Thematic Essay: The History of American Foreign Policy

I

Introduction

Thematic Essay: The History of American Foreign Policy

Thematic Essays combine a broad survey of a particular topic with key supplementary readings to create a comprehensive learning experience. This essay by historian Herbert S. Parmet traces the development of American foreign policy. Accompanying the essay are primary source materials consisting of excerpts from historic documents and the works of influential thinkers.

By Herbert S. Parmet

Throughout much of United States history the pendulum of American foreign policy has swung between the extremes of isolationism and active engagement in world affairs. American foreign policy developed in response to a number of factors, including popular sentiments within the United States, international events, and the opinions of American thinkers and policymakers.

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In its first century as a nation, the United States remained largely detached from affairs of the rest of the world both as a result of its geography and its desire to focus on domestic concerns. As the country’s population and economic power grew, political and commercial concerns extended beyond U.S. borders. By the late 19th century, U.S. foreign policy began to display some characteristics of political realism, also known as realpolitik, an approach that acknowledges the constant possibility of ruthless international competition and war. During the first half of the 20th century, the United States preferred to maintain a mostly isolationist stance and entered international disputes reluctantly, long after the other primary actors. Foreign policy developed in response to the requirements of national self-interest, focusing on the maintenance of security and open commerce within the Western Hemisphere.

II

Domestic Focus

Early American presidents kept foreign policy squarely focused on issues of immediate concern to the young nation. In his Farewell Address of 1796, George Washington advised the nation to preserve its unique advantages by avoiding 'permanent alliances' that would limit trade options and drag the young country into distant conflicts. In 1807, after the United States was nearly drawn into the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), President Thomas Jefferson reaffirmed Washington’s stand with his own warning against 'entangling alliances.'

III

The Monroe Doctrine

In 1823 President James Monroe delivered an address to Congress in which he asserted that the United States should stay out of European affairs and that European powers should not interfere in the Americas. The Monroe Doctrine, as the assertion came to be called, carried no legal authority, but it defined U.S. policy in Latin America and justified westward expansion across the continent. Aside from occasional disputes over American expansion, until the late 19th century foreign policy continued to be dominated by a desire to avoid foreign crises and, where possible, to live in isolation.

IV

Growth and an Outward Perspective

Change was evident as the 19th century came to a close. After the Civil War (1861-1865), the United States’ rapid industrial growth made its isolationist stance increasingly difficult to maintain. The country’s historically rural population was rapidly becoming more urban and diverse. Desire for more markets began to overtake the appetite for more land. Similar changes took place in other countries as the limits of domestic markets touched off enthusiasm for new outlets. Competition with other countries for influence and for overseas markets became inevitable.

American naval officer Alfred T. Mahan wrote in The Influence of Seapower Upon History (1890) that the United States could not permit itself to be left behind in the growing international competition. A powerful navy, he insisted, was vital for that goal. Just a few years after the publication of Mahan’s book, Republicans wrote into their platform a call for 'the achievement of the manifest destiny of the republic in its broadest sense.' Manifest destinywas a term created by journalist and diplomat John Lewis O’Sullivan and was long a rallying cry for the nation’s westward expansion. With the new Republican platform, the concept of manifest destiny now extended to include interests overseas, particularly Latin America.

The U.S. presence in Latin America faced its first major challenge in 1895. President Grover Cleveland strongly objected to British interference in a boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana (present-day Guyana). The situation briefly threatened a military conflict between the United States and Britain. Cleveland successfully invoked the Monroe Doctrine’s ban against European incursions into the Western Hemisphere.

Cleveland’s success was due in part to Britain’s recognition of U.S. power and to concerns about the growing strength of Germany, which made Britain eager to cultivate the United States as an ally. In 1903, for similar reasons, the British favored U.S. claims in determining the boundary between the Alaskan Panhandle and Canada.

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