Editing James Monroe (section)

=== Foreign policy ===
According to historian William Earl Weeks, "Monroe evolved a comprehensive strategy aimed at expanding the Union externally while solidifying it internally". He expanded trade and pacified relations with Great Britain while expanding the United States at the expense of the Spanish Empire, from which he obtained Florida and the recognition of a border across the continent. Faced with the breakdown of the expansionist consensus over the question of slavery, the president tried to provide both North and South with guarantees that future expansion would not tip the balance of power between slave and free states, a system that, Weeks remarks, did indeed allow the continuation of American expansion for the best of four decades.<ref name="ncha-vol1">{{cite book |last1=Weeks |first1=William Earl |title=The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations |date=February 2013 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-139-03039-7 |volume=1: Dimensions of the Early American Empire, 1754–1865 |pages=88–120 |chapter=4 |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/new-cambridge-history-of-american-foreign-relations/CFF5DEF8E3BC2DE906E4134C0A71384A}}</ref>

====Treaties with Britain and Russia====

Upon taking office, Monroe pursued warmer relations with Britain in the aftermath of the War of 1812.<ref name="sdmilestone">{{cite web |title=Milestones: 1801–1829: Rush-Bagot Pact, 1817 and Convention of 1818 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/rush-bagot |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State}}</ref> In 1817, the United States and Britain signed the [[Rush–Bagot Treaty]], which regulated naval armaments on the [[Great Lakes]] and [[Lake Champlain]] and demilitarized the border between the U.S. and [[British North America]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Uphaus-Conner |first=Adele |date=April 20, 2012 |title=Today in History: Rush-Bagot Treaty Signed |url=http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/2012/04/20/today-in-history-rush-bagot-treaty-signed/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226131211/http://jamesmonroemuseum.umw.edu/2012/04/20/today-in-history-rush-bagot-treaty-signed/ |archive-date=February 26, 2017 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=James Monroe Museum, Univ. of Mary Washington}}</ref> The [[Treaty of 1818]], also with Great Britain, was concluded October 20, 1818, and fixed the present [[Canada–United States border]] from [[Minnesota]] to the [[Rocky Mountains]] at the [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]]. The accords also established a joint U.S.–British occupation of [[Oregon Country]] for the next ten years.<ref name="JMforeign">{{cite web |date=October 4, 2016 |title=James Monroe: Foreign Affairs |url=http://millercenter.org/president/biography/monroe-foreign-affairs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226131420/http://millercenter.org/president/biography/monroe-foreign-affairs |archive-date=February 26, 2017 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia}}</ref> Though they did not solve every outstanding issue between the U.S. and Britain, the treaties allowed for greater trade between the United States and the British Empire and helped avoid an expensive naval arms race in the Great Lakes.<ref name="sdmilestone" /> In the Pacific Northwest, American territorial claims clashed with those of [[Tsarist Russian Empire|Tsarist Russia]], which had trading posts as far south as [[San Francisco Bay]], and those of Great Britain. The situation intensified in the fall of 1821 when [[Saint Petersburg]] closed America's Pacific coastal sea north of 51° latitude to foreign ships within a 100-mile zone, thus shifting its territorial claim four degrees of latitude to the south.<ref name=":7">{{Harvnb|Hart|2005|pp=97–99}}</ref> Late in Monroe's second term, the U.S. concluded the [[Russo-American Treaty of 1824]] with the Russian Empire, setting the southern limit of Russian sovereignty on the Pacific coast of [[North America]] at the [[parallel 54°40′ north|54°40′ parallel]] (the present southern tip of the [[Alaska Panhandle]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDougall |first1=Allan K. |title=A Companion to Border Studies |last2=Philips |first2=Lisa |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-1191-1167-2 |editor1-last=Wilson |editor1-first=Thomas M. |series=Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology Series |page=186 |chapter=Chapter 10: The State, Hegemony and the Historical British-US Border |access-date=February 25, 2017 |orig-date=1st pub. 2012 |editor2-last=Donnan |editor2-first=Hastings |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yu4kFC_vNokC&pg=PA186}}</ref>

====Acquisition of Florida====
{{Main|Adams–Onís Treaty|Seminole Wars}}

[[File:Adams onis map.png|thumb|left|Map showing the results of the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] of 1819]]

In October 1817, the United States cabinet held several lengthy meetings to address the declarations of independence by former Spanish colonies in South America and the increasing piracy, particularly from [[Amelia Island]]. Piracy on the southern border with the Floridas was intensified by smugglers, slave traders, and privateers who had fled from the Spanish colonies over which the mother country had lost control.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hart|2005|pp=87–89}}</ref> Spain had long rejected repeated American attempts to purchase Florida. However, by 1818, Spain's troubling colonial situation made the cession of Florida make sense. Spain had been exhausted by the [[Peninsular War]] in Europe and needed to rebuild its credibility and presence in its colonies. Revolutionaries in [[Central America]] and [[South America]] were beginning to demand independence. Spain was unwilling to invest further in Florida, encroached on by American settlers, and it worried about the border between [[New Spain]] and the [[United States]]. With only a minor military presence in Florida, Spain was not able to restrain the [[Seminole]] warriors who routinely crossed the border and raided American villages and farms, as well as protected southern slave refugees from slave owners and traders of the southern United States.{{sfn|Weeks|1992|p=118}} The Seminole people were also providing sanctuary for runaway slaves, those of which the United States wanted back.<ref name="seminolenationmuseum.org">{{Cite web |title=The Seminole Wars – Seminole Nation Museum |url=https://www.seminolenationmuseum.org/history/seminole-nation/the-seminole-wars/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123203445/https://www.seminolenationmuseum.org/history/seminole-nation/the-seminole-wars/ |archive-date=November 23, 2021 |access-date=January 12, 2022 |website=www.seminolenationmuseum.org}}</ref>

In response to Seminole attacks and their provision of aid to escaped slaves, Monroe ordered a military expedition to cross into Spanish Florida and attack the Seminoles. In this expedition, led by [[Andrew Jackson]], the US Army displaced numerous Seminole people from their houses along with burning their towns. Jackson also seized the Spanish territorial capital of [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]]. With the capture of Pensacola, Jackson established de facto American control of the entire territory. While Monroe supported Jackson's actions, many in Congress harshly criticized what they saw as an undeclared war. With the support of Secretary of State Adams, Monroe defended Jackson against domestic and international criticism, and the United States began negotiations with Spain.<ref name="seminolenationmuseum.org" /><ref>{{harvnb|Unger|2009|pp=288–294}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Seminole Wars |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Seminole-Wars |access-date=January 12, 2022}}</ref> Monroe later fixed the government's official position in a letter from Adams to Spanish Ambassador [[Luis de Onís]], which he edited accordingly by removing all justifications for Jackson's actions. He also emphasized that although Jackson had exceeded his orders, he had come to a new assessment of the situation on the basis of previously unknown information at the scene of the war.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hart|2005|pp=73–74}}</ref>

Spain faced revolt in all of its American colonies and could neither govern nor defend Florida. On February 22, 1819, Spain and the United States signed the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]], which ceded [[the Floridas]] in return for the assumption by the United States of claims of American citizens against Spain to an amount not exceeding $5,000,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=5000000|start_year=1819}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). The treaty also contained a definition of the boundary between Spanish and American possessions on the North American continent. Beginning at the mouth of the [[Sabine River (Texas-Louisiana)|Sabine River]] the line ran along that river to the [[32nd parallel north|32nd parallel]], then due north to the [[Red River of the South|Red River]], which it followed to the [[100th meridian west|100th meridian]], due north to the [[Arkansas River]], and along that river to its [[headwaters|source]], then north to the [[42nd parallel north|42nd parallel]], which it followed to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. The United States renounced all claims to the west and south of this boundary ([[Spanish Texas|Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Nevada]]), so Spain surrendered any title she had to the Northwest ([[Oregon Country]]).{{sfn|Johnson|1915|pp=262–264}}

==== South American Wars of Independence ====
In 1810, [[Spanish American wars of independence|South America's wars of independence]] began, inspired by the American and French Revolutionary Wars, but the Madison administration, as well as Monroe himself during his first term in office, treated the conflicts as civil wars and kept the United States neutral.<ref name=":8">{{harvnb|Unger|2009|pp=312–313}}</ref> Monroe was deeply sympathetic to the revolutionary movements against Spain, and was determined that the United States should never repeat the policies of the Washington administration during the French Revolution, when the nation had failed to demonstrate its sympathy for the aspirations of peoples seeking to establish republican governments. He did not envisage military involvement in Latin American affairs, but only the provision of moral support, as he believed that a direct American intervention would provoke other European powers into assisting Spain.{{sfn|Ammon|1971|pp=476–492}} Monroe initially refused to recognize the Latin American governments due to ongoing negotiations with Spain over Florida.{{sfn|Cunningham|1996|pp=105–106}}

Following their respective declarations of independence, the South American republics quickly sent emissaries to Washington to ask for diplomatic recognition and economic and trade relations. In 1818, Monroe assured a representative of the [[United Provinces of the Río de la Plata]] that his attitude was "impartial neutrality," Although not diplomatically recognized, the young republics enjoyed the advantages of a sovereign nation in economic, trade, and diplomatic relations with the United States.<ref name=":7" /> After Spain and America had fully ratified the Adams–Onís Treaty in February 1821 and a liberal government had come to power in [[Madrid]], Monroe officially recognized the countries of [[Argentina]], [[Peru]], [[Colombia]], [[Chile]], and [[Mexico]], all of which had won [[Spanish American wars of independence|independence]] from Spain.<ref name="JMforeign" /> Secretary of State Adams, under Monroe's supervision, wrote the instructions for the ministers to these new countries. They declared that the policy of the United States was to uphold republican institutions and to seek treaties of commerce on a most-favored-nation basis. The United States would support inter-American congresses dedicated to the development of economic and political institutions fundamentally differing from those prevailing in Europe. Monroe took pride as the United States was the first nation to extend recognition and to set an example to the rest of the world for its support of the "cause of liberty and humanity".{{sfn|Ammon|1971|pp=476–492}}

====Monroe Doctrine====
[[File:GSJamesMonroe.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of President Monroe by [[Gilbert Stuart]], {{circa|1820–1822}}]]{{Main|Monroe Doctrine}}

In January 1821, Adams first expressed the idea that the American double continent should be closed to further colonization by foreign powers. The idea, which was later adopted by Monroe, was influenced by the Adams–Onís Treaty and the negotiations on border disputes in the Oregon Country. Adams emphasized that the further colonization of America, except for Canada, should be in the hands of the Americans themselves. This later became a principle in Monroe's administration. After the [[Spanish Revolution of 1820]] was ended by France, Secretary of War Calhoun and British Foreign Secretary [[George Canning]] warned Monroe that European powers might intend to intervene in South America, increasing the pressure on him to speak out on the future of the Western Hemisphere.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hart|2005|pp=100–102}}</ref>

For their part, the British also had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, with all the trade restrictions [[mercantilism]] imposed. In October 1823, Richard Rush, the American minister in London, corresponded with Canning to work out a common position on a potential French intervention in South America. When Monroe was presented with this correspondence, which had yielded no tangible results, in mid-October 1823, his first reaction was to accept the British offer.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hart|2005|pp=112–114}}</ref> Adams vigorously opposed cooperation with Great Britain, contending that a statement of bilateral nature could limit United States expansion in the future. He also argued that the British were not committed to recognizing the Latin American republics and must have had imperial motivations themselves.<ref>{{cite web |title=Milestones: 1801–1829: Monroe Doctrine, 1823 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/monroe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131010117/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/monroe |archive-date=January 31, 2017 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |publisher=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State}}</ref>

Two months later, the bilateral statement proposed by the British became a unilateral declaration by the United States. While Monroe thought that Spain was unlikely to re-establish its colonial empire on its own, he feared that France or the [[Holy Alliance]] might seek to establish control over the former Spanish possessions.<ref name=":8" /> On December 2, 1823, in his annual message to Congress, Monroe articulated what became known as the Monroe Doctrine. He first reiterated the traditional U.S. policy of neutrality with regard to European wars and conflicts. He then declared that the United States would not accept the recolonization of any country by its former European master, though he also avowed non-interference with existing European colonies in the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Monroe - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com |url=http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-monroe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719151806/http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-monroe |archive-date=July 19, 2017 |access-date=July 24, 2017 |website=HISTORY.com}}</ref> Finally, he stated that European countries should no longer consider the Western Hemisphere open to new colonization, a jab aimed primarily at Russia, which was attempting to expand its colony on the northern Pacific Coast.<ref name="JMforeign" />{{sfn|Ammon|1971|pp=476–492}}