Foreign Policy

Westward expansion push factors

-Escaping religious persecution

-Rising population (50 mill by 1880)

-Abolition of slavery

Federal government intervention in westward expansion

-Homestead Act 1862

-Timber & culture act 1873

-Desert and land act 1877

-Transcontinental railroad 1869

Westward expansions pull factors

-Manifest destiny

-Discovery of gold eg 80,000 moved to CA in 1849

-Federal incentives

-Railway

-Abolition of slavery

Monroe Doctrine

-Stated the USA would oppose any European involvement

-Announced by Monroe and John Quincy Adams in 1823

Example of monroe doctrine

1862: France invaded Mexico and US troops stood at the Mexican Border demanding France to withdraw

America was isolationist

-Focus on internal expansion

-’American exceptionalism’

-Didn’t need to trade, had own raw materials

-Geographically apart

America was expansionist

-Acquired Midway Island 1867

-Burlingame treaty 1868 promoted trade with China

-Purchase of Alaska

-Dispute over Canada with Britain

Alaska purchase

$7.2 million by Seward

Positives of purchasing Alaska

-Harbours provide gateway to North Asia

-Eventually found gold and timber

Negatives of purchasing Alaska

“Seward’s Icebox”

“Seward’s Folly”

Why did the Navy need expanding

-Only 42 ships working

-Alfred T Mahan argued countries with great navy power would be strong

Hawaii

-Established pearl Harbour

-Trade opportunities

-Showed Hawaii as economically dependent on US

US and Britain

-US demanded compensation for GB supporting confederacy

-Britain agreed to pay $15.5 million

US and Canada

-Canada became self governing dominion in 1867

-US retaliated by allowing Irish-American civil veterans across Canada’s borders

Latin America

-Blaine encouraged closer links with south America

-America should be a continental leader to prevent future wars

-Oct 1889: 18 delegates met in Washington to set up IBAR/PBU

Examples of the frontier being settled

-Railroads

-New towns and cities eg Denver

-New states eg Colorado

Who was Turner

Historian who argued that the frontier made America unique

What did Turner claim

-Land acted as a safety barrier for crime

-No hierarchy or aristocracy compared to Europe

-US had a unique form of democracy

When was the Frontier Thesis

1893

Criticisms of The Frontier Thesis

-Focused on individual, not groups

-No mention of women or racial minorities

-Ignores role of government

-Never defined frontier