Was the foreign policy of the United States primarily isolationist or expansionist through 1865-1914? At the turn of the century, and after gaining our independence, the United States land mass more than doubled through the use of purchasing, annexing, and war. However, the foreign policy of our government took a predominately isolationist stand. This was a national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries. General Washington shaped these values by upholding and encouraging the use of these principles by warning to avoid alliances in his farewell speech. The reasoning behind these actions was that the Republic was a new nation. We did not have the resources or the means to worry about other countries and foreign affairs; our immediate efforts were internal. Our goals that were of primary importance were setting up a democratic government and jump-starting a nation. The United States foreign policy up to and directly preceding the Civil War was mainly Isolationist. After the war, the government helped bring together a nation torn apart by war, helped improved our industrialization, and helped further populate our continent. We were isolationist in foreign affairs, while expanding domestically into the west and into the north through the purchase of Alaska. However, around 1890 the expansionism that had taken place was a far cry from what was about to happen. Expansionism is the nations practice or policy ...
The major strengths of Theodore Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy lied in his eager and energetic global action, his desire to involve the United States in global politics, as well as in his belief in his Big Stick diplomacy. Roosevelt’s naval intervention in Panama, which led to successful retaliation against Colombian government, allowed for the construction the Panama Canal previously stymied by a lack of cooperation on the part of Colombia. The Canal uncovered a new and valuable trade route, linking the Pacific to the Atlantic, and stimulating economic growth for both the United States as well as other countries.
This period of expansionism clearly demonstrates just how power hungry the United States was at this point in its history. One could say that this thirst for international power, and perceived need to exercise such power, directly led to World War One in the
The two decades after the end of WWI witnessed significant changes in the economic, social as well as cultural life in America. In the 1920s, the memories of WWI and fear of another costly and deadly European conflict led to the development of Isolationism Policy. The United States adopted the foreign policy of isolationism became isolated due to its economic policies and politics. This policy was in response to the Japanese aggression in Chinese Manchuria. According to Blume (2010), the country involved without commitment as it gained advantages without obligations. The U.S could get involved in world affairs but could not act by interfering or having alliances with other nations. Thus, US became a sovereign free state which was at peace.
Many people were in favor of U.S expansion around the world. There are three men though that are in favor of the expansion but had created arguments to back themselves up. Frederick Jackson Turner’s most famous argument was on devoted to the American Revolution, it was about the frontier or “Old West” in America. Turner was not one for war but sometimes he would write about war. He argued a few points in his work, The Frontier in American History. The first point that he argued was that a violent frontier was established from Georgia to New England as a result of the wars with France. He then made a point about the self-sufficient society that had also ben established on the frontier that was much different from the rest of society. Then he
During the years surrounding James K. Polk's presidency, the United States of America grew economically, socially, and most noticeably geographically. In this time period, the western boundaries of the Untied States would be expanded all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Many Americans in the 19th century believed that the acquisition of this territory to the west was their right and embraced the concept of "Manifest Destiny". This concept was the belief that America should stretch from sea to shining sea and it was all but inevitable. Under the cover of "Manifest Destiny", President Polk imposed his views of an aggressive imperialistic nation. Imperialism is the practice of extending the power and dominion of a nation by direct territorial acquisitions over others, and clearly America took much of this land by force rather than peaceful negotiations with other nations. Polk acquired three huge areas of land to include: the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico under the Mexican Cession.
4. America’s foreign policy followed and promoted the idea of nationalism between 1825 and 1825 by making a treaty with Great Britain to trim down the number of military fleets at the Great Lakes. Also the Rush-Bagot Treaty made America and Canada remove all their troops from their shared border. John Adams also held the convention of 1818, which made a compromise with Britain to share the Oregon territory.
A reason America wanted to expand was because they wanted their economy to thrive. After the Spanish American war, Hawaii became extremely important to the US for business uses. Eventually, Hawaii and the US signed a trade treaty which allowed Hawaiian sugar to be sold in America. Soon after, President Mckinley decided to annex Hawaii because there were a lot of factors about Hawaii that could benefit America. The annexation of Hawaii allowed America to create more naval stations in order to protect it’s world trade. The growth of America’s economy was partly because of Hawaii's goods. The economy of the US would not be as successful as it is today if we did not expand our borders. The US had the most advanced economy, but that didn’t stop them from trying to achieve more success which leads to my second evidence. America needed new markets to sell US-made goods as well as raw materials like sugar and oil. So America’s plan was to trade with China and expand their trade routes. America didn’t want to risk the chances of losing trade opportunities with Japan, Africa, China and other nations so they had the intention of expanding abroad. Furthermore, the US was able to have a successful and wealthy economy by expanding
Expansionism in the late 19th/ Early 20th century Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American expansionist ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, the Americans believed that we must expand our borders in order to keep the country running upright. Also, the Americans believed that the United States was the strongest of nations, and that they could take any land they pleased. This is shown in the "manifest destiny" of the 1840's and the "Darwinism" of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Apart from the similarities, there were also several differences that included the American attempt to stretch their empire across the seas and into other parts of the world.
Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States and held the office from 1913-1921. He became known as “the Crusader” due to his foreign policy theory that America should be a beacon of liberty and aggressively pursue the spread of democracy throughout the world. His policy would enable America to prosper economically and develop an international security community through the promotion of democracy in other nations. While former Secretary of State Kissinger writes in his book Diplomacy that 20th century American foreign policy has been driven by Wilsonian idealism, an analysis of 21st century US foreign policy reveals that, in fact, US foreign policy has been influenced by ideals that can be characterized as Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian, and Jacksonian as well.
American foreign policy during the 1890s was based on many factors that each acted as an individual justification for our country’s behavior as a whole. Racism, nationalism, commercialism, and humanitarianism each had its own role in the actions America took against other nations.
US Isolationism During 1919-1941 From 1919-1941, the US advocated its isolationism. However, as such a large and economically influential nation it could not be truly isolationist and did take part in some international affairs during the period. The extent to which the nation was isolationist varied throughout the period. One can clearly state that in 1919 support for isolationism was extremely strong but was nearly completely extinguished by 1942. After the First World War and partly as a reaction to it, there existed a strong isolationist sentiment among the American people.
United States' Isolationist Policy During the Inter-War Years After the First World War many people in the United States wanted to turn their backs on European and other world affairs. This has been a policy of isolationism. If this term is used to mean having nothing to do with the outside world, then the USA was clearly not isolationist as it was involved in a number of important international issues. The term can more accurately be used, however, to mean refusing to become involved in international disputes and conflicts. The single most important feature of American isolationism was the decision not to join the League of Nations.
The United States, from its inception had a lust for real estate. From the original chants of "manifest destiny" to the calls for the annexation of Indian territories, America has been driven to acquire land. In this country's youth, land was needed for economic expansion; however, by the end of the 19th century, the entire continental United States had been in possession and the citizenry of this country turned their eyes out to sea. The United States no longer sought new lands to farm and work nor did they need new areas for their geological resources; the motives had changed. The United States was now driven by the temptations of world power and political supremacy. The self-absorbed citizenry looked upon their intrusion into foreign areas as a moral obligation; to spread the words of democracy and Christ throughout the world.
Expansion or isolation seemed to be the most argued political themes of the early 1900s. Europeans had drawn satisfaction from fulfilling a self-imposed “civilizing” mission to spread Western culture and Mark Twain points out that while our country has an army powerful enough to “capture the savages” in the Philippines, our great army has a very savage taste and killed all of the 600 Moro men, women and children who “fortified themselves in the bowl of an extinct crater” (Doc 6). If something gets in the way of imperialism, it must be silenced! This hardly sounds like God’s will! Anti-Imperialists urged the government to remember our founding principles and to stop “the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods” and urged the US to remember that we protested international laws allowing the strong to rule the weak (Doc 3).
Though it doesn’t justify the actions that took place, it’s important to know why the US had this desire to expand. What exactly is manifest destiny? It was a term used during the 19th century to justify America’s desire to expand ultimately reaching from coast to coast. It stimulated Americans and gave them a new sense of purpose, or national destiny. By midcentury, the population had grown from 5 million in 1800 to over 23 million. In order to accommodate this increase in population, America needed more land. Between 1820 and 1850, nearly 4 million Americans made the trek across the country to the western frontier where land was cheap, even free in some cases. People were looking for opportunities to make a living on their own and having land of their own gave them the opportunity to do so.