PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER...EXTRA. WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1823 [caption title]....
Monroe, James:
Washington. Dec. 2, 1823. Broadside, 22 x 16 1/4 inches, printed in five columns. A hint of foxing and light wear, but overall in near fine condition, with the original deckle edges, never trimmed down. One of two states of the first-ever printing of the Monroe Doctrine, one of the most important American state papers, and the guiding principle of United States diplomacy in the Western Hemisphere since its promulgation. We know of only four total printings of the NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER "Extra," the true first printing of the Monroe Doctrine. One other copy of this issue of the broadside extra printing is known. Two copies of another printing, one of them being the Streeter copy, are also known. A comparison of the Streeter copy and the present broadside reveals that "National Intelligencer...Extra" is printed in larger type in the present version, that a paragraph in the third column of text has been reset, and some changes in capitalization and individual letters can be found. No priority can be established between the two states; indeed, they may have been issued concurrently from two separate presses in the NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER offices. The present broadside is in lovely condition, while the Streeter copy and the other example of the "Streeter issue" are both in deplorable condition. The Monroe Doctrine, largely drafted by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, is one of the most important statements in the history of American foreign policy. It stood for more than a century as an assertion of American power and hemispheric dominance, and of the belief that the United States was strong enough to enforce its will in the Americas against the European powers. Monroe stated his famous doctrine in response to the possible intervention of European powers (such as the "Holy Alliance" of Russia, Prussia, and Austria) to shore up Spain's crumbling New World empire, and the aggressive stance taken by Russia on the Northwest Coast. Monroe used the platform of his annual message to Congress on Dec. 2, 1823 to declare that "The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." He stated that any European intervention could not be viewed "in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." This stance of American hostility to any European adventure in the New World has guided foreign policy ever since. Although the United States could do little to enforce the bold declaration at first, it grew in principle as the United States grew in power. In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt added his "corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, asserting that the United States might intervene in sovereign Latin American states in order to prevent European intervention. Though it was criticized and debated in the 20th century, the Monroe Doctrine retains its power in the American imagination and, along with George Washington's Farewell Address, it remains the most famous of American foreign policy creeds. The compilers of the Grolier Club's ONE HUNDRED INFLUENTIAL AMERICAN BOOKS picked the Monroe Doctrine as an entry, but displayed the later government reprint. That exhibition was mounted in 1946, and Thomas W. Streeter, one of the catalogue's compilers, did not acquire his then-unique copy until 1952. The Streeter copy sold in 1967 for $3500. This first printing of the Monroe Doctrine is a document of fundamental, indeed monumental, importance in American history. GROLIER AMERICAN 100, 33. STREETER SALE 1734.
(Item ID: WRCAM36530) $125,000.00