he Doctrine was issued at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved independence from the Spanish Empire (except Cuba and Puerto Rico) and the Portuguese Empire. The United States, working in agreement with Britain, wanted to guarantee no European power would move in.
The Napoleonic wars in Europe gave the Spanish colonies in the New World the opportunity to seek independence. The Monroe Doctrine was issued at the close of the Napoleonic Wars to warn Europeaan powers not to try to seize land. None did except for France during the US civil war
The Monroe Doctrine was named after the President that delivered the message to Congress in 1823, but the 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 fact that the Western Hemisphere was closed to colonization and influence by any other power than the US. 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 territory 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 South America.
