The United States started its intervention in Nicaragua in 1849, “when the California gold rush turned the Central American isthmus into a major transit for westbound fortune hunters and a key target for U.S. expansionists.” The Monroe Doctrine was supposed to aim at instating democracy in the country. The people of Nicaragua believed that the United States was its ally. The United States promised to start digging a canal through the territory of Nicaragua, which would link the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The Nicaraguans considered the future canal would bring them great profit. However, nobody had taken into account Nicaragua and its interests at that time.
The Liberal and the Conservative Parties were fighting wars in the 1840s and 1850s. The conflict ended when the Liberals asked William Walker in 1855 to assist them with the withdrawal of the Conservatives and so they could seize power. Walker agreed to help the Liberals, and, after his victory over the Conservatives, he proclaimed himself president in 1856. His goal was to make Nicaragua a US slave state. Walker began to create …show more content…
Nicaragua received the idea with a lot of sincerity and the perception that their great dream for freedom would be achieved very soon after the policy became fully implemented. However, that was contrary to their views and perception.11 According to Schoultz, the doctrine was convened to help the United States achieve the following interests; the need to protect and uphold the United State security, demands from the local and domestic politics, and to promote the United States economy. Furthermore, Nicaragua started to experience a lot of regulations in decision making. Some of the regulation required that Nicaragua report to the United States any awareness or an illegal move by other countries that was seen to be a threat to the United States. Though Nicaragua must have benefited from the close relationship with the United States, in most cases the Nicaraguan government complained about too much exploitation of their resources by the United States government.12 There is no doubt that the United States applied the policy to protect its own interests. According to the policy, European nations were not to attain more colonies in Latin America. In this case, the United States took advantage of that situation and acquired the inferior Latin