At the time of President Monroe’s 1823 Congressional message, the United States was a young country, eager to expand in both territory and influence. The President was keenly aware of the country’s status in relation to the great European powers, especially empires like Britain, Spain, and Russia, which were older and, in many ways, stronger. It was reasonable and even necessary for the US to pursue amicable relations with those imperial powers. It was less clear that the US was in a position to dictate affairs beyond its borders, but Monroe argued that it was necessary to do so for defensive reasons.

To establish this foreign policy, President Monroe needed to maintain a reasonable balance of power in terms of the European influence on the continent. It is important to mention that the Indigenous groups that inhabited the Americas did not factor into this equation. The key European players relevant to the United States were Britain in present-day Canada, Russia in Alaska, and Spain in Latin America. However, at this time, Spain had been embroiled in the Spanish American Wars of Independence (1808-1833), as one country after another attained independence through a series of bloody conflicts.