US Foreign Policy

US Foreign Policy in the 19th Century

Michael Flynn

Professor

Department of Political Science

011C Calvin Hall

meflynn@ksu.edu

2025-08-22

Lecture Overview

1. Early Years (1783-1870)

2. Transitional Period (1870-1945)

3. Hegemonic Period (1945-2025)

4. Post-Hegemonic Period (2025-Future)

Key Questions

1. What are the major periods in US foreign policy?

2. What have been some of the key political and economic divides in each time period?

3. What elements of US foreign policy are common across time period? What changes substantially?

4. How do we reconcile the process of US expansion with popular rhetoric about democracy and (more recently) human rights?

5. How does popular historical memory of these earlier time periods shape views on policy today?

Why do we care?

1. Try to obtain a basic level of descriptive accuracy

2. Find out if reality matches our basic assumption

3. Identify, or rule out, potential causal factors

The Basics

The Basics

• US is territorially much, much smaller

• US interactions with other nations were limited

• World is a bigger place

• US had no alliances with other states until the 20th century

• Military was very small

• Low defense expenditures

• US and global trade were very low through 1970s

The Early Years

The Early Years

• Treaty of Paris: September 3, 1783

• Officially ends war with Great Britain

• Freedom!

The Early Years

• Treaty of Paris: September 3, 1783

• Officially ends war with Great Britain

• Freedom!

• But there were new enemies

The Early Years

• America still relatively weak

• Small population, no military, not economically developed/diversified

• Still vulnerable to attack and economic exploitation

• Key Conflicts:

  • Managing relations with major powers

  • English and Spanish territories in Canada and Florida

  • Territorial conflicts with Native Americans on frontier

  • Access to the Mississippi

  • Access to foreign markets and shipping rights

The Early Years

Washington’s Farewell Address:

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion [sic] as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

The Early Years

Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson

The Early Years

Napoleon Bonaparte

Robert Livingston

• France had ambitions to reconquer parts of North America. But the slave revolt in Haiti during the 1790s and Napoleon’s defeat in Europe made this impossible.

• The Louisiana Purchase arises from Napoleon’s desire to secure financing for his wars in Europe. The US was able to purchase the territory for $15 million. This is about $229 million in today’s dollars.

• Livingston is US minister to France. He’s charged with negotiating the purchase of New Orleans and West Florida. He ends up negotiating the purchase of the entire Louisiana Territory. Notably he exceeded his authority, and President Jefferson at the time opted to ask forgiveness rather than permission from Congress.

• The War of 1812 is ultimately a side conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. The US is fighting Britain, but Britain is fighting France. The US is also fighting Native Americans who are fighting the US and Britain.

• Jefferson also dispatches Marines to work with mercenaries and local fighters to fight pirates on the Barbary coast.

• Ultimately this early time period solidifies the US’ status as a regional power and mostly secures its borders, though British forces did invade Washington DC and burn the White House in 1814.

• Monroe Doctrine follows from these conflicts. It’s an attempt to keep European powers out of the Western Hemisphere. But the US can’t enforce it so it largely relies on Britain.

The Early Years

The Nullification Crisis

• Tariffs represent one of the biggest sources of conflict in the early US

• New tariffs passed in 1828 and 1832

• Tariffs affect different segments of the population…differently

• Conflict over tariffs for revenue vs tariffs for protection

• South Carolina state convention adopts Ordinance of Nullification in 1832

• President Jackson threatens to send troops to enforce the tariffs

• The split is largely along North/South lines.

• South Carolina believes that the tariffs are unfairly targeting them and that they have the right to nullify federal laws that they believe are unconstitutional (but courts have repeatedly struck down nullification).

• President Jackson threatens to send troops to enforce the tariffs. Congress passes a compromise tariff in 1833 that lowers rates over time. South Carolina repeals the Ordinance of Nullification but also passes a new ordinance nullifying the Force Act, which allows the president to use force to enforce federal laws.

The Early Years

Mexican–American War (Pre-War 1836–1846)

Texas

• Migration of US citizens, slave owners, and slaves into Texas territory

• Independent Texas, or annexation?

California

• Valuable ports for commerce with Asia

• American emigration to California increases over time

• British and French claims?

The Early Years

Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

• US offered Mexico ~$35 million in cash and debt forgiveness ($800 million + in today’s dollars)

• US paid $15 million after war

• Cost of war to US: ~$100 million; 13,000+ dead

• Cost of war to Mexico: ~25,000 dead; large economic losses

The Early Years

Civil War

• North-South split very deep (slavery, economics, expansion, trade, etc)

• In reality, these are all very closely connected

• Economic interests of the North and South were fundamentally different

The Early Years

Civil War: International Dimension

• European attitudes are mixed (oppose slavery, but want weak America)

• Some British politicians supported the North, but many favored the South in an effort to keep the United States divided

• Weakened United States would pose less of a threat to British hegemony

• Independent Southern states would change dynamics of international trade in Britain’s favor

Transition

Transition

• US emerges from Civil War as a major power

• US economy grows rapidly, surpassing Great Britain somewhere in the 1870s

• Policymakers start thinking about the US’ role in the broader world

• Attention turns to acquiring overseas territories (i.e. colonies)

• The Spanish American War presents the first opportunities for the US to acquire overseas territories

• Spain loses; US walks away with the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba (sort of)

Transition

Supporters of expansion cite:

• Need for a strong navy
• Economy benefits and secure trade markets
• National pride
• Monroe Doctrine
• Religion

Opponents of expansion cite:

• History
• Washington’s Farewell Address
• Costs of empire
• Monroe Doctrine
• Religion

Rise to Great Power Status

Rise to Great Power Status

World War I

United States enters the war in 1917

• Initially neutral

• German submarine warfare targets American merchant shipping

• Sinking of the Lusitania

• Stalemate in Europe as war drags on

Rise to Great Power Status

Consequences of the war:

• Breakdown of old imperial powers
• Austo-Hungarian Empire collapses
• Ottoman Empire collapses
• German Empire defeated
• Creation of several new states
• Nationalism as a driving force in European politics
• Partition of Middle East
• Russian Revolution
• US rejects global leadership role
• New forms of warfare emerge
• League of Nations created
• Reparations imposed on Germany
• Turkey stripped of territory, resources

Rise to Great Power Status

Treaty of Versailles

• Often viewed as unfair/unreasonable

• France aimed to punish Germany

• Severe reparations imposed on Germany

• Industrial resources seized

• US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles Twice

League of Nations:

• Viewed as a contrast to previous international orders

• Provides for collective security

• Emphasizes self-determination

• Free trade

US and League - President Wilson (a Democrat) supports a more international role for US

• Many Republicans oppose the League and the treaty as written (The Irreconcilables)

• But some prominent Republicans support it (Henry Stimson)

• Debates over US involvement continue throughout the 1920s

• Senate Republicans repeatedly object to participating in League organizations like the International Court of Justice.

Henry Cabot Lodge

Henry Stimson

Rise to Great Power Status

German domesic politics

• Germany recovering from initial economic woes, but hit hard by the depression

• Radical political parties benefit from economic crisis

• Hitler rises to power in 1933

Rise to Great Power Status

German foreign policy actions

• Germany, Italy, and Japan sign a series of treaties between 1936 and 1937

• March 1938 Germany annexes Austria by “request”

• September 1938 Germany annexes Sudentenland (part of Czechoslovakia)

Rise to Great Power Status

Steps to war

• September 3, 1939 Germany invades Poland

• British and French declare war by day’s end

• By July 1940 France falls to Germany forces

• Battle of Britain begins in August 1940

Rise to Great Power Status

Japanese foreign policy actions

• Japanese military occupied Manchuria in 1931

• Extends control of China through early 1940s

• Japanese seeking to secure access to materials like oil and rubber

• Expansion brings Japan into conflict with Western powers throughout the Pacific

Japanese imports of raw materials as percentage of consumption

Resource	Percent
Steel	40%
Nickel	100%
Aluminum	60%
Iron Ore	85%
Oil	80%
Note: Data obtained from John Keegan. The Second World War.

Rise to Great Power Status

The US in the 1930s

• US resists-ish steps to mobilize for war

• Congress imposes arms embargo on belligerent nations

• Congress passes Neutrality Acts 1935-1939

• December 7, 1941 Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor naval base