AMERICA FOR THE AMERICANS!

摘要

Does the noun "America" cover the entire landmass or only the northern portion? And does the adjective "American" refer to all its inhabitants or only to those living-in the northern part?The idea of a common destiny for the nations of the so-called New World was first expressed as a doctrine on December 2,1823 in President James Monroe's seventh annual message to his country's congress. And his words decrying European colonialism still echo 200 years later. In Monroe's four mentions of "America," he assigned two different meanings to the noun. He referred in the plural to "the American continents." and later alluded to the American ministers accredited in the nations of "Europe and America." But then he also used it to mean only the United States when he discussed the "American vessels" that would be confiscated in the event of transporting slaves and stressed that the monarchical political system of the European nations was "different (…) from that of America."