Answer: To keep European powers from trying to pursue power in Latin America.
Explanation:
The Roosevelt Corollary was set forth by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 (in his State of the Union Address that year). It was a tweaking of the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine expressed US opposition to European interference in the Americas. Roosevelt's corollary to that doctrine was that the United States would intervene in conflicts between European countries and Latin American countries, rather than having the Europeans press their claims directly.
The issue that started this concern was a financial crisis in the Dominican Republic, whose government had stopped payments on millions of dollars in debt to various nations. There was concern that European powers would seek to come to the Western Hemisphere to collect debts and then maybe also set themselves up as occupying powers in countries in the region.
The intent of the Roosevelt Corollary was set up so that if there was a conflict between any Latin American country and any European country, the United States would intervene to enforce legitimate claims of the European powers, rather than the European country or countries enforcing it themselves. This was an addition to the Monroe Doctrine, which had been put in place beforehand.
The consequences of this law are that the government was responsible for finding and returning the escaped slaves and that the Northerners had to give up their slaves.
The United States wanted to pursue a policy of remaining neutral during the Napoleonic period, but eventually became involved in the European conflicts. This resulted because both the French and English challenged American neutrality by disrupting trade
