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By 1904, with the expulsion of the Spanish from Cuba, the annexation of Puerto Rico, the binding of Cuba with the 1903 treaties, and the creation of a protectorate in Panama, the United States had clearly established it's hegemony in the Central America and the Caribbean. The next logical step was for the U.S. to assume the task of the preserving the stability in the region, as it had now become vital to American security. The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe doctrine would provide the vindication for the U.S. assuming the role as the international police officer. Though the Corollary was hardly in line with the principals of 1823, it was founded with important precursors in mind. President Polk's message on April 29, 1848, questioned the Yucatan's right to transfer its sovereignty to a European power, the McLane-Ocampo agreements in 1859 permitted the U.S. to protect its citizens and their property in Mexico, and most recently the U.S. government takeover of Cuba.

However, in 1904, there was admittedly less precedent for intervention to end financial mayhem. Only once in the 19th century had the U.S. considered such action; on February 7, 1880, a delinquent Venezuela, fearing retaliatory action from France,

proposed to deliver monthly revenues to Washington for distribution to foreign creditors.186 On July 23, 1881, Secretary Blaine warned the French that under certain conditions, the U.S. would be obliged to administer Venezuela’s customs house, but nothing ever came of the threat.

It was the Venezuelan imbroglio during 1902-1903 that most shaped the

Roosevelt Corollary. The reaction from within the U.S. to the Anglo-German blockade

186 _{Richard William Leopold, The Growth of American Foreign Policy: A History. New York: Knopf, 1962.}

234.

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convinced President Roosevelt that European coercion of American republic’s debt should be prevented, but his sense of justice told him that the legitimate claims to the debt would have to be addressed. On February 22, 1904, a court in Hague decided that force was a legitimate method to guarantee repayment of debts. This persuaded President Roosevelt that the temptation to declare war and seize assets to repay debt was too great and must be done away with.187

Thus, on December 6, 1904, after a triumph in the polls President Roosevelt issued a message stating that the U.S. did not seek additional lands in the Americas. However, “chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of wrongdoing and impotence, to the exercise of international police power."188 The U.S. would interject itself into disputes between European countries and Latin American Countries, enforcing the legitimate claims, rather than the Europeans pressing their claims directly.

The Roosevelt Corollary, just like the Monroe Doctrine, was a profound statement by the executive branch. When President Roosevelt presented the Corollary in 1904, the legislature did not endorse it, just as it had not endorsed the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. PresidentRoosevelt did not meet opposition until he endeavored to translate the theory into reality. On January 20, 1905, Minister Thomas C. Dawson signed a protocol in Santa

187 _{Ibid., 234.}

188 _{Theodore Roosevelt, "Theodore Roosevelt's Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1904"}

Washington D.C. Speech.

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Domino providing a U.S. guarantee that the territorial integrity of the Dominican Republic would remain intact, and that the U.S. would control over Dominican customs houses, including payment of all Dominican debts from the revenues collected.189 When the U.S. Senate got wind of this agreement, it erupted in righteous indignation and injured pride. The Panama affair had already angered the Senate, and many members considered the agreement an abridgment of senatorial prerogatives.

In order to assuage fears of presidential powers run amok, Minister Dawson was ordered to change the terms of the agreement. On February 7, 1905, the agreements

guarantee of territorial integrity was altered to promise to respect it, with references to

the Monroe Doctrine being inserted into the preamble of the agreement. The renovated agreement reached the Senate on February 15, but no vote was taken before the Senate adjourned for summer recess. President Roosevelt called the Senate back into session, but was unable to overcome opposition and secure the necessary two-thirds majority.190

President Roosevelt would not give up on his corollary however. Convinced that he had correctly diagnosed the problems with the Dominican body politic, he was determined to solve the problem in a different way. If an executive agreement garnered too great an outcry and a treaty could not be passed, then he would initiate a customs control via the enforcement of a modus vivendi. President Roosevelt was successful, and on April 1, 1905, a temporary arrangement was established that included the major points of the failed treaty.

By April 1905, the American hegemony in the Caribbean was an undeniable fact; Puerto Rico and the Canal Zone had been annexed, Guantánamo Bay was a permanent

189 _{Leopold, The Growth of American Foreign Policy. 235.} 190 _{Ibid., 236.}

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American naval base, the authority to intervene in both Cuba and Panama was secured, and the administration of the Dominican customs houses was beginning. The U.S.

acquired the jurisdiction to build, operate, and defend a canal that would soon connect the Pacific and Atlantic, increasing American power and security on the seas. The Monroe Doctrine had been greatly expanded and flaunted. The Europeans had been denied a casus belli on American republics via debts and the English were transferring the bulk of their navy from the Caribbean to the North Sea to counteract the German buildup.191 The United States military and economic supremacy in the Americas was undisputed.

191 _{Ibid., 236.}

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