1.12 Foreign Policy Flashcards
What is isolationism?
A policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries.
What is interventionism?
A political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions.
At what times did America reflect the ideas of the Manifest Destiny?
During Grant’s presidency, in relation to Westward expansion, and during the 1840s at the time of war against Mexico.
What were three strands of American thought that led towards isolationism?
Anticolonialism. Geographical isolation, the sense of safe separation from the world that was provided by two great oceans. The vision of America as the Land of the Free, a refuge from persecution.
What was the Monroe Doctrine?
A policy created in 1823 as a warning to Europe. It was a statement from America that they didn’t want Europe playing out their colonial wars on American ground. Eventually America wanted Europe to be completely excluded in all aspects.
How was the power of the Monroe Doctrine demonstrated during the Civil War?
The American response to the attempt by France and Austria to establish an empire in Mexico.
What was the response to the ‘invasion’ of Mexico?
Once the Civil War ended, there were furious American protests against the ‘invasion’ of Mexico from Archduke Maximilian of Austria. Grant and other army generals wanted the army to be sent to Mexico. Seward, the Secretary of State, opted to rely on diplomatic pressure instead.
What foreign policy did Seward use?
Interventionsist: his plans included acquiring naval bases in the Caribbean and in the Pacific Islands, and negotiating a treaty with Colombia to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama.
How successful was Seward’s intervention policy?
Most of his schemes failed to materialise, though Seward did have some important achievements, such as the acquisition of Midway Island in the Pacific and, especially, the purchase of Alaska from Russia. He was also a realist and carefully avoided open conflict with France over Mexico.
How was the situation in Mexico resolved?
Neither American military power nor the mystique of the Monroe Doctrine was required to crush Maximilian’s empire in Mexico. Napoleon III lost interest.
Who was Secretary of State after William Seward?
Hamilton Fish, who continued Seward’s expansionist approach. He was in this position between 1869 and 1873.
What territorial consolidation was there after 1865?
Alaska, the Great Plains, and the Far West.
What interaction did America have with Alaska?
Its acquisition was opportunistic rather than planned. The Russian-American Company had become expensive and a drain on resources and Russia feared America would just take the territory anyway. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million.
What were Seward’s reasons for acquiring Alaska?
He felt the development of Alaskan harbours might provide a gateway to northern Asia where US merchant ships could fuel and make provision for long journeys across the Pacific Ocean. It would expand the Pacific coastline of the USA and keep the British out. It would maintain good relations with Russia.
What were attitudes towards Seward’s acquisition of Alaska?
At the time, the decision was denounced by politicians and the press as a foolish and expensive mistake. It became known as Seward’s Folly. But attitudes soon changed when strong commercial links were established with West Coast ports like Seattle and San Francisco. The economic potential of the region, for fish, furs, mining, and logging, became widely recognised.
