Joel Gehrke
The Washington Examiner
11/19/2013
Secretary of State John Kerry declared that “the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over” as he expressed chagrin over U.S. willingness to claim the power to repel European intervention in the Western Hemisphere for 190 years.
Kerry’s declaration to the Organization of American States during a speech Monday was met with applause from the delegates of Latin American countries.
Monroe outlined his position during an address to Congress in 1823. “[T]he 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 power,” he said.
“It is impossible that the allied [European] powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness,” Monroe also said.
The former Massachusetts senator seemed sheepish about how “the United States dictated a policy that defined the hemisphere for many years after.”…
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