American Diplomatic History

The pages that follow originally came from my notes in a Diplomatic History Class. While I'm trying to add details whenever I have time, be aware that these pages remain under construction.

What is Diplomatic History?

Traditional American Foreign Policy

History of American Diplomacy

Revolution: Liberty & Democracy

• The Colonial Background
• Negotiations of the Franco-American Alliance
• The Franco-American treaties
• The Diplomacy of War
• The Diplomacy of Peace

The New Nation

• Under the Articles of Confederation
• The Constitution and American Foreign Policy
• The Washington Administration and development of the Policy of Neutrality
• The First Period of Expansion (1793-1812)

The Nation as a Regional Power

• The War of 1812
• Solidifying the Status of the US as a Regional Power
• The Second Period of Expansion and Manifest Destiny
• The Expulsion of the Eastern Native American Nations
• The Northern Border Disputes
• The Annexation of Texas
• The Mexican American War
• The Diplomacy of the Indian Wars
• Chinese Relations
• The Opening of Japan and Japanese Relations
• Diplomacy of the Civil War

The Nation as a World Power

• Emergence as a world power: Imperialism Beyond the Continent
• The Spanish - American War
• The Development of the Open Door Policy (1899-1900)
• Theodore Roosevelt and Big Stick Diplomacy
• The Taft Administration and Dollar Diplomacy
• Woodrow Wilson and Missionary Diplomacy
• World War I
• Diplomacy of the Twenties
• Diplomacy During the Great Depression
• Crisis in Europe and Asia
• World War II

The Nation as a World Superpower

• Origins of the Cold War
• Containment Policy
• Containment in Europe
• Containment in East Asia
• The Militarization of Containment and the Korean War
• Eisenhower Years and "The New Look"
• JFK: "Containment on the Brink"
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Vietnam War
• Nixon, Kissinger, and Detente
• The Disintigration of Detente

More to come...