Pan-Americanism
Pan-Americanism is a movement that seeks to create, encourage, and organize relationships, an association (a Union), and cooperation among the states of the Americas, through diplomatic, political, economic, and social means.
[1] Francisco Morazán briefly headed a Federal Republic of Central America, a union between El Salvador, Panama, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
[4] In the United States, Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson set forth the principles of Pan-Americanism in the early 19th century by advocating for Latin independence, with Jefferson's Governor of Louisiana, James Wilkinson, suggesting an alliance between the independent nations of Mexico, Cuba, and Peru with the US against Napoleon and Spain.
These conferences were a passion project for Simon Bolivar, who wanted to create an international assembly that houses representatives from Spain's old colonies.
[1] On December 7, 1824, Bolivar invited the newly independent colonies of Spain, as well as the US and Brazil, to participate in an Assembly of Plenipotentiaries that would be held in Panama on June 22, 1826.
[1] The following conference was not held until 1847 when fears of Spain retaking Ecuador and other former colonies prompted Latin American countries to do another congress in Lima, Peru.
[7][8] 1856 also saw the Congress of Washington where US representatives to Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela called for an alliance between all the countries south of the Rio Grande in Texas and secure aid for the fight against William Walker, though never ratified.
Plans to assemble started in 1861 when Spain annexed the Dominican Republic and signed a treaty with France and England to send troops to Mexico to recollect their debts.
[2] The objective was to discuss defense, boundaries, commerce, mail services, population data, and how to settle conflicts with arbitration.
[9] Treaties for arbitration of disputes and adjustment of tariffs were adopted, and the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics, which later became the Pan-American Union, was established.
The 30’s was filled with instability as the Stock Market Crash plummeted export prices, oppressive dictators, and brewing tensions between states.
[2] In the 20th century, US President Franklin Roosevelt embraced a robust formulation of Pan-Americanism during World War II through the establishment of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.
The American states also adopted a series of diplomatic and political rules, which were not always respected or fulfilled, governing relations between the countries like arbitration of disputes, peaceful resolution of conflicts, military non-intervention, equality among the member states of each organism, and in their mutual relations, decisions through resolutions approved by the majority, the recognition of diplomatic asylum, the Private International Law Code (Bustamante Code, 1928), the inter-American system of human rights (American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, 1948; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1959; and the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States).
[16] Although the Monroe Doctrine originally declared U.S. opposition to new European expansion in the Americas, the United States used its increased influence in the region to promote its own strategic interests.
Throughout the 1800s, the Monroe Doctrine was invoked multiple times in the Americas, including during the annexation of Texas (1845), the Mexican-U.S. War (1845–1848), and the 1861 Spanish Invasion of Santo Domingo.
"[16] Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats were also pursuing a contrasting policy of Pan-Americanism—a political movement that sought to promote the respect of national sovereignty, continental cooperation and further integration.
[19] During and after their wars of independence, the Latin American countries would look towards Europe, mostly Great Britain, for aid, but still feared colonization or recolonization by European powers.
