Monroe Doctrine 200 Years -- December 2, 2023

San Francisco Call, 18-December-1895

200 years ago today, on 02-December-1823, President James Monroe stated what is now known as the Monroe Doctrine during his State of the Union address. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wrote the Doctrine, which declared that the United States would not tolerate European interference in the Americas. That statement, by itself, was welcomed by many in Latin America. Unfortunately, the Doctrine did not state that the US would interfere all it wanted with Latin American. I won't even talk about the Roosevelt Corollary.

The US had no power to enforce the Doctrine and it was largely ignored until the 1890s, when the US became an imperialist power. 

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Happy Presidents' Day, 2021 -- February 15, 2021

 

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John Quincy Adams was our sixth president. He served our country as diplomat, Senator, Representative, Secretary of State and President. I have seen some comments comparing John Quincy Adams to Donald Trump. I do not think this is fair to Adams. Both men lost the popular vote twice, and both were one-term presidents, but Adams was functionally literate, understood how our government worked, had served our country for most of his adult life, and I doubt that he ever committed treason, sedition or any other crime before or during his presidency. 

After his presidency, Adams served as a Representative for several terms. He suffered a stroke while speaking before the House and died two days later.