, on whom, and especially Mrs. Monroe, the burden and cares of my long public service, have born [sic] too heavily.”

Next week, we’ll finish this season with the Monroes’ retirement from public service, and their deaths, which sadly take place all too soon after their retirement.

Thanks for listening to this episode. It was produced by me, and the music is by Matt Dull. Please leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you haven’t already done so. Thanks!