Details
CLAY, HENRY, Secretary of State. Autograph letter signed ("H Clay," with flourish") as Speaker of the House, to Former Attorney General Caesar Augustus Rodney, Lexington, Kentucky, 10 June 1820. 2 pages, 4to, 247 x 202mm. (9 3/4 x 8 in.).
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE ON SOUTH AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE
A fine, lengthy letter on reaction to the revolutions in Spanish America and praising the Monroe Doctrine: "...I was never more gratified by the result of any public transaction...than by the vote of the H[ouse] of R[epresentatives] in favor of recognizing the Patriot Governments of South America. We did not press the vote farther from several considerations of which the leading one was that we did not wish to fetter...President [Monroe] in the mode of accomplishing the object [of the Monroe Doctrine]...We thought it sufficient to announce substantially the will of the Representatives...that these Governments should be recognized; and that the President of course would conform to it. This I have no doubt he will do before the next session...It is idle...to suppose that there will be any arrangement between Spain & the Colonies for restoring the authority of the parent Country...The revolution in Spain, far from stopping that in S[outh] America, will only confirm it, and probably lead to revolution in Mexico also..."
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE ON SOUTH AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE
A fine, lengthy letter on reaction to the revolutions in Spanish America and praising the Monroe Doctrine: "...I was never more gratified by the result of any public transaction...than by the vote of the H[ouse] of R[epresentatives] in favor of recognizing the Patriot Governments of South America. We did not press the vote farther from several considerations of which the leading one was that we did not wish to fetter...President [Monroe] in the mode of accomplishing the object [of the Monroe Doctrine]...We thought it sufficient to announce substantially the will of the Representatives...that these Governments should be recognized; and that the President of course would conform to it. This I have no doubt he will do before the next session...It is idle...to suppose that there will be any arrangement between Spain & the Colonies for restoring the authority of the parent Country...The revolution in Spain, far from stopping that in S[outh] America, will only confirm it, and probably lead to revolution in Mexico also..."