Was the foreign policy of the United States primarily isolationist or expansionist through 1865-1914?
At the turn of the century, and after gaining our independence, the United States land mass more than doubled through the use of purchasing, annexing, and war. However, the foreign policy of our government took a predominately isolationist stand. This was a national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries. General Washington shaped these values by upholding and encouraging the use of these principles by warning to avoid alliances in his farewell speech. The reasoning behind these actions was that the Republic was a new nation. We did not have the resources or the means to worry about other…show more content… The United States had to pursue new avenues for economic growth, and also had to protect these interests. The first major conflict was The Spanish-American War. This war was caused by the millions of dollars the United States had invested in Cuba, and its Sugar crop. After the Spanish-American war the United States continued to expand territorially and economically by acquiring new territories, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Other examples of expansionism included the Venezuelan affair, where President Teddy Roosevelt through his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine declared the United States had "international police power" in Latin America, and the taking of the Panama Canal Zone. Through the period of 1865-1914, the United States foreign policy was primarily expansionist in action but also in view. The years following the Civil War amounted to what many people consider an Isolationist period for the United States. During the period from 1865 to 1890 our foreign policy was still construed with what the original executive had intended. Although Isolationism was the main idea of our government during this time, the United States had Expansionist tendencies throughout the whole period. They purchased land, declared war over land, and expanded throughout the entire West. On the dawn of the twentieth century, America knew it had to wean itself from the
