American Foreign Policy History
Review
• US in its inception wasn’t a state that rejected the idea of imperialism; American revolution wasn’t anti-
imperial; motivated by American elites in feeling they were disadvantaged in colonial project
o They oculd pursue their own interests with absence of Britain
▪ Important as it explains why America was an expansionist state
▪ Began from the outset of American history
o John Sullivan: manifest destiny—the right of our manifest destiny to possess our own continent;
▪ Explains to a considerable extend to spread America’s 13 colonies to occupy most of North
American continent with the exception of Canada
▪ This expansion ended in 1860, with election of Abraham Lincoln and the territorial
expansion of the US, with exception of Alaska
• The impetus to expand US southward was to gain more entrance to the union solely to prevent further
expansion of the south because of slavery
o The Civil War had something to do with slavery
▪ Barrett Moore Jr.: the result of two economic models: classical dependency—economy is
dependent on export of raw material; states also emerged as colonies of Britain
• Northern states began manufacturing their own factories; in terms of their expansion, they were very
protectionist from their foreign competition in Britain; north favored economic break from Britain
o Following Lincoln’s election, objective was to pass tariffs; overall, this gave rise to a rapid phase of
industrialization in Northern states that led US to have trade surplus in 1874-1960s
• The general characterization of American foreign policy was isolationism
o US sought to avoid any kind of foreign entanglement; the US from the outset was a power looking
for markets and looking to attract foreign investment
▪ American foreign policy was one of unilateralism: given the absence of threats to major
security, elites preferred to preserve ability to act in accordance to their own interests free
from the constraints of alliances
▪ It’s in this context that we could point out arguments of changing USFP
William Appleman Williams: the tragedy of American foreign policy
• Beginning in the 19th century, the US produced more in agricultural goods that its own market could
possibly absorb; the US had to absorb foreign markets and gain access to them
• The culmination of this set of interests came at end of 19th century in a foreign policy that remained the
ocre of American foreign policy from then to end of 20th century
o Open-Door Policy: directed to foreign policies towards China; rejection of Britain carving up China
and incorporating various segments of Chinese economies to American empires
o It’ll give all European powers outside access to the Chinese markets; while global free trade
benefited Britain enormously, British economy grew and others took advantage of this for greater
growth rates like France and Germany
o By the end of 19th century, Britain backed away from global free trade—resulted in the scramble
for Africa, carving up China, made
o The Open-Door policy has been the cornerstone of American foreign policy especially after WWII
when the US took up notion of self-determination; largely raised up by Wilson
o The US was ambiguously the most competitive manufacturer on the planet; global free trade
played in the interest of America
• With the growing surplus of the US, trade became absolutely vital of American interests; evident during
Lincoln’s term as secretary of state