Diplomacy – Might, Money, and Morals
By the end of the 19th century, the United States was shifting its view of itself from world power bench
warmer, to the starting line-up in power. In the Post-Spanish American War world, the United States found the need
to redefine itself on the world stage through active foreign policy planning. In this lesson you will study the
evolution of US diplomacy from Roosevelt’s Big Stick to Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy and end with Wilson’s
Missionary/Moral Diplomacy.
With the Spanish-American War, the United States had begun the steps to building an empire. They acquired
overseas colonies, and “demonstrated” their military power against a major European nation. When Theodore
Roosevelt was elected president, he focused on building a strong nation that sought peace through strength. During
Roosevelt’s time in office he developed a strong foreign policy known better today as Big Stick diplomacy (after an
old African Proverb – “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick”). By the time Taft took over office, America had clearly
demonstrated its power through the world tour of the Great White Fleet. Taft was ready to transfer the waste of
money from showing off US military strength by means of shifting the debts and dependency of foreign nations on
Europe to a dependency financially on the US, thereby allowing the US to manipulate nations into positions that
were favorable to it. As Wilson took office – the nation had demonstrated its power and financially coerced nations
into conforming to the US business models. Now it was time to work on molding these nations into democracies.
It is this progression from Might to Money to Morals that brought our nation into the 20th century.
DIRECTIONS: Work as a group/pair to analyze the items that follow and respond to the questions.
“The World’s Constable”
1. List what you SEE in this cartoon:
2. Explain how the words clarify the symbols used in the cartoon.
3. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon.
4. What is the message this cartoon is conveying?
5. What do you think the feelings of the various groups depicted in the cartoon feel about this “new
diplomacy”?
Little Bow Peep and his Sheep
6. Which of the items in the cartoon are symbolic? What do you think those symbols mean?
7. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon.
8. Explain the message of the cartoon.
“Baby, Kiss Papa Good-by”
9. Which of the items in the cartoon are symbolic? What do you think the symbols mean?
10. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon.
11. Explain the message of the cartoon.
“It’s for His Own Good”
12. List what you SEE in this cartoon & Describe the action taking place in this cartoon
13. What are 3 things you could infer from what you have seen in this cartoon?
14. Explain the message of the cartoon
15. Do the various groups depicted in the cartoon agree about “it’s for his own good”? EXPLAIN.
16. What does the cartoon demonstrate about American foreign policy?
Tie-it-together Question: Having analyzed the documents, and noting that they are all in relation to the
changes in American diplomacy over time, what conclusions can you draw about the shift in American
methods of diplomacy? What do you think caused these shifts? Do you think one method would be more
successful than the others—why or why not?
Diplomacy in Action
Directions: Using the notes you took from the textbook, work in your group/pair to complete the chart.
Big Stick Diplomacy
President who
followed this
policy:
Definition:
Examples of
diplomacy in
action:
Benefits of this
type of diplomacy:
Drawbacks of this
type of diplomacy:
Dollar Diplomacy
Moral Diplomacy