Foreign Policy 1865-1914
I. Manifest Destiny ends on North America
A. “Seward’s Folly” The Purchase of Alaska
1. Secretary of State’s (J.Q. Adams and William Seward best 2 of 19th c)
2. $7.2 million, a New Imperialism begins
3. Quest for resources (raw material) and markets (farm produce)
B. Mexico and the French
1. Napoleon III in Civil War in Mexico – Seward invokes Monroe Doctrine
and confronts French. (Mexico will play a role thru Pancho Villa 1914)
II. A New Imperialism, an International Darwinism
A. Imperialism – a new age or the extended idea of manifest destiny?
1. Worldwide competition – Britain France Germany Russia, Japan all
involved especially in Africa and Pacific.
2. Missionaries, Politicians, Naval Power, Popular press.
New Imperialism and the Spanish American War
3. Latin America – James Blaine “from Maine” SofS, and the Pan American
Conference 1889 – eventually morphs into the Organization of American States –
1948
a. Britain – Venezuelan dispute over Guiana forced to arbitrate, sets precedent
continued throughout age.
III. Spanish American War – “SPAM”
A. Causes of War – Long Term
1. Jingoism – aggressive nationalistic foreign policy, represents division
between imperialists and anti-imperialist (league)
2. Cuba – under heavy Spanish military control
3. Press – “Yellow Jornalism”–William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer
SHORT TERM 1. De Lome Letter (1898) – exposed by NY Journal Heasrt
2. Sinking of the Maine – 266 killed, 1976 report says accidental…
Notables: Mckinley’s War message and Teller Amendment – Cuba
Spanish American War and other Pacific Interests
B. Fighting The War
1. The Philippines – first, longest 1902(46), more costly 4k
2. Cuba – San Juan Hill, superior navy in Santiago Bay, role of disease
C. Results of War
1. *Philippines ($20 M), Guam, Puerto Rico, **Cuba’s Independence
2. Treaty of Paris signed Dec. 10, 1898 – Senate 57-27 Anti-Imperialist
3. Cuba and Platt Amendment (violate Teller?)
IV. Foreign Policy in Asia and Pacific
A. Annexation of Hawaii
1. 1893 overthrew Queen 2. 1898 Annex 3. 1900/59 Territory / State
B. Open Door Policy in China
1. John Hay SofS, delivers 1st of 2 rounds of notes to Britain, France, Japan,
Russia, Germany proclaiming equal trade and Chinese integrity
2. 1900 Boxer
Rebellion heightens tensions on trade interests
3. Hay’s 2nd round of notes received more support after Americans had
participated in international force that suppressed rebellion.
Foreign Policy of TR, Taft, and Wilson
V. Theodore Roosevelt and “Big-Stick” Policy
A. “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
1. Breaks from the tradition of non involvement - (WWI)
2. Russo-Japanese War 1905 (settled in Portsmouth, the mediator)
3. Great White Fleet – 1907-1909
a. Japan “Gentlemen’s Agreement” re: racism in CA 1908
b. Root-Takahira preserves Open Door policy 1908
B. Panama Canal – to maintain a global empire
1. US supported revolution in Colombia 1902 results in Treaty 1903 granting
canal zone
C. Roosevelt Corollary (to the Monroe Doctrine)
1. Recall “no more colonization” warning to Europe
2. Europeans have many trade interests, and US pledges to make the
interventions.
3. Long term results: Haiti, Honduras, Dominican Republic, *Nicaragua
Roosevelt, Wins Nobel Peace Prize 1906, and Participates in
Second International Peace Conference at the Hague 1907
Dollar Diplomacy and Moral Diplomacy
VI. William Howard Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
A. Free Enterprise Diplomacy
1. A reliance on investor’s dollars rather than military
2. East Asia – Taft secures joint agreement for RR in China
a. Manchuria is Russo Japanese held and US excluded
3. Latin America – Nicaragua in 1911, Civil War 1912, thru 1933
3. Lodge Corollary 1912 non Euro powers excluded from Americas
VII. Woodrow Wilson and Moral Diplomacy
A. First Term Morality – with sidekick as SofS William Jennings Bryan
1. Philippines – Bill of Rights, promise independence, and b/c territory.
2. Puerto Rican citizenship
3. Pays Panama Canal tolls
B. Appearance of Anti Imperialist – but examine the record…
1. The Caribbean dominated by America: Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican
Republic - also Mexico is invaded in response to Pancho Villa.
2. As World War I is looming large…
World War I 1914-1918
I. Outbreak of War in Europe
A. Long Term Causation: Clash of Empires
1. Alliances 2. Nationalism 3. Militarism 4. Colonialism
B. Immediate Causation: Events in Summer of 1914
1. 6/28 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife shot.
2. 7/23 Austria-Hungary issues “ultimatum” and invades 7/27
3. 8/1 German Kaiser Wilhelm I declares war on Russia
4. 8/3 Germany declares war on France and invasion of Belgium
5. 8/4 Britain declares war on Germany
II. A Precarious US Neutrality 1914-1916
A. The Imperialist Role
1. From Neutral  SPAM  World Power  Isolationist Nation
B. Blockades and Neutrality
1. Britain – natural allies?, North Sea & Atlantic control, Propaganda
2. Germany – German Americans, (Unrestricted) Submarine Warfare
Neutrality and American Entry into War
(Blockades continued)
3. US Economy - 1914 early negative impact followed by a surge in trade with
French-British. Results in German wolfpack efforts 1915-1916.
C. Public Opinion at Home & The War Debate
1. Ethnicity of Immigrants plus Allied Democracies
2. British War Propaganda
3. German actions – The Lusitania Crisis and Sussex Pledge
4. Congress – Republican Preparedness (National Security League),
b. National Defense Act of 1915 by Wilson
5. War Opposition – Bryan, Addams, Jeannette Rankin
b. Populists, Progressives, and Socialists.
III. America Enters the War (1917)
A. Election of 1916
1. Wilson “He kept us out of war” v/s Charles Evans Hughes
2. End of Progressives - Republican Congressional majority in 1918
American Entry and getting “Over There”
B. US Entry into War
1. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare resumes Jan 1917
2. Zimmerman Telegram – US Mexican relations
3. Russian Revolution (March) later the November or Bolshevik Revolution
4. March sinkings April 2 War message:
“The world must be made safe for democracy.”
IV. Mobilizing at Home and Abroad
A. Executive Power Plays a Critical Role in “beating the clock.”
1. War Industries Board
2. Food and Fuel Administrations
3. National War Labor Board
4. Liberty Bonds and Financial Role
B. Civil Liberties
1. Espionage (1917) and Sedition (1918) Acts & Committee on PubIic
Information
2. Schenck v. United States (1919) “clear and present danger”
3. Selective Service Act (1917) – Segregation in Armed Forces
America at Home and Abroad (Over There)
C. Effects of War on American Society
1. Increased opportunity in the job market. (Women, Af-Am, others)
2. The Great Migration - (s) (inclusive of Southwest)
V. “Over There”
A. Wilson’s Fourteen Points
1. January 1918 to Congress
2. Foreshadows League of Nations – “Isolation OR Internationalism”
B. War at Sea and American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
1. Convoy System July 1917 proves effective
2. Conscription (draft) effective – 4 million man army
3. American Expeditionary Force (AEF) led by Gen. Pershing
C. Drive to victory on “The Western Front”
1. June 1918 German offensive Chateau-Thierry stopped
2. Counteroffensive at Belleua Wood
3. August – October 1918 Allies through Argonne Forest
4. Armistice 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month, 1918
5. Casualties – 49k in battle but Flu Epidemic 1917
Making Peace and (Immediate) Postwar America
VI. Treaty of Versailles
A. The Fourteen Points
1. The Last Point – League of Nations can’t get through Congress
2. The Big Four – Britain, France, Italy, America
3. Jan 1919 – Treaty Terms don’t accept “Peace without victory”
- guilt and reparations - self-determination - League of Nations
B. Battle for Ratification (of the Treaty of Versailles)
1. Republican senators and Isolation – no violation of Monroe Doctrine
2. Henry Cabot Lodge as leading “reservationist”
3. Wilson decides to take it to the people and pass the full Treaty with
League. Results = exhausting tour, on Sept 25, 1919 Wilson collapses.
4. Not until 1921 is peace with Germany made, separate from Treaty.
VII. Postwar Problems
A. Economy - 1. Demobilization 2. Labor Strife resurfaces
B. Society - 1. Red Scare, Palmer Raids 2. Race Riots