Age of Imperialism: Chapter 7 Latin America

Dear Diary,

The Roosevelt Corollary was an addition to the Monroe Doctrine made by President Theodore Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address in 1904 after the Venezuela Crisis of 1902-1903. The corollary states that the United States will intervene in conflicts between Europe and Latin America countries to enforce legitimate claims of the European powers, rather than having the Europeans press their claims directly. Roosevelt tied his policy to the Monroe Doctrine, and it was also consistent with his foreign policy of "speak softly and carry a big stick". Roosevelt stated in that keeping with the doctrine, the United States was justified in exercising "international police power" to put an end to chronic unrest or wrong doing in the Western Hemisphere. While the Monroe Doctrine has sought out to prevent European invention, the Roosevelt Corollary was used to justify US intervention throughout the hemisphere. In 1934, President Franklin D Roosevelt renounced interventionism and established his Good Neighbor Policy for the Western Hemisphere.

President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the building of the Panama Canal from 1903-1914. He came to the realizations of a long term United States goal - a trans-isthmian canal. Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Although the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was essentially passive (it asked Europeans not to increase their influence or recolonize any part of the Western Hemisphere), by the 20th century a more confident United States was willing to take on the role of regional policeman. In the early 1900s Roosevelt grew concerned that a crisis between Venezuela and its creditors could spark an invasion of that nation by European powers.

The United States occupation of Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933 was part of a larger conflict called the Banana Wars. The formal occupation began in 1912, although several other operations were conducted before the full-scale invasion. American military interventions in Nicaragua were intended to prevent the construction of the Nicaraguan Canal by any nation but the Unites States. Nicaragua assumed a quasi under the 1916 Chamorro-Bryan Treaty. The occupation ended as Augusto C. Sandino led guerrilla armies against U.S. troops. The onset of the Great Depression made it too costly for the U.S. government to maintain the occupation so a withdrawal was ordered in 1933.