Reagan, the Sandinistas and the Global 1980s: Illusions and Ghosts

Traditionally, Washington viewed the Western Hemisphere as an exclusive sphere of influence, subject to the Monroe Doctrine. The self-proclaimed assertion of 1823, by President James Monroe, warned others to stay out after independence had been secured from the Spanish. Largely guided by John Quincy Adams, Monroe declared 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... 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.