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Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe
"We aim not at the acquisition of any of [Europe's American] possessions,... we will not stand in the way of any amicable arrangement between them and the Mother country; but... we will oppose, with all our means, the forcible interposition of any other power, as auxiliary, stipendiary, or under any other form or pretext, and most especially, their transfer to any power by conquest, cession, or acquisition in any other way." -- Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1823.