What was the main cause of the Monroe Doctrine?
Reasons for the Monroe Doctrine to be issued: While named after the President that wrote the 1823 message to Congress, the Monroe Doctrine was the brain child of Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. Basically the Doctrine warned that the United States was no longer to be considered an area open to European influence or colonization. The US promised not to interfere in the affairs of Europe and Europe would respect that the Western Hemisphere was closed to colonization by any power. Two developments convinced Adams that such a Doctrine was necessary. First, the expanded Russian exploration and fur trapping south of Alaska, which had been Russian since 1741. The Russians built Fort Ross close to Spanish San Francisco and the Czar in 1821 ordered foreign ships to stay 100 miles clear of Russian American shores. The second, yet more important problem Adams saw, was the chance that Austria and France would send troops to the Western Hemisphere to help Spain regain her lost colonies in Sou
