What are reasons why the U.S. refused to aid the Latin American revolutionaries during Wars of Independence??

Question

I do have anaswers but im wondering if I left somethings out or if im correct with my answers. My answer includes that most U.S. leaders coveted the Spanish colonies as targets for the nations own expansion and held little regard for the abilities of the Latin American patriots. I have more but im keepthing this brief.

Answer 1

"Most US leaders coveted the Spanish colonies as targets for the nations own expansion"... WHAT? When was there EVER an effort to expand America into central or south america? The closest would be the cuban intervention (um, gee that was a US assistance to a colonial resistance movement....)

I would say the real answer is that the US was pretty well occupied with our own problems here (and the expansion westward).

There is also the very real fact that the US did not have a power-projection military -- that is there was very little ability of the US to use military force outside of our own borders. Only the Navy and Marine Corps had any ability to work away from the nation, and both of them were very small and overworked protecting US flag shipping interest in two oceans. The Army was also very small and almost completly engaged in the Indian Wars. Except for the 1860's when we had a big army but it was even more occupied.

Now factor in the Monroe Doctrine -- which had a tremendous impact on the ability of european powers to do much of anything in central / south america -- and you see a pattern of general US support and sympathy for the independance of those states -- and even a willingness to threaten war to support them. A pretty significant threat for a very young nation with a small military.

Remember also the US has a traditionally isolationist world-view -- Americans take care of their own business and expect the rest of the world to take care of its own.

I suggest you re-think your answers. Keep in mind the prevelant attitudes of the day (not modern police-the-world stuff) and a realistic understanding of actual US capabilities at those times.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Additionally, the tactics of the fighting of the British didn't mesh well in the hilly, mountainous terrain of the American colonies. The Americans, having been fighting with the Indians for years, took on their tactics of hiding behind trees and using the terrain as cover. The British just could not get past their "forming lines" and expected the Americans to do the same thing. they didn't. Also yes, as a previous answerer stated, they did expect the Loyalists living in the Colonies to join the war alongside the soldiers, which didn't happen. The British troops were not fighting an army, they were fighting against backwoods militias that were more wild than anything the British troops had seen.