What was the Roosevelt Corollary?
In 1902, many Latin American countries were deep in debt to Europe and were not making any moves to repay their debts. Enraged, European countries began to use military force. Europe did have some areas that were considered like a colony, or at least economically controlled by them.
Different European countries had different areas in Latin America, but they also lent money to countries that were supposed to be independent nations. When these countries could not repay their debt, and were not making any moves to try to repay their debt, Europe became enraged.
These European countries were angry because they were lending this money with the thought in mind that they would get paid back, and these Latin American countries weren’t making any attempt to do that, so they began to use military force. They would send military vessels over to Latin America with the intent of physically taking back the money that they had lent.
At first, Roosevelt supported this policy. Being someone who followed the motto, “Walk softly and carry a big stick,” going in and taking what was owed to you seemed like something that he would support. He supported this policy at first, but he gradually changed his mind.
In part, because the American public was opposed to it, and most people wouldn’t like the idea of European countries coming over to these poorer Latin American countries and physically taking this money, because that meant there would be violence in these already economically disadvantaged countries– and the American public doesn’t like violence.
Now Roosevelt did take into account public opinion, but he also probably had a few other ideas (economic wise) that would influence his decision, and influence why he changed his mind. When Germany sent ships to Santo Domingo in 1904, Roosevelt announced the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
The Monroe Doctrine, if you will remember, was the assertion by the United States that no European countries should interfere in the Western Hemisphere (in the United States and the Latin American countries, no European countries should interfere there). They shouldn’t try to colonize any new countries. The United States did want to foster independent nations.
They wanted more countries to be able to declare their independence like the United States itself had, but the United States also didn’t want the European nations becoming any stronger, and didn’t want them gaining any more colonies that would make them a bigger country (have more resources, have more money).
The United States wanted to keep that from happening. There were good hearted intentions for these new independent nations, but there were also economic plans in play whenever the Monroe Doctrine was declared. The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine added a little bit more to that assertion. This document stated that nations may not use force to collect debt.
The United States was putting itself in the middle of this and saying, “Ok, European countries you can’t use force to collect debt.” This was specifically related to the Western Hemisphere, because that’s where the United States was (that was more of its sphere of influence).
Roosevelt asserted that the United States would peaceably arbitrate these disputes before Europe could get violent; he felt these interventions would help Latin America and prevent European recolonization. He wanted to keep Europeans out of this area, especially military forces that could take over countries and start recolonizing the area, after the Monroe Doctrine had pretty much put a stop to that.
He did want to help Latin America, but he also had United States’ economic interests in mind whenever declaring the Roosevelt Corollary. The United States was going to put itself in the middle, and say they would help arbitrate these disputes. They would help the Latin American countries come up with some kind of payment plan with the European countries, so that everything could remain peaceful in the Western Hemisphere.
After this, the United States developed a reputation as the “policeman of the Caribbean.” During this era of American imperialism, the Roosevelt Corollary was another example of the United States taking a step out of its internal relations, and more into the international world (it was stepping into all these other countries’ disagreements).
It was stepping into these other countries’ problems and trying to work them out (trying to arbitrate these disputes peacefully). The United States, instead of just dealing with its own problems, (and dealing with its own economy) was stepping into the international market (was stepping into all of these events happening around the world).
The Roosevelt Corollary was just another example of how the United States was branching out during the era of American imperialism.