The rapid extension of our settlements over our territories heretofore
unoccupied, the addition of new States to our Confederacy, the expansion
of free principles, and our rising greatness as a nation are attracting
the attention of the powers of Europe, and lately the doctrine has been
broached in some of them of a "balance of power" on this continent to
check our advancement. The United States, sincerely desirous of
preserving relations of good understanding with all nations, can not in
silence permit any European interference on the North American
continent, and should any such interference be attempted will be ready
to resist it at any and all hazards.
It is well known to the American people and to all nations that this
Government has never interfered with the relations subsisting between
other governments. We have never made ourselves parties to their wars or
their alliances; we have not sought their territories by conquest; we
have not mingled with parties in their domestic struggles; and believing
our own form of government to be the best, we have never attempted to
propagate it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force.
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