[Monroe, James]. [Monroe Doctrine]

President's Message... [being the Full Text of the Monroe Doctrine in Vol. XXIV, No. 3526 of National Intelligencer]

Washington, D.C. Gales & Seaton, December 4, 1828. 4pp., folio, in bound volume of forty-seven issues, all 4pp., dated between August 13 and December 30, 1823. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Front board detached, spine mostly perished, rear board holding by one stitch. Occasional toning, spotting, and edge wear to issues, crescent-shaped dampstain to bottom edge to varying degrees on most issues. Ownership/subscriber's name to top margin of each issue throughout. About very good. Item #4364

A very early printing of one of the founding documents of United States sovereignty and foreign policy. In his State of the Union address on December 2, 1823, President James Monroe set out to discourage European intervention in the political life of the New World. Monroe and other officials throughout the Americas feared renewed interest from European powers in the Western Hemisphere following independence movements in various Latin American countries, including Mexico, as well as Russian quarantine actions in the Pacific Northwest. President Monroe's address appears in its entirety on the final page of the present issue. In this foundational speech, delivered two days earlier to Congress, Monroe defines the principles which would come to be known as the "Monroe Doctrine." He states: "The American continents, by the free and independent condition they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers," and that any such intervention would be deemed a "manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States." The Monroe Doctrine would govern American foreign policy decisions and actions from this point forward, providing the foundation for the United States to consider the Western Hemisphere as its own sphere of influence.

The present issue of the Monroe Doctrine was preceded only by the famed December 2 Extra (which carries a six-figure price tag at the present time) and the December 3 printing of the Daily National Intelligencer (Vol. XI, No. 3396). Both of the preceding were printed on the same press, by the same publisher, as the present issue. In addition to the Monroe Doctrine in the December 4 issue, the present bound volume of National Intelligencer includes information on current events around Washington, D.C., the United States, and the world for the latter half of 1823. The first few issues provide a flavor of the content of the newspaper, containing dispatches from the young nation of Mexico, advertisements calling for the return of runaway slaves, a proclamation by Monroe authorizing the sale of public lands in Louisiana, the "destruction of a piratical establishment on the south side of the island of Cuba, by the United States' schooners Greyhound and Beagle," and much more.
Grolier American 33 (ref).

Price: $3,000.00