Foreign Policy, 1865–78 (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Foreign Policy, 1865–78
The foreign policy of the United States during this period rested on two apparently contradictory foundations: the principle of isolationism and the reality of territorial expansion. While the Monroe Doctrine had established a framework of non-intervention in European affairs, the USA simultaneously pursued westward expansion and acquired Alaska. The period also saw growing tensions with European powers over Latin America and tentative steps towards engagement with East Asia.
This period presents a fascinating paradox: the USA maintained a policy of detachment from European affairs while actively expanding its territorial reach. Understanding this tension is key to comprehending American foreign policy in the late nineteenth century.
The Monroe Doctrine
Announced in 1823 by President James Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the Monroe Doctrine formed the cornerstone of American foreign policy throughout the nineteenth century. This declaration established the scope of US interests abroad and defined the relationship between America and European powers.
The Three Core Principles of the Monroe Doctrine:
- The USA would remain uninvolved in European wars and conflicts unless American interests were directly threatened
- The American continents were closed to further European colonisation
- Any European attempt to colonise territory in the Americas would be treated as an act of hostility towards the United States
The Doctrine demonstrated American reluctance to engage in international affairs beyond the Western Hemisphere. Indeed, the USA did not participate in overseas wars until 1898, suggesting a consistent application of these principles across the century.
Isolationism in practice
Isolationism describes the deliberate policy of remaining detached from foreign entanglements and refusing to intervene in the internal affairs or conflicts of other governments. During the nineteenth century, this approach characterised much of American foreign policy, though the extent and consistency of this isolationism remains debated among historians.
Several interconnected factors explain why the USA adopted this stance. Geography played a central role: the European continent, home to the major imperial powers such as Britain, France and Germany, lay thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. This vast distance provided natural protection and reduced the perceived need for diplomatic engagement.
Ideological and Cultural Factors
Many Americans believed their nation was morally superior to European states engaged in empire building and colonial expansion. The USA had itself been populated largely by immigrants seeking to escape persecution and discrimination in their homelands. These people had no desire to see America entangled with the old regimes whose policies they had fled. The American republic would be guided by different, more ethical principles than the older European monarchies and empires.
Economic considerations also supported this inward-looking approach. As a predominantly rural and agricultural nation in the mid-nineteenth century, the USA possessed sufficient raw materials and resources to meet its own needs without relying on imports. When industrialisation accelerated, America continued to enjoy economic self-sufficiency. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans served as immense natural barriers, and no state on America's borders—whether Canada, Mexico, or the Central and South American republics—posed a serious threat to American security.
William Seward, who served as Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, articulated this policy explicitly in 1863:
"Our policy of non-intervention, straight, absolute, and peculiar as it may seem to other nations, has ... become a traditional one, which could not be abandoned without the most urgent occasion, amounting to manifest necessity."
Seward made this statement when rejecting an invitation to join France, Britain and Austria in pressuring Tsar Alexander II to adopt a more sympathetic policy towards Poland.
Limits to isolationism
Despite the rhetoric of non-intervention, the USA was never entirely isolationist and proved willing to act when American interests faced direct threats. In 1846, the USA went to war with Mexico to support a rebellion in California seeking independence from Mexican rule. This demonstrated that territorial ambitions could override isolationist principles.
The Maximilian Affair: Testing American Resolve
The Mexican situation again tested American resolve in the 1860s. France, taking advantage of American preoccupation with the Civil War, established a puppet emperor—a ruler controlled by foreign powers—in Mexico. Maximilian, supported by French troops, assumed power in 1866. This arrangement violated the Monroe Doctrine's prohibition on European interference in the Americas.
Secretary of State Seward demanded French withdrawal and mobilised 50,000 troops to the Mexican border. Faced with this show of force, France backed down and abandoned Maximilian.
Expansionist activity
While maintaining isolationism towards Europe, the USA pursued territorial expansion during the 1860s and 1870s. This expansion occurred primarily westward across the continent and into the Pacific, sparking debates about the nature and extent of American imperial ambitions.
The Far East
American commercial interests in East Asia prompted limited territorial acquisition and diplomatic engagement. In 1867, the USA acquired the uninhabited Midway Island in the West Pacific. The initial motivation was practical: to obtain supplies of guano (bird droppings) used in manufacturing fertiliser and gunpowder.
The following year, the Burlingame Treaty was signed to promote trade with China. This agreement endorsed the free movement of people and unrestricted trade between the USA and China. One practical aim was to stimulate Chinese immigration to America, where Chinese labourers were needed for railroad construction projects.
Alaska
The purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million represented the period's most substantial territorial acquisition. The transaction attracted considerable contemporary ridicule, with critics dubbing the territory 'Seward's icebox' and 'Seward's folly'. Many Americans struggled to understand why Seward championed the acquisition of this remote, sparsely populated region.
Motivations for the Alaska Purchase
Russia was keen to sell Alaska because it had few settlers there and the territory lacked obvious economic resources. The USA was keen to acquire it for several strategic and diplomatic reasons:
- Strategic harbours: Seward believed that developing Alaskan harbours could provide a gateway to northern Asia, allowing American merchant ships to refuel and provision themselves for the long journey across the Pacific Ocean
- Pacific expansion: The purchase would expand American control along the Pacific coastline, spreading US rule and preventing British territorial expansion from Canada
- Diplomatic relations: Maintaining good relations with Russia, a powerful nation, also made diplomatic sense
The Dominican Republic debate
In 1869, the Dominican Republic offered itself for colonisation by the United States. Congress refused this proposal, but the debate revealed divisions over imperial expansion and the terms on which new territories might be incorporated.
Those favouring annexation argued that the USA could exploit the wealth and resources of the Dominican Republic while gaining access to a ready market for American manufactured goods.
Racial Anxieties and Opposition to Annexation
Those opposed raised two main objections:
- They argued the USA should not engage with 'savages'—a racist characterisation of the Dominican population
- They expressed concern that people regarded as racially inferior might eventually have to be admitted into the Union, or that former colonies might become states and thereby reduce the influence of traditional, predominantly white American states
The Senate rejected annexation of the Republic. This debate exposed the racial anxieties underlying discussions of American expansion and the tension between territorial ambition and domestic social concerns.
Assessing US foreign policy, 1865–78
The period from 1865 to 1878 demonstrates that American foreign policy combined isolationist principles with selective expansion. The Monroe Doctrine provided the framework for limiting European influence in the Americas while justifying non-involvement in European affairs. Geographical, economic and ideological factors reinforced this approach.
However, isolationism was never absolute. The USA intervened decisively when American interests were threatened, as the Mexican crises of 1846 and 1866 demonstrated. Simultaneously, territorial expansion continued through the Alaska purchase and Pacific acquisitions, while diplomatic engagement with China grew.
The debates over the Dominican Republic revealed the complexities and contradictions of American expansion: economic ambitions clashed with racial prejudices, and territorial growth raised questions about the character of the American Union. These tensions would continue to shape US foreign policy in subsequent decades.
Key Points to Remember:
- The Monroe Doctrine (1823) established three principles: non-involvement in European wars, no European colonisation of the Americas, and treating colonisation attempts as hostile acts
- US isolationism between 1865 and 1878 was shaped by geographical distance from Europe, a sense of moral superiority, economic self-sufficiency, and the immigrant composition of the American population
- Isolationism had clear limits: the USA intervened in Mexico in 1846 and confronted France over Maximilian in 1866 when American interests were threatened
- Expansion occurred through the 1867 Alaska purchase (for $7.2 million), acquisition of Midway Island (1867), and the Burlingame Treaty with China (1868)
- The 1869–70 debate over Dominican Republic annexation exposed tensions between territorial ambition and racial anxieties about incorporating non-white populations into the Union