America in World Affairs
The United States has not always been as involved in world affairs as it is today.
Throughout its history, the nation’s foreign policy has swung back and forth
between a commitment to involvement with the world and the desire for isolation.
“Steer clear of permanent alliances,” George Washington cautioned Americans in his
Farewell Address of 1796. Washington’s warning to the young nation became a
theme of government policy for the next hundred years, as domestic issues domi-
nated Americans’ attention.
In the late 1800s, however, Americans began to look outward to the larger world.
The country had reached the limits of its continental expansion and stretched from
ocean to ocean. As its economic power grew stronger, the United States became more
involved in the affairs of its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere.
1823 –1898
THE UNITED STATES AND LATIN AMERICA
Throughout the 19th century, the United States
expanded its influence in the Western Hemisphere.
The Monroe Doctrine was intended to diminish
European inter ference. After the Civil War, American
trade with Latin America, including the Spanish colony
of Cuba, grew. In fact, the United States traded more
heavily with Cuba than Spain did.
When the Cubans rebelled against Spain,
Americans sympathized with the rebels. After the
battleship U.S.S. Maine sank in the Cuban harbor
of Havana, Americans blamed the Spanish, and
Congress declared war. After defeating the Spanish,
the United States extended its influence in territories
such as Puerto Rico, Panama, and Mexico. A new
expansionist era had begun.
▼
INVOLVEMENT AND ISOLATIONISM
Before World War I, the United States had generally limited
its military involvement to the Western Hemisphere. As the
war in Europe progressed, this position became impossible
to maintain, as German U-boats increasingly threatened
American lives. In spite of fierce opposition from isolation-
ists, the United States joined World War I in 1917. U.S.
involvement in the conflict greatly strengthened its armed
forces and revealed the nation’s military potential.
After the war, the United States returned to a policy of
isolationism. A decade later, as European dictators began
menacing other European countries, American public opin-
ion was sharply divided. Many argued that the best way to
preserve American democracy was to stay out of war in
Europe. It took Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in
1941 to force the United States into World War II.
1917–1939
▼
