Historiography: History Of American Foreign Relations

The book “Taking Sides: Clashing Views in United States History” by Madaras, Larry and James SoRelle draws attention on controversial issues. James and Madaras wrote the book in a debate-style format, which intrigues many students, hence supporting them in enhancing their critical thinking skills. James and Madaras ensured that every issue in the book has a summary, introduction, challenge question and postscript. Therefore, the paper will focus on issue 10, which debates on whether the new deal prolonged the great depression. The great depression refers to an era in US history, which happened from 1929 to 1941 during president Franklin Delano Roosevelt era, and it made the US citizens face economic hard times. The great depression era had much overproduction, inequality in wealth distribution and over borrowing. Consequently, the president implemented the new deal with the aim of saving American citizens from the great depression. However, people had different feelings regarding the effectiveness of the new deal, which brought up the debate in the book. For example, Burton Folsom believed that the new deal was not effective because he thought that it prolonged the great depression. On the contrary, Roger Biles alleged that the new deal was effective, and it did not prolong the great depression (Madaras and James 227).

These three important foreign policies that impacted US history from 1865 to 1940 were The treaty of Paris(1888), The Panama Canal, and The treaty of Versailles. The treaty of Paris(1888) was a treaty that puts an end to the Spanish American war, The Panama Canal made Pacific to Atlantic travel Quicker, Easier, and cheaper, and the Treaty of Versailles ended the Great war between the Allies and central powers. This treaty also punished Germany.

The last quarter of the nineteenth century brought a slow but perceptible change in American foreign policy. Discuss how that change developed down through the end of the Spanish-American War. Then trace the development of American foreign policy though the administrations of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson (to 1917). What assumptions and objectives lay behind their decisions? How did their foreign policies differ in focus?

The United States had a long history of isolating itself from the world stage while … Theodore Roosevelt was elected to the United States presidency during a time of ____ and ______. His experience during the Spanish Civil War [what was this] had led him to appreciate the growing relationship between the U.S. and Great Britain. Believing that the Western world held the values and beliefs that were paramount in promoting progress while maintaining world order, Roosevelt deemed non-Western civilizations dangerous to stability (peace?). For the past ____ decades, the U.S. took an isolationist approach to international affairs, carefully avoiding entering into any alliances.

After earning his master’s degree and Ph. D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Famous historian William Appleman Williams of Atlantic, Iowa, wrote the book, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy in response to the rampant changing things happening around him. Enraged, Williams’ addresses several points with foreign policy being the main one. He encompasses several themes throughout his book such as American capitalism, the failure of American liberalism, and the Open door notes. These themes help convey his view on the matters at hand, which for a lack of a better term was pissed. Quite frankly, Williams’ gets straight to the point without being around the bush with his extremely biased views by going into depth about America’s morbid foreign policy.

While the definition of historiography has been slightly amended over time, ‘the study of the way history has been and is written’ appears to be the approved meaning.1 Essentially, from my understanding, historiography is the evaluation of interpretations by historians over time. For example, Geoffrey de Villehardouin’s Memoirs of the Fourth Crusades stands out as a prominent historical foundation, as very few written accounts of the Crusades describe the political, economic, religious and military events preceding up to, and subsequently succeeding, from a [the] first person standpoint.2 Memoirs of the Fourth Crusade is thus reviewed as a uniquely distinguishable, primary source that affords historians with an incomparable written record

American Imperialism has been a part of United States history ever since the American Revolution. Imperialism is the practice by which large, powerful nations seek to expand and maintain control or influence on a weaker country. Throughout the years, America has had a tendency to take over other people 's land. Authors like Frederick Jackson Turner, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Albert J. Beveridge, Mark Twain, and William James all distinctive perspectives on U.S expansion and imperialism at the turn of the 20th century.

Over and over again, Williams illustrates this theme of “American Exceptionalism.” Throughout the book, there are several occurrences in which the “We are the best, and all that we are doing is of benefit to the world” mentality is shown. On one hand, there is nothing wrong with being proud of roots as an American and believing that America is the greatest country, but on the other hand, using this thought process in in order to legitimize the domination and control of other nations unlike America while preaching one set of values and acting on others, is wrong. We see these actions play out time and time again as America invades and controls other countries “to help” them, however, prohibits the country from experiencing the full advantages of self-determination – a value that America claims to hold i.e. a tragedy of American Diplomacy.

America wanted to expand their foreign policy to help boost their economy. They felt threatened because not only did they have to compete with countries like Germany and Japan to secure access to Chinese markets. The first foreign policy the U.S. had was the Monroe Doctrine, which closed the Western Hemisphere to further colonization from European countries. This secured the U.S. foreign trade with Central America. The American foreign policy warned European nations to stay away from the Western Hemisphere while the U.S. also competed for trade in the Eastern Hemisphere.

In Telling the Truth About History, three historians discuss how the expanded skepticism and the position that relativism has reduced our capacity to really know and to expound on the past. The book talks about the written work of history and how individuals are battling with the issues of what is “truth.” It likewise examines the post-modernist development and how future historians

The United States experienced a period of growth and maturation during the twentieth century. Now, this is not to say that this was the only period of growth, but it was a significant time during which the United States began to establish its military force at an international level. By establishing itself during the twentieth century as one of the world’s largest superpowers, America grew to be respected by most of the world’s nations. America also grew to become much more active in foreign affairs, even in ones that had no relation to the nation. The United States began to look for chances to expand their country, as well as opportunities to benefit financially from these territories. Imperialism is the word that best describes the foreign

The question of “What is History?” is answered through philosophical questions. This led to many tangents which could confuse readers and retract from the strength of the thesis. Furthermore, the concept of history being based on facts almost seems to be refuted as the author states that facts are not always concrete. An example of this is when the Carr mentions that articles are seen as a form of fact, however, that documents only tell what the author of the document believed had happened. Such a rebuttal causes confusion on whether to trust historic “facts,” as all as they seem to be all

• The written record of the past and the study of past written records is called History .

In their book American Foreign Policy since World War 2, Steven W. Hook, and John Spanier take a historical look at American foreign policy. Since its independence, all through to the start of the 20th century, the United States had a policy of detachment. This was rooted in the believe that Europe, the only other meaningful powerful in the world in the 18th and 19th century, had intrinsic issues related to feudism that kept the continent in a constant state of war (Hook & Spanier, 2015). The U.S on its part was far away from Europe and had a unique chance to chart a different course, one free from the troubles of Europe. As a democracy free from the class systems of Europe and hence maintain peace and stability (Hook & Spanier, 2015). To maintain this peace and stability, it was in the United States interests to maintain detachment from Europe. In fact, Monroe wrote that Europe and its flawed system was evil and America should strive as much as possible to stay away from it (Hook & Spanier, 2015). However, in the 20th century, this policy of detachment was put to the test when the United States was drawn into the first and second world wars by external factors. This led the United States to get more engaged in global affairs. The idea behind engagement was to promote the ideals of democracy which, the U.S believed were the pillars of peace, as well as to protect itself from aggressors like Japan in the Second World War. After the