The University of Texas at Arlington
Instructor: Dr. Allen Repko
HIST 1312______________________________________________________________
POST-CIVIL WAR EXPANSIONISM, 1865-1880
#3
I. EUROPE CHALLENGES THE MONROE DOCTRINE, 1823-1865
A. BACKGROUND:
1. The Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1823 by then President James Monroe, prohibited
European armed intervention in the western hemisphere and pledged that the
U.S. would abstain from involving itself in European matters.
2. In 1842, President James K. Polk broadened the scope of the Monroe Doctrine to
prohibit not only European armed intervention but even diplomatic intervention,
and to oppose the transfer of any territory in the Americas, voluntarily or not, to
a European power.
Nevertheless, by the Civil War, the Monroe Doctrine had become a fixed policy in
American foreign relations and in public opinion.
B. EUROPE POSED TWO SERIOUS CHALLENGES TO THE MONROE
DOCTRINE DURING THE CIVIL WAR
1. SPAIN’S ATTEMPT TO ANNEX THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
2. FRANCE’S ATTEMPT TO BUILD AN EMPIRE IN MEXICO
II. EXPANSION UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE SEWARD (1861-1869)
A. SEWARD EMBRACED THE DOCTRINE OF “MANIFEST DESTINY”
1. “Manifest Destiny” was the belief that the United States was destined to expand
territorially across the North American continent.
2. Seward, though, went beyond Manifest Destiny believing that it was America’s
destiny to extend its economic and political system throughout the Western
Hemisphere and ultimately, the world.
B. SEWARD LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR U.S. CONTROL OVER THE
CARIBBEAN
C. SEWARD WAS MORE SUCCESSFUL CONCERNING MEXICO
D. SEWARD’S VISION FOR AMERICAN EXPANSION IN THE PACIFIC &
FAR EAST
1. He annexed Midway Island in 1867
2. To bind Hawaii more closely economically to the United Sates, Seward negotiated
a trade treaty in 1867 which laid the groundwork for (1) United States acquiring the
right to build a naval base at what became Pearl Harbor in 1875, and (2) our
ultimate annexation of the islands.
3. Seward was most anxious to purchase “the Russian American” territory from Russia.
The powerful chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, N. P. Banks,
shared Seward’s vision of the Pacific Ocean:
“That ocean will be the theatre of the triumphs of civilization in the future. It is on
that line that are to be fought the great battles of the hereafter. It is there at the
institutions of the world will be fashioned and its destinies decided. If this transfer
is successful, it will no longer be an European civilization or an European destiny
that controls us. It will be a higher civilization and a nobler destiny. It may be an
American civilization, an American destiny of six hundred millions souls.” [F-282]
c. Banks and Seward considered Alaska a key to the China trade.
d. Historians agree that Seward’s primary accomplishment was his purchase of
Alaska.
III. HAMILTON FISH (1869-1877) FORGES AN ANGLO-AMERICAN
RAPPROCHMENT
A. TREATY OF WASINGTON OF 1871
1. Settled the “Alabama Claims” against Great Britain.
2. The importance of our settling the Alabama claims was that it removed the final
irritant in U.S.-British relations.
B. THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON PRODUCED THREE RESULTS: