On December 6, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt submitted, in written form, his annual message to the Congress of the United States, which contained what came to be called the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. In that document, Roosevelt wrote at length about many national problems, from railroad regulation to conservation of natural resources. When it came to foreign policy, however, he wrote several long paragraphs about the relations between the United States and its neighbors in Latin America. In one key paragraph, the president modified the diplomatic policy that had come to be known as the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine had been put forward by President James Monroe in December 1823, in his seventh annual message to Congress. That doctrine set out several propositions governing American relations with European countries relative to the Western Hemisphere. The main point Monroe made was that North and South America were not to be seen as areas for further European colonization. If the nations of Europe made such steps, the United States would take appropriate action to oppose them. In his corollary, Roosevelt asserted new U.S. rights relative to other countries in the region and proclaimed a broad ability to set the rules for the Caribbean Sea and countries that surrounded it.