LOST would be a loser for the U.S.

In 1823, President James Monroe had a simple message to the great states of Europe: Hands off. “The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers,” he wrote in his annual message to Congress.

European reaction to the “Monroe Doctrine” proved all too predictable. The Marquis de Lafayette, pretty much America’s lone cheerleader in the Old World, called the declaration “the best little piece of paper that God had ever permitted any man to give the World.”