Where is America?

In the late 1800's, after the disastrous American Civil War, the focus of American history turns inwards to the corporations, labor strikes, and rampant political corruption. This was an era of strong American non-interventionism and isolated foreign policy. The Americans seemed to be doing well by themselves and certainly didn't need any wars to bring them prosperity. Additionally, the entire country was still recovering from the destructive Civil War which left scars on an entire generation of politicians and young fighting men.

In Europe, in the back half of the 1800's, the Concert of Europe was starting to show strains from increasing nationalism and militarism across the continent. These exploded into smaller conflicts and wars between European nations. These included the Crimean War, the War of Italian Independence, and the Franco-Prussian War  which dramatically altered the fundamental balance of power in Europe. The United States, heeding to Washington's words of non-alliance entanglement, for the most part stayed out.

In Africa, the United States played a very minimal role with it's one semi-colony, Liberia, declaring independence in 1847 and achieving full recognition of this in 1862. At the Berlin Conference, the Europeans divided the entire African continent into zones of control. The United States was officially invited to the Conference, but had no influence or potential contributions to offer given its position.

Our policy with Latin America was a bit different and slightly more imperialistic than with other regions of the world, at least at this point. In 1869, Grant attempted to convince the nation to annex Santo Domingo, or the Dominican Republic. It was contested and finally shot down in the Senate due to a combination of racial and political ideals. But while we used Monroe Doctrine in some cases, it was largely considered moot to the point where British policy makers could ignore and even undermine.

Secretary Canning (UK) "proceeded to adopt and carry out a policy calculated to render ineffective the Monroe doctrine in so far as it conflicted with British Designs"

With the creation of a crown colony in Belize in 1871, the United States technically could have employed the usage of the Monroe Doctrine to intervene and prevent this, but they didn't. The United States was unprepared to act on the Monroe Doctrine because of its limited military capabilities compared to the United Kingdom as well as the American public not fully having the stomach for another war so soon after the Civil War. Yet immediately after the Civil War, the United States government sent soldiers to the border of Mexico and the United States with the intent to evict French troops there supporting Emperor Maximillian. It goes to show that the Monroe Doctrine in the late 1800's was used when needed, but easily ignored for pragmatic reasons.

"are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." -Monroe Doctrine

Lastly, in Asia, the United States originally stayed relatively isolated. The United States was able to conduct trade agreements with China and opened up Japan with Admiral Perry in 1854. (Japan proceeded to use the same gunboat diplomacy utilized against them more aggressively in 1876 to open up the Korean peninsula.) The United States had a brief military intervention in Korea in 1871 which yielded few results. Additionally, the United States contributed much to the Westernization of Japan during the Meiji Restoration as well as providing limited troops in the Second Opium War. As trade increased with Asia, immigration also increased, which we quickly shut down in 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act. As we stretched across the Pacific, we established consulates in Fiji (1844), Samoa (1856), and the Marshall Islands (1881). Along the way, the United States annexed Hawaii in 1894 through illegal orders and an unjustified coup d'état that overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani.

"But for the lawless occupation of Honolulu under false pretexts by the United States forces" - Blount Report commissioned by Cleveland's administration

The United States foreign policy was not standard in the late 1800's and although we had an aversion to treaties and had proclaimed our Monroe Doctrine, we ignored both and followed both. American foreign policy was pragmatic and worked within the framework of internal politics which distracted much of the nation away from its foreign affairs. Though it is quite clear that the United States did not cease war after the Civil War and gradually began to increase its presence in the world in the last 20 years of the 1800's. This will lead to American Imperialism in Asia and Latin America as well as a growing isolationist movement within the United States until this ideology is faced with the realities of the world in the mid 20th century.

Works Cited

"Blount Report." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

                  

"Hawaii." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

                  

Hidalgo, Dennis R. "Charles Sumner and the Annexation of the Dominican Repulblic." Academia. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

                  

Johnston, Harry Hamilton, and Otto Stapf. Liberia. Vol. 1. New York City: Dodd, Mead, 1906. Google Books. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

                  

"Monroe Doctrine." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

                  

Shoman, Assad. "The Guatemalan Claim and Decolonization." Belize's Independence and Decolonization in Latin America: Guatemala, Britain, and the UN. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 23-49. Google Books. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

                  

"United States Maritime Expansion across the Pacific during the 19th Century - 1830–1860 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." Https://history.state.gov/. US Department of State, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.