American Foreign Policy 1789-1920

A Brief Overview

What is a Foreign Policy?How one country interacts with another country or groupIn the United States our Foreign Policy has spanned the extremes of Isolationist to Internationalist.

USS Chesapeake

• How active should America be in world affairs?Isolationism

The view that a nation should tend to its own domestic rather than international affairs. Internationalism

The view that a nation should assume active role in international affairs.

YOUR VIEW: What path should the U.S. follow in foreign affairs?Why?

1. Totally isolationist2. Isolationist3. Internationalist4. Totally internationalist

What factors guide a nation to be isolationist or internationalist?

The question for some is “What is in our national interest?” These people would suggest that we should ask only what is in the national interest of the United States and not what is best for the for the world.Others, Universalists, argue that we should take into account the interests and rights of people outside the United States as well as ourselves.

Goals of A Nation’s Foreign Policy

Preserve independence and integritySecurity for the nation and its citizensProsperity for the nation and its citizensSometimes for some nations: revenge or prestigeSometimes for some nations: the protection or expansion of specific ideals or ideas

YOUR VIEW: Which Goal is most important? Why?

1. Preserve independence 2. Maintain security for the nation 3. Seek prosperity for the nation4. Seek revenge or prestige5. Spread ideals or ideas

Factors that influence Foreign Policy

GeographyMilitary and economic powerEconomic needsEthnic and religious tiesHistory

Note that conditions change over time- an appropriate policy when it took six weeks to cross the Atlantic by sailing ship might not be sound in the age of ICBMs.

THREE PHASES OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (1789-1920)

ISOLATIONISMNonentanglement

CONTINENTAL EXPANSIONManifest Destiny

IMPERIALISMGreat Crusades

Events that Shaped American Foreign Policy from 1789-1824

The entangling and permanent 1778 Alliance with France Washington’s Farewell Address with its call for no “permanent alliances”President Jefferson’s call in his first Inaugural Address for no “entangling alliances”War of 1812Monroe Doctrine (1823)

French Alliance of 1778Two treaties – a commercial agreement and a political/military allianceWe needed French to win our independenceThe 1789 French Revolution leads to aggressive policies against other European powers beginning in 1793 that results in the English going to war with the FrenchJefferson (good faith), Hamilton (no obligation), and Washington’s (neutral) positions

Washington’s Farewell Address (1796)

Established concept of isolation which would dominate US foreign policy until the 20th century:

“Good faith and justice toward all nations”

“Steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world”

YOUR VIEW: If you were alive in 1796, would you have agreed with Washington? Why or why not?

Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address

“kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe”

Jefferson expanded upon Washington’s warning against “permanent alliances” to include “entangling alliances” and reinforced the principle of non-involvement in European wars

War of 1812: Two Lessons

1. Willingness to violate neutrality when advantageous

2. Difficulty of non-involvement a. Trade with Europe & coloniesb. European powers in Americas

The Monroe Doctrine (1823)In response to fears that European powers (including Britain) might expand influence in the Western Hemisphere

Stressed the special interests of the U.S. in the Western Hemisphere

Remains (mostly) viable today

KEY GUIDING STRATEGY of ISOLATIONISM:

No permanent friends, only permanent objectives

Some Key Early DecisionsJay’s Treaty (1794)Pinckney’s Treaty (1795)XYZ Affair (1797)Louisiana Purchase (1803)Embargo & Non-Intercourse Acts (1807)

War of 1812Treaty of Ghent (1814)Rush-Bagot Treaty (1817)Adams-Onis Treaty (1819)

John Quincy Adams: Secretary of State to James Monroe 1817-1825

One of the most successful Secretaries of State in American history.Had a clear vision of what US policy should be and where it should be headed.Philosophy: National interests should determine foreign policy.

John Quincy Adams: Accomplishments

Adams-Onis Treaty gives Florida (strategic importance) to US, eliminated Spain from contention for Oregon TerritoryArchitect of Monroe Doctrine

Adams’ Vision: expansion of US to the Pacific, pursuit of good relations with newly independent nations in Latin America

Westward Expansion evolves intoManifest Destiny

Movement of the “frontier line” from the Fall line in the Piedmont, to the Appallacians (Proclamation of 1763), to the Mississippi River is followed by the call for Continental Expansion as our Manifest Destiny.

Manifest Destiny

“And that claim is by right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us… The God of nature and of nations has marked it for our own…”

John L. Sullivan, Dec. 1845

John L. Sullivan

Westward Expansion & Foreign Policy 1783-1853Original United

States + Northwest Territory (1783 GB)

Louisiana Purchase (1803, FR)

British Cession(1818 Rush-Bagot Treaty)

Spanish Cession (1819, FL- from SP)

Texas Annexation (1845)

Oregon Country (1846 BR)

Mexican Cession (1848 Mex War)

Gadsden Purchase (1853 Mex)

American Progress by Jonathan Gast, 1872

American Indian Policy

Expansion has implications for American Indians

Resist, co-exist, migrateTreaty of Greenville, 1795Jefferson- Trans-Mississippi

“reserve”Jackson- Indian Removal Act 1830

Major Indian Wars

Old Northwest Territory (Tecumseh & The Prophet of the Shawnee, as well as the Fox Indians)

The Creeks (Alabama, Florida, Western Tennessee)

Seminole- in Florida

Foreign Policy Trends from 1789-1824:

Tendency toward isolationCreation of more secure borders & push WestNavigation of waterways (Mississippi and later seas)Increased respect from foreign nationsIncreased boldness of some American policy-makersLinks with newly established Latin American nations

YOUR VIEW: From 1789-1824, which goal did the U.S. put first?

1. Preserve independence 2. Maintain security for the nation 3. Seek prosperity for the nation4. Seek revenge or prestige5. Spread ideals or ideas

The Endless Argument

Should American policy be based on our own national interests (protecting our independence, borders, security, power and interests in peace) or should we take the “high road” and base our policies on moral principles (such as human rights, democracy) that could serve as a model for others?

Mexican American WarJames K. Polk and Manifest DestinyWas this war consistent with

previous US foreign policy?Who supported War with Mexico?Henry Thoreau and Civil

Disobedience (jailed because he refused to pay a federal taxes which he believed paid for an unjust war)

Aftermath of the Mexican American War for Indians

Continual Warfare on Great Plains & West

1870’s movement to ReservationsBattle of Little Big Horn (1876) - one

of the few Indian “victories”The Massacre at Wounded Knee

1890- one of the last of many brutal defeats

Dawes Severalty Act, 1887

Northern BoundaryWarhawksRush-Bagot Treaty 1817Convention of 1818Caroline Affair 1837-8Aroostook War 1839Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty, 1846Alaska Purchase and Seward, 1867

Late 19th Century Imperialism: The USA Enters the World Stage

Economic motivations: new markets, new resourcesIdeas about racial supremacy driven by Social DarwinismManifest Destiny-extendedMilitary considerations (strategic, defensive)Alfred Mahan & “The New Navy”

US exceptionalism (1st crusade for the U.S.)

Early Non-Contiguous Expansion

Offer to purchase Cuba from Spain in 1848 and 1854Alaska 1867Pago-Pago, Samoa 1878Pearl Harbor 1884Hawaii 1898

1896 Republican Party Platform

Strong imperialist platformEconomic expansion guides positionOverseas expansion good for US industry“sympathy for Cuba”

Nicaraguan Canal and purchase of Danish West IndiesAnnexation of Hawaii

Queen Liliuokalani

Spanish American War 1898-1900

Cuba “Maine” incident, yellow journalism, jingoism & war feverRough Riders & Theodore RooseveltUS acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam

McKinley, T. Roosevelt & Taft

McKinley: Open Door PolicyRoosevelt: Panama Canal, Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine, “Walk Softly and Carry a Big StickTaft: Dollar Diplomacy (private funds to pursue diplomatic goals

Pre-WWI Imperialism Focal Points

Philippine RevolutionCuba (Platt Amend)Latin American interventions (numerous)

Balancing Japan’s growing dominance in Asia with US-Japanese economic tiesPanama CanalChina: getting a toehold in China trade

WW I: From Neutrality to VersaillesTraditional neutralityChallenges to neutrality:

u-boats, US business loans, munitions trade, propaganda, some pro-war advocates (TR)

Wilson’s 1916 Pledge: To keep us out of warWilson’s 1917 statement to “make the world safe for democracy”. (2nd crusade for the US)

RMS Lusitania

Wilson’s 14 Points & Versailles Treaty & the “Lessons of War”

14 Points largely disregardedFight for Ratification of the TreatyHenry Cabot Lodge and American Isolationists prevail-reject League of NationsUS returns to its “isolationist” position vis a vis Europe“Lessons” of WWI, Red Scare & Peace Movement

Sources:

American Foreign Policy by Leonard JamesAmerican Foreign Policy by Thomas FitzgeraldAmerican Foreign Policy.ppt by Joyce Williams & Justin Hill,

RCPS (h t t p://sp.rpcs.org/faculty/HillJ/ AP US History/ American Foreign Foreign Policy.pdf