280px|thumb|right|The [[Americas]]

Pan-Americanism is a pan-nationalist 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. The term Pan-Americanism was first used by the New York Evening Post in 1882 when referring to James G. Blaine’s proposal for a conference of American states in Washington D.C., gaining more popularity after the first conference in 1889. Through international conferences, Pan-Americanism embodies the spirit of cooperation to create and ratify treaties for the betterment in the Americas. Since 1826, the Americas have evolved the international conferences from an idea of revolutionary Simon Bolivar to the creation of an inter-America organization with the founding of the Organization of American States. Early South American Pan-Americanists were also inspired by the American Revolutionary War, in which a suppressed and colonized society struggled, united, and gained independence. 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 American 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. Soon after the Spanish American wars of independence drew to a close, in 1823, James Madison and the US government declared through the Monroe Doctrine a new policy concerning interference by Europe in the affairs of the Americas by stopping any future European conquest or reconquest of the newly independent Latin American countries.

However, during that period, Pan-Americanism existed in the form of a series of Inter-American Conferences. These conferences were a passion project for Simon Bolivar, who wanted to create an international assembly that houses representatives from Spain's old colonies. Mexico and the US did not send delegates because of the Mexican–American War. The conference created four treaties, including mutual defense, reduced tariffs, and rules of war, but the congresses of the countries refused to ratify the treaties. On September 15, 1856, the Continental Treaty of Santiago sought to curb US expansion in Latin America, and was quickly signed by Ecuador, Peru, and other Latin American countries. 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. The delegates met on October 2, 1889, with Blaine’s introduction declaring that the United States believes in cooperation and friendship not force, and invited the delegates to go around the United States to see the real America, which the delegates accepted. In Mexico City (1901), Rio de Janeiro (1906), Buenos Aires (1910), and many more. In 1933, the seventh, and one of the most important conferences was held in Montevideo, Uruguay. The 30’s was filled with instability as the Stock Market Crash plummeted export prices, oppressive dictators, and brewing tensions between states. Following his Good Neighbor Policy, Roosevelt endeavored to foster the development of peaceful commercial and cultural relations between the American Republics through the skillful use of cultural diplomacy. FDR would also go on to say “the essential true qualities of a true Pan-Americanism must be the same as those which constitute a good neighbor.” Subjugation under former imperial and colonial rule was a shared experience for most American nations, and this formed an important pillar of the Monroe Doctrine and consequently Pan-Americanism, where there was relatively unified opposition toward further inward imperial conquest by European nations. In almost all cases, U.S. influence increased in the region and the U.S. government's policy toward Latin America became more expansionist in nature.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added a "Corollary" to the Doctrine, which would later become known as the Roosevelt Corollary. Under this new interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, opposition to European expansion continued, but in the event of "bad behavior" on the part of Latin American countries, "is was [now] the obligation of the United States to intervene in order to prevent European action." While many Latin American countries and intellectuals immediately criticized the Corollary and viewed U.S. foreign policy regarding national sovereignty as hypocritical, Washington continued to push back against any formal attempts by countries in Latin America to establish a standard interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine and its Corollary—that is, any attempt to "Pan-Americanize" the Monroe Doctrine and apply national sovereignty rights equally to all countries in the Americas.

Economic impact

In 2019, 15.1 and 14.6 percent of all US imports were exchanged with Canada and Mexico, respectively. A significant portion of these imports involved food products. At 76%, the vast majority of all Canadian exports in 2021 were shipped South into the United States. Of these exports, goods such as lumber, automotive and aircraft components, aluminum, wheat, and vegetable oils were among the top exported commodities. Similarly, 76.4% of all Mexican exports, such as computers, cars, and crude petroleum, were destined for the United States. In 2017, 12 and 10 percent of all US exports were exchanged with Canada and Mexico, respectively.

Congresses and conferences

  • 1826 in Panama. Congreso Anfictiónico de Panamá Congress of Panama. Organized by Simón Bolívar.
  • 1847–1848 Congreso de Lima
  • 1856–1857 Congreso de Santiago
  • 1864–1864 Congreso de Lima
  • 1889/90 in Washington D.C. International Conference of American States. The day of this meeting, 14 April, has been celebrated since 1930 as Pan American Day.
  • 1901/02 in Mexico City
  • 1906 in Rio de Janeiro
  • 1910 in Buenos Aires
  • 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland Pan-American Conference of Women.
  • 1923 in Santiago, Chile
  • 1928 in Havana
  • 1933 in Montevideo
  • 1936 in Buenos Aires (Peace Conference)
  • 1938 in Lima
  • 1942 in Rio de Janeiro (conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs)
  • 1948 in Bogotá
  • 1949 founded Office of Latin American Education, which became the Organization of Ibero-American States
  • 1954 in Caracas
  • 2nd Latin American Congress of Education took place in Quito
  • 1967 Buenos Aires
  • 1969 Viña del Mar
  • 2005 Panama City, Panama – Congreso de Escritores y Escritoras de Centroamérica to create the Federación Centroamericana. Sponsored by the Asociación de Escritores de Panamá.
  • 2006 Panama City, Panama – Sponsored by the President of Panama, Martín Torrijos – Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence

See also

  • Latin America
  • List of conflicts in the Americas
  • North American Union
  • 2008 South American diplomatic crisis
  • Panhispanism
  • Patria Grande

References

Further reading

  • Aguilar, Alonzo. "Pan-Americanism from Monroe to the Present," Monthly Review Press, New York." (1968).
  • Aken, Mark J. van. Pan-Hispanism: Its Origin and Development to 1866. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1959.
  • Bryne, A. (2019). "The Potential of Flight: U.S. Aviation and Pan-Americanism During the Early Twentieth Century." The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.
  • A study of Pan-Americanism as an idea and of how time has destroyed much of the buttressing hemispheric relations.