American Foreign Policy Dbq

Thirteen years after the Declaration of Independence, our first president, George Washington, was elected. Over several years, the first five presidents, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, have taken actions to keep America away from the European nation’s contact and problems by altering the foreign policy. Foreign policy are the government’s strategy to protect the nation from foreign interference. There had to be foreign policy because of the fights and political issues going on in powerful nations, such as Europe, that would have troubled the United States if they had gotten involved. The current America is strong as a nation because George Washington had presented the idea of neutrality, and
Document A states, “Whereas it appears that a state of war exists between Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain, and the United Netherlands, on the one part, and France on the other…I have therefore thought fit by these presents, to declare the disposition of the United States…” From this quote, we can infer that without his Proclamation, the future America would have had trouble with trades, alliances, and war, because it states that Europe’s government is in serious trouble. After his address of neutrality, George Washington sent out “A Letter to the American People.” (Doc. B). In this document, George Washington states that America should have “as little political connexion as possible.” He also suggests that, “...by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice.” (Doc. B) This tells us, historians that George Washington knew what would happen if we were to interfere with foreign
This was “...a wound in the American breast,” (Doc. C) because the French have back stabbed America. Also, this case would have been clearly avoidable, if the United States have kept neutrality among the Great Britain and France. This situation, known as the XYZ Affair, was one of the consequences of trying to keep neutrality with European powers. Document C also claims, “...we ought not to involve ourselves in the political system of Europe, but to keep ourselves always distinct and separate from it if we can… It is necessary...to make preparations against them…” This statement is not a wise statement to make, especially because this would be breaking neutrality between American and the European powers. By saying the quote above, we can tell that Adams is preparing for a