To a greater or less degree, therefore, they continued to stay in the borderland where no one either affirmed or denied their individuality.

To quote the phrase of an Hispanic American, they stood "on the margin of international life." How far they might pass beyond it into the full privileges of recognition and association on equal terms, would depend upon the readiness with which they could atone for the errors or recover from the misfortunes of the past, and upon their power to attain stability, prosperity, strength, and responsibility.
Certain of the Hispanic republics, however, were not allowed to remain alone on their side of "the margin of international life." Though nothing so extreme as the earlier French intervention took place, foreign nations were not at all averse to crossing over the marginal line and teaching them what a failure to comply with international obligations meant.

The period from 1889 to 1907, therefore, is characterized also by interference on the part of European powers, and by interposition on the part of the United States, in the affairs of countries in and around the Caribbean Sea.

Because of the action taken by the United States two more republics--Cuba and Panama--came into being, thus increasing the number of political offshoots from Spain in America to eighteen.

Another result of this interposition was the creation of what were substantially American protectorates.