ABSTRACT
The period of Congress Diplomacy promised much but delivered relatively little. The idea of regular meetings to air differences and defuse crises was pushed hard, and successfully, by Viscount Castlereagh in 1814-15. In doing so, he was making a reality of the path to lasting peace identified by his mentor, William Pitt. He wrote a Memorandum in January 1805 in which he identified the key principles of foreign policy. One of these was to form, at the restoration of peace, a general agreement and guarantee for the mutual protection and security of different powers. The policy, articulated by President James Monroe in his State of the Union message to the United States Congress, that further colonisation by European powers of any part of the Americas was unwelcome and would not be tolerated. The Doctrine attempted to establish separate spheres of influence for America and Europe.
