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Since first breaking free from British colonial control
and becoming an independent nation, the United States
has exercised a wide variety of foreign policies. From
war and treaty with our former mother country, to
isolation and neutrality the nation has always focused
our relations with other through our needs and wants at
home. These relations can be clearly viewed via the
following themes:
Neutrality
Our nation's earliest foreign policy was one of
neutrality, as declared by George Washington and echoed
by many presidents to follow. Partial to protect our
growing commercial interests and partially due to the
weakness of infancy, we first chose not to choose in the
battles of European forefathers. This left the fledgling
nation to devote attention and resource to the business
of nation building.
Imperialism
At the dawn of the 20th century technology was shrinking
the globe and expanding the industry of the United
States. Immigrants had fueled the fires of industrial
development and pushed the nation westward in a fulfillment
of manifest destiny's call. The markets and resources of
lands overseas called to the hearts and minds of a
growing nation sold on social Darwinism and desiring to
share her bounty with the world. War with Spain proved
the opening of a fifty-year window during which the US's
reach would extend around the world.
Isolation
Still aching in body, heart and mind following the First
World War, the US retreated into fortress America,
cutting ties and obligations with world. Tariffs and
quota acts kept out foreign goods and foreign peoples,
while Palmer Raids and red scares prosecuted foreign
ideas as well as foreign accents. This period of
isolation persisted until the world called again in WWII
for help against the scourge of nazism.
Internationalism
The US learned the lessons of history, and following
World War Two, refused to again make the mistakes of the
twenties. Following WWII, the US did not isolate and
retrench, instead helping to create the United Nations
and NATO, as well as foster international trade and
cooperation.
Cold
War
Also on the heels of the Second World War was the start
of a nearly five decade war of ideology known as the
Cold War. The politics of the world would be polarized
as the USSR and the US pitted communism versus
capitalism for hegemony over the world. The arms race
and the space race finally leaving one no longer able to
run and the other unsure about how to continue with no
opponent.
New
World Order
Having been defined by the cold war for so long, US
foreign policy makers were uncertain how to reshape the
American international agenda following the decline of
communism. The ensuing "New World Order" found
the US as the sole superpower. The new issues of the new
world include terrorism, police actions, humanitarian
aid and rescue as well as checking not one large foe,
but many smaller rogue threats. This chapter in American
foreign policy is still being written.
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