Lesson Plan Title: Struggles in Establishing US Foreign Policy in the Early
Republic
Name: Barry Leonard
Grade Level: 10-12
School: Graves County High School
Lesson length: 1-3 days
Lesson Essential Question: (A question that lies at the heart of a subject or a curriculum, and
promotes inquiry)
As a new nation, how did the U.S. establish its foreign policy identity in the world?
Academic Expectation and Core Content for Assessment Standard:
B. Building a Nation (Colonization-ca. 1877)
m. Evaluate, take, and defend positions on the development of U.S. foreign policy during the early nineteenth century
(e.g., Embargo Act, Monroe Doctrine)
Learning Targets:
What students will know:























U.S. Debt and Foreign Loans, 1775-1795
What students will be able to do:
Describe the problems and solutions of US
Debt in the Early Republic
Constitutional Convention and Ratification, Identify the treaties and responsibilities the
1787-1789
new government put in place
The United States and the French
Revolution, 1789-1799
Describe why the US chose not to help the
French during their revolution.
The United States and the Haitian
Revolution, 1791-1804
Identify how the Haitian Revolution helped
the US gain the Louisiana Purchase
The Citizen Genêt Affair, 1793-1794
Analyze how the executive and legislative
branches handled foreign ministers/
ambassadors when they contradicted the
laws of neutrality
John Jay’s Treaty, 1794–95
Treaty of San Lorenzo/ Pinckney’s Treaty,
1795
Washington's Farewell Address, 1796
Discuss the ineffectiveness and unpopularity
of Jay’s Treaty and Pinckney’s Treaty
Analyze Washington’s Farewell
Address and it’s effect on US Foreign Policy

The XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War with
France, 1798-1800




Barbary Wars, 1801-1805 and 1815-1816
How the United States dealt with the Barbary
Pirates.
Napoleonic Wars and the United States,
1803-1815
How the United States continued to stay
neutral during the Napoleonic Wars














Louisiana Purchase, 1803
How the relationship of the US and France
had deteriorated to such levels and how it
divided our nation and its political parties.
How the United States obtained the
Louisiana Purchase
War of 1812-1815
What the causes and effects of the War of
1812 had on US foreign policy
Rush-Bagot Pact, 1817 and Convention of
1818
How the United States secured a peaceful
border relationship on the Great Lakes with
Great Britain (and Canada)
Acquisition of Florida: Treaty of AdamsOnis (1819) and Transcontinental Treaty
(1821)
Monroe Doctrine, 1823
Why Spain sold the United States it’s Florida
territory and settled it’s borders out west
What impact did the Monroe Doctrine have
on the United States and Europe
Instructional Set/Bell Ringer: (Opening Activity, hooks the student into the lesson)
Ask students to explain what Washington’s Neutrality policy meant. (attached)
What gave President Washington these powers? Did he usurp his powers? (attached)
Ask students to list events where this “neutrality” may have been stretched.
If students have minimum background knowledge, play any of these three 10 minute lectures
provides a background knowledge of the Early Republic. There are pp slides to go along with
the lectures.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUAoKewHaaI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectpf5tG0BU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-jGMtUPYDA&feature=related




The attached cartoon might also be used to get students thinking about how foreign
conflicts cause the government to sometimes overreact (Alien and Sedition Acts,
Wars, threats of Wars).
The map may be used to help students identify where some of the issues took place in
North America.
Various other maps might be used to demonstrate the other places such as the
Barbary Wars, French Revolution, and Monroe Doctrine took place.
The economic chart might be used to enhance how expensive it gets to be when the
United States is “not” neutral or isolated.
Transition Activity: (Activity ties the bell ringer to the Learning Experience)
 This activity can be done individually, pairs, or groups of four or more.
 Give students the list of events under learning targets, what students will know. Write
them on the board or have them on the LCD screen.
 Give students about 15 minutes to identify the main issue behind each event.
Learning Experience: (The main activity in the lesson)





The Early Republic was anything but isolated.
These 15 events demonstrate how the young nation dealt with many issues such as
expansion, borders, trade, conflicts at home and abroad.
As students/groups report out the significance of each event and how it dealt with the
role of the United States in local/state/national/international affairs.
Why do textbooks, teachers and Wikipedia constantly defend that the United States
was an isolated nation with so many issues and events that demonstrate otherwise?
Students can report out after reading, discussing and writing about their event(s)
Lesson Wrap Up: (The closing activity, reiterates what student were to know and be able to
do)
Have students write a brief summary defending the position the United States was not
isolated but established it’s identity in the world by rising to meet several global issues in a
variety of ways.
Lesson Assessment: (How the teacher will gauge the student learning throughout the lesson)
Students may be assessed holistically by their participation individually, as a group or by their
comprehension of the lesson in their writing. There are released questions from the Quality
Core that might also help in the assessment of this lesson. Examples are attached.
Resources and materials needed: (list of all the items the teacher will need to implement the
lesson)
These websites can be copied to print out or accessed by students if they have computer
access.
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829
White board and markers to list the events or LCD screen to post them (or write them down
on paper and hand out individually or to groups).
Most textbooks will cover these events/issues in varying detail. Supplement with the website
reading and video would be most helpful.
The Proclamation of Neutrality 1793
A Proclamation
Whereas it appears that a state of war exists between Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain,
and the United Netherlands, of the one part, and France on the other; and the duty and interest of
the United States require, that they should with sincerity and good faith adopt and pursue a conduct
friendly and impartial toward the belligerant Powers;
I have therefore thought fit by these presents to declare the disposition of the United States to
observe the conduct aforesaid towards those Powers respectfully; and to exhort and warn the
citizens of the United States carefully to avoid all acts and proceedings whatsoever, which may in
any manner tend to contravene such disposition.
And I do hereby also make known, that whatsoever of the citizens of the United States shall
render himself liable to punishment or forfeiture under the law of nations, by committing, aiding, or
abetting hostilities against any of the said Powers, or by carrying to any of them those articles which
are deemed contraband by the modern usage of nations, will not receive the protection of the United
States, against such punishment or forfeiture; and further, that I have given instructions to those
officers, to whom it belongs, to cause prosecutions to be instituted against all persons, who shall,
within the cognizance of the courts of the United States, violate the law of nations, with respect to
the Powers at war, or any of them.
In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to
these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia, the twentysecond day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the seventeenth.
George Washington
April 22, 1793
Source:
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Prepared under the direction of the Joint Committee on printing, of the House and Senate
Pursuant to an Act of the Fifty-Second Congress of the United States.
New York : Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/neutra93.asp
Washington’s Neutrality Creates War of Words
In today’s political landscape, taking a side on any particular issue is likely to get a
person on the wrong side of about half the country. But that’s not really news. We live with
a strongly-divided two-party system with each one holding positions that are, in most cases,
diametrically opposed to each other. Whether it be about the size of government, some
social issue, or whatever, taking a position generally involves very little middle ground.
But sometimes, taking a stand in the middle offers little or no protection, either. Let’s
look at one such instance from the pages of history.
As the 18th century came to a close in America, few issues were more divisive than the
French Revolution. Whether it was the general population, or those Founders in charge of
the fledgling government, opinions pretty much fell into two camps. There were those that
favored the uprisings that began in Paris, heralding them as “the son of the American
Revolution”. Others maintained that it was little more than a sadistic, reverse-engineered
purge, one in which the people not only overthrew their leadership, but led them to the
guillotine to relieve them of their “headship”.
Once Louis XVI had felt the blade’s bite on his neck in January of 1793, it took but a
week for the French to declare war on England and Holland. And that put President
Washington in a difficult position. Did he side with the French, who had clearly been an ally
in America’s own struggle for independence? Or would it be with England, an enemy not so
long ago, but not so now? The country was deeply split on the issue, but the President
didn’t pander to either side.
In his biography of the man, Ron Chernow writes that “Washington hoped to win
respectability from foreign powers, but he also wanted to stay free of foreign entanglements
so the young nation could prosper.” And on April 22, 1793, he did just that, landing directly
in the middle of the issue with what came to be known as the Proclamation of Neutrality.
The final document didn’t actually contain the word neutrality, but asked the nation’s citizens
to “pursue a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers.”
And you can probably predict what happened. A few people (mostly those less inclined
to the French position) were pleased with the President’s stance. But many others had a
completely different reaction, one that was neither friendly nor impartial. They believed
Washington and his “minions” were turning their backs on the one alliance that had
sustained them during the Revolution. It mattered little that a strong case could be made for
France supporting the Colonies out of self-interest (keeping the British pre-occupied) as
opposed to some sort of Revolutionary altruism. Also ignored in much of the negative
feelings was the small fact that most of the French supporters of the Revolution now had
their disconnected heads stuffed between their knees.
Members of Congress was also upset, believing they had been side-stepped by the
President. They contended that if Congress had the power to declare war, it also had the
power to declare neutrality. Some went so far as to say that Washington was acting the
part of a monarch, issuing an edict from his Hamiltonian-inspired throne.
There appears to be truth to the old adage that landing in the middle of an issue only
serves to make everybody mad. It certainly worked for Washington on this day in history…
Recommended Reading: Washington – A Life
http://todayshistorylesson.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/washingtons-neutrality-creates-warof-words/
United States Territorial Expansion by 1860
From the 1780s to the 1840s, the United States acquired land occupied by dozens of indigenous nations,
and settled or claimed by Mexico, France, Spain, and Great Britain. What most surprises you about this
map?
http://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/pdf/text/AmHst07_Territories.pdf
http://2ndrelook.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
http://covertress.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html
Early 19th Century
1) What was the strategic consequence of the U.S. victory over Britain in the Battle of New
Orleans?
A. It ended British interference with American commerce in the lower Mississippi River
valley.
B. It discouraged the British in their protracted fight against Napoleon's forces.
C. It enabled American negotiators to press the British to cede parts of Canada.
D. It required the British to halt the impressment of American sailors on the high seas.
2) What helps to explain the strong congressional support for the 1846 declaration of war
against
Mexico?
A. Manifest Destiny
B. Monroe Doctrine
C. Imperialism
D. Progressivism
3) In which of the following ways was the outcome of the War of 1812 advantageous to
Americans?
A. The British defeat in the Battle of New Orleans boosted American morale.
B. The British agreed to stop interdicting American slave ships.
C. The British defeat allowed the U.S. government to initiate treaties with the Indians.
D. The British promised to end their support of Tecumseh and other tribal leaders.
1) A
2) A
3) A
Western Expansion
1) What official act(s) provided for the settlement of the land between the Appalachian
Mountains and the Mississippi River, its governance, and its eventual inclusion into the
United States?
A. Congressional authorization of the use of military force to remove squatters
B. Federal and state laws against land speculation and slavery
C. A pair of ordinances passed in 1785 and 1787
D. A series of equitable treaties negotiated with Indians
3) Which statement best describes President Jefferson's position on the Louisiana
Purchase?
A. He believed the United States had a destiny to expand to the West.
B. He sought improved relations with Indians who occupied those lands.
C. He was concerned the development might foster increased political opposition.
D. He feared territorial expansion would encourage the extension of slavery.
1) C
3) A