American Foreign Policy 1789-1920

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American Foreign Policy

1789-1920

A Brief Overview

What is a Foreign Policy?

How one country interacts with another country or group

In 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 isolationist

2. Isolationist

3. Internationalist

4. 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 integrity

Security for the nation and its citizens

Prosperity for the nation and its citizens

Sometimes for some nations: revenge or prestige

Sometimes 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 nation

4. Seek revenge or prestige

5. Spread ideals or ideas

Factors that influence Foreign Policy

Geography

Military and economic power

Economic needs

Ethnic and religious ties

History

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)

ISOLATIONISM

Nonentanglement

CONTINENTAL EXPANSION

Manifest Destiny

IMPERIALISM

Great 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 1812

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

French Alliance of 1778

Two treaties – a commercial agreement and a political/military alliance

We needed French to win our independence

The 1789 French Revolution leads to aggressive policies against other European powers beginning in 1793 that results in the

English going to war with the French

Jefferson (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

20 th 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 noninvolvement in European wars

War of 1812: Two Lessons

1. Willingness to violate neutrality when advantageous

2. Difficulty of non-involvement a. Trade with Europe & colonies b. 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 Decisions

Jay’s Treaty (1794)

Pinckney’s Treaty

(1795)

XYZ Affair (1797)

Louisiana Purchase

(1803)

Embargo & Non-

Intercourse Acts

(1807)

War of 1812

Treaty 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 Territory

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

Architect of Monroe

Doctrine

Westward Expansion evolves into

Manifest 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 1783-1853

 Original United

States + Northwest

Territory (1783 GB)

 Louisiana Purchase

(1803, FR)

 Texas Annexation

(1845)

 Oregon Country

(1846 BR)

 British Cession(1818

Rush-Bagot Treaty)

 Mexican Cession

(1848 Mex War)

 Spanish Cession

(1819, FL- from SP)

 Gadsden Purchase

(1853 Mex)

American Progress by Jonathan Gast, 1872

American Indian Policy

 Expansion has implications for American

Indians

 Resist, co-exist, migrate

 Treaty of Greenville, 1795

 Jefferson- 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 isolation

Creation of more secure borders & push West

Navigation of waterways (Mississippi and later seas)

Increased respect from foreign nations

Increased boldness of some American policymakers

Links 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 nation

4. Seek revenge or prestige

5. 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 War

 James K. Polk and Manifest Destiny

 Was 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 Reservations

 Battle of Little Big Horn (1876) - one of the few Indian “ victories ”

 The Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890one of the last of many brutal defeats

 Dawes Severalty Act, 1887

Northern Boundary

 Warhawks

 Rush-Bagot Treaty 1817

 Convention of 1818

 Caroline Affair 1837-8

 Aroostook War 1839

 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842

 Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty, 1846

 Alaska Purchase and Seward, 1867

Late 19

th

Century Imperialism:

The USA Enters the World Stage

Economic motivations: new markets, new resources

Ideas about racial supremacy driven by Social

Darwinism

Manifest Destiny-extended

Military considerations (strategic, defensive)

Alfred Mahan & “ The New Navy ”

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

Early Non-Contiguous Expansion

Offer to purchase Cuba from Spain in

1848 and 1854

Alaska 1867

Pago-Pago, Samoa 1878

Pearl Harbor 1884

Hawaii 1898

1896 Republican Party Platform

Strong imperialist platform

Economic expansion guides position

Overseas expansion good for US industry

“ sympathy for Cuba ”

Nicaraguan Canal and purchase of

Danish West Indies

Annexation of Hawaii

Queen Liliuokalani

Spanish American War 1898-1900

Cuba

“ Maine ” incident, yellow journalism, jingoism & war fever

Rough Riders & Theodore Roosevelt

US acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico,

Guam

McKinley, T. Roosevelt & Taft

McKinley: Open Door Policy

Roosevelt: Panama Canal, Roosevelt

Corollary to Monroe Doctrine, “ Walk

Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Taft: Dollar Diplomacy (private funds to pursue diplomatic goals

Pre-WWI Imperialism Focal Points

Philippine Revolution

Cuba (Platt Amend)

Latin American interventions

(numerous)

Balancing Japan ’ s growing dominance in Asia with US-

Japanese economic ties

Panama Canal

China: getting a toehold in China trade

WW I: From Neutrality to Versailles

Traditional neutrality

Challenges to neutrality: u-boats, US business loans, munitions trade,

RMS Lusitania propaganda, some pro-war advocates (TR)

Wilson ’ s 1916 Pledge: To keep us out of war

Wilson ’ s 1917 statement to “ make the world safe for democracy ” . (2 nd crusade for the

US)

Wilson

s 14 Points & Versailles

Treaty & the

Lessons of War

14 Points largely disregarded

Fight for Ratification of the Treaty

Henry Cabot Lodge and American

Isolationists prevail-reject League of Nations

US returns to its “ isolationist ” position vis a vis Europe

“ Lessons ” of WWI, Red Scare & Peace

Movement

Sources:

American Foreign Policy by Leonard James

American Foreign Policy by Thomas Fitzgerald

American 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

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