was one of codification. But not all those who have commented on
the work of Adams have possessed his analytical mind, and many
have confused what was fundamental in his pronouncement with what
was temporary and demanded by the emergency of the time.

Always the American people have stood, from the first days of
their migration to America, for the right of the people of a
territory to determine their own development. First they have
insisted that their own right to work out their political destiny
be acknowledged and made safe. For this they fought the
Revolution. It has followed that they have in foreign affairs
tried to keep their hands free from entanglements with other
countries and have refrained from interference with foreign
politics. This was the burden of Washington's "Farewell Address,"
and it was a message which Jefferson reiterated in his inaugural.
These are the permanent principles which have controlled
enlightened American statesmen in their attitude toward the
world, from the days of John Winthrop to those of Woodrow Wilson.

It was early found, however, that the affairs of the immediate
neighbors of the United States continually and from day to day
affected the whole texture of American life and that actually
they limited American independence and therefore could not be
left out of the policy of the Government. The United States soon
began to recognize that there was a region in the affairs of
which it must take a more active interest. As early as 1780
Thomas Pownall, an English colonial official, predicted that the
United States must take an active part in Cuban affairs. In 1806
Madison, then Secretary of State, had instructed Monroe, Minister
to Great Britain, that the Government began to broach the idea