US foreign policy between 1865 and 1890: Monroe Doctrine and Territorial consolidation Flashcards

1
Q

What and when was the Monroe Doctrine?

A
  1. This indicated a disinterest in foreign affairs as it stated that the USA should not be involved with Europe.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What did the Monroe Doctrine state about colonisation.

A

Any attempts at ‘colonisation’ would be regarded as unfriendly acts and American continents were not to be colonised by European powers.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What and when was isolationism?

A

1861 – 1869: A policy by which the USA detached itself from foreign affairs. A policy of non-intervention in other governments’ internal affairs and wars.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Why did the USA believe in isolationism?

A
  • European powers were thousands of miles away.
  • USA felt superior to those countries who took part in expansion and empire building.
  • USA did not want to get involved in old regimes which may have practiced policies it had rejected.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What was the manifest destiny?

A

The belief that the expansion of the United States throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Describe how the power of the Monroe Doctrine was demonstrated after the attempt to establish an empire in Mexico.

A

During the Civil War - Archduke Maximilian of Austria seemed secure in establishing a secure imperial rule in Mexico
Once the war ended - Furious American protests from Congress and the press against this foreign ‘invasion’.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What did Grant and other army generals want the army to do after this imperial attempt?

A

The army to be sent to Mexico to ‘defend the Monroe Doctrine’ - shows how it was such a prominent faith among all Americans.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

How was William Seward going against isolationism and pursuing interventionist foreign policy?

A

His plans included:

  • Acquiring naval bases in the Caribbean and in the Pacific Islands
  • Negotiating a treaty with Columbia to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What was Sewards most important achievement?

A

The purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Describe why it was a change in Russian policy that opened the way for the purchase of Alaska.

A
  • Russian-American Company had become an expensive drain on resources
  • Russia also feared that the US might just seize the territory anyway.
  • It made sense to gain some financial reward and to improve relations than lose for nothing.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Describe how politicians felt towards Alaska at the time.

A

It was denounced by politicians and the press as a foolish and expensive mistake. Critics called it Seward’s Folly, or the polar bear garden.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How did attitudes to Alaska change?

A

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, even before the Alaskan-Yukon gold rush in the late 1890s.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

According to the National Myth, what was the settling of the ‘empty’ West?

A

A great leap forward for modernity and progress, fulfilling a ‘civilising mission’.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What were Native Americans depicted as?

A

Racially and culturally ‘inferior’ and seen as a ‘problem’ for governments to deal with.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Describe how the National Myth does not correspond with reality.

A

Native Americans actually had their own way of life, their own ancestral lands, and there own political and social structures. The conquest and colonisation was only made possible by wars.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

When and what was the Treaty of Fort Laramie?

A

1868 - included exclusive Native American rights over the Black Hills region. Made provision for white assistance in education and economic development.

17
Q

What did the Native American policy under Grant shift towards?

A

One of ‘reservation or assimilation’, requiring Native Americans to accept life in demarcated reservations, or to assimilate as individual citizens.

18
Q

What was Grants new policy intended to protect?

A

Native Americans from the exploitation by settlers and from the corruption among government agents.

19
Q

What did President Hayes do from 1877?

A

Continued to reform the Bureau of Indian Affairs to root out corruption.

20
Q

Why did these policies that intended to improve Native Americans not work out so well?

A

The Quaker missionary agents were often unable to enforce their authority over white settlers, and even Schurz (secretary of the interior) regarded them as culturally inferior, not as equals.

21
Q

What 3 aspects of white power did the Native Indians find themselves fighting?

A
  • The initiation of conflict by the actions of the white settlers
  • The decisions of the US government and its Bureau of Indian affairs.
  • The US army
22
Q

Where were the three main theatres of war?

A

In the South West, In the Great Plains and in the North West.

23
Q

Describe the war in the Great Plains.

A

Breaches of the 1868 peace treaty by white settlers and gold prospectors led to renewed war in the Black Hills and to a catastrophic defeat of the US Army at the Little Bighorn in 1876.

24
Q

Describe the situation of suppression by 1877.

A

US military control was effectively established, though there were outbreaks of rebellion such as Geronimo’s War from 1881 to 1886 and the Ghost Dance Rebellion of the Lakota Sioux.

25
Q

Describe how the white settlers took over the land.

A

The influx of white settlers had pushed Native Americans to the margins of society. The unstoppable tide of land-hungry settlers (and willingness of government to accommodate them) was shown by the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.