Historical Foundations of American Foreign Policy

First, although American society was mostly made up of European settlers, it was also distinct from Europe, a new nation in the New World. Second, given its distinctiveness and unique geographic advantage of being far away from Europe, the United States should pursue a policy of non-involvement in European a airs and should not be entangled in European alliances. ird, the United States should be a “shining city upon a hill”, a beacon of hope for the rest of the world to look up and emulate. Lastly, the United States has a God-given mission, a “manifest destiny” to expand across the North American continent and establish an exemplary republic.

American foreign policy abandoned one of the founding ideas of non- interference in European wars and decided to enter the First World War following a short-lived period of neutrality.

The notion of manifest destiny is that it is the destiny of the United States and a God-given right to spread across the North American continent and create what omas Je erson called “the empire of liberty.”

This ideology is a foundational myth of American political culture. Its basic premises are as follows: America is an exceptional nation due to its unique geography, abundant natural resources, lack of aristocracy, civic basis of its nationalism, republican form of government, and its belief in liberty, individualism, and free enterprise. ese give the United States a unique position in the world, the proponents of American exceptionalism would argue.

Hamilton believed that the US was destined to be the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere, but it was weak for the moment and therefore this weakness should necessitate the US to stay out of European wars and focus on domestic development.

Washington, in his farewell address, warned against political polarization and factions at home. The farewell address, which is actually a short piece written for a newspaper, was mostly about domestic politics, but it is generally today remembered as a blueprint of how the United States should proceed with foreign policy. Washington argued that the United States should have no permanent alliances but develop commercial ties with all.

Wilsonianism’s core feature is the belief of its proponents in the benevolent nature of American power. ey argue that the American military, political, and economic power can and should be used to promote democracy and liberal values abroad. ey argue that the best way to ensure American security and prosperity is to create an international system that is populated by states that share similar values and institutions like the United States.

The Jacksonians are populist nationalists who argue in favor of a muscular foreign policy and strong military to defend American interests.

• the Florida Purchase in 1819 from Spain,

• the annexation of Texas in 1845 prior to theMexican-American War in 1846,

• the Oregon Treaty in 1846 with Britainin which present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and portions of Montana and Wyoming are ceded to the United States,

• Mexican cession in 1848 to the UnitedStates that includes all of the present-day states of California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as portions of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming,

• the purchase of Alaska in 1867 from Russia,

• the Annexation of Hawaii in 1898.

• Louisiana Purchase

• First, no more colonization in the WesternHemisphere by European powers, and therefore there should be no re-conquest of the Latin American republics that declared independence.

• Second, non-intervention by Europeanpowers in the Western Hemisphere in internal a airs of the newly-established republics.

• Third, in return, the US promises not tointerfere in European relations.

• Lastly, the principle of non-transferencebetween European powers of colonies in the Western Hemisphere. In other words, no more trading colonies between the European powers.

1848, the war came to an end with the advent of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which led Mexico to cede 1.36 million square kilometers of its territory to the US including today’s Colorado, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, in return for $15 million US dollars and the handover of $3.25 million dollars’ worth debt from Mexico owed to American citizens (Greenberg 2013).

Great Britain sided with the South and embarked on providing the Confederacy forces with military and economic aid.

The causes of the 1898 Spanish-American War were the uprising in Cuba against the Spanish suzerainty and the sinking of the American battleship USS Maine.

The Spanish-American War of 1898 is crucial and it is a turning point in American foreign policy. First, it led to the establishment of a formal colonial empire with the purchase of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico from Spain. It led to the annexation of Hawaii. It also led to the creation of protectorates in the Caribbean, most importantly in Cuba. The Spanish-American War also led the way for the informal empire of Theodore Roosevelt.

First, in the wake of the 1898 Spanish-American war, the US became an imperial power and supplanted its isolationist and regional foreign policy vision with a global one, and the open door policy was the first port of call for the newfound informal empire. Second, the open door policy pronounced the US recognition of China’s ascension to a major power status and of China’s territorial integrity as well as its sovereignty. ird, since the Congress of Vienna, the open door policy has been the first multilateral attempt to bring stability into international system by delineating each major power’s sphere of economic and political in uence in the world including those of the new major powers, i.e., the US, Japan, and China.

US companies completed the Panama Canal in 1914.

The American foreign policy from the Spanish- American War of 1898 and the 1899 open door initiative towards China to the inception of the First World War (WWI) in 1914 can be defined as the anti-Washington foreign policy.

Theodore Roosevelt assumed the highest o ice in the United States after the assassination of President McKinley.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Stick diplomacyis also known as the “Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine."

Roosevelt himself wanted the Russo-Japanese War to end on a compromise that conferred both Russia and Japan a role to play in Northeast China to maintain the balance of power and equal economic opportunity for the competing powers in the region. Although the early Japanese military victories met with the US approval, Roosevelt then became concerned about the consequences to American interests if Japan managed to overwhelm Russia entirely and became the regional hegemon.