U.S. Foreign Policy

Fall 2007 Requirements and Readings

Course Description

      This course is designed to give the student a thorough grounding in the history of U.S. foreign policy up to World War II. Particular attention is paid to themes which will impact post-WWII U.S. foreign policy. The Tripolitan War, the War of 1812, the Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, the Mexican-American War, international relations during the Civil War, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Roosevelt Corrolary and numerous early 20th century interventions in Central America and the Caribbean are the major foci for the course.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

      Grades will be assigned on the basis of the following criteria:

      1) On September 6 you will each submit a statement of your goals for the course. This statement should be as specific and detailed as possible. Plan your method for meeting the responsibilities of this course, set weekly goals and time schedules, or whatever will help you to think about why you are taking this particular course and how it fits your over-all learning goals. Then, on the last day of class you will turn in a self-evaluation in which you will analyze how well you met your goals, how your goals changed, and what unforeseen goals emerged. You will then assign yourself an over-all grade based on your performance in this course. Your self-evaluation will constitute ten percent of the final grade.

      2) The first paper will focus on U.S. policy toward a particular country or region between 1789 through the Civil War. The paper should be between 7 and 10 pages long and is due October 18. The paper will constitute 30 percent of your final grade.

      3) The second paper will focus on U.S. policy toward a particular country or region between the Civil War and 1940. The paper should be between 7 and 10 pages long and is due December 4. The paper will constitute 30 percent of your final grade.

      4) In lieu of a final exam, you will each write a critical review integrating the material from assigned readings into an overall assessment of of U.S. foreign policy from the Founding up to WWII. The critical review will constitute twenty percent of your final grade and is due during the scheduled final exam on December 19 at 9:00 AM..

      6) Each week at the start of the Thursday class there will be a brief five question quiz covering reading for the week. All the quizzes will be averaged and will constitute 10 percent of your final grade.

REQUIRED TEXT

LaFeber, W., The American Age 2nd edition

Useful Internet Links

Readings

Sept 4: Orientation

Sept 6: LaFeber, W., "The Roots of American Foreign Policy (1492-1789),"

in The American Age, pp. 5-35.

William Appleman Williams, "The Age of Mercantilism: An Interpretation of the American Political Economy, 1763- 1828," William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, XV (October 1958), 419-37. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Sept 11: Michael Kitzen, "Money Bags or Cannon Balls: The Origins of the

Tripolitan War, 1795-1801," Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), pp. 601-624. (Avaliable via JSTOR at Honnold.)

Max Boot, "'To Conquer Upon the Sea': Barbary Wars, 1801-1805, 1815," in The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power, pp. 3-29.

"Jewett, Thomas, "Terrorism In Early America: The U.S. Wages War Against The Barbary States To End International Blackmail and Terrorism."

Sept 13: LaFeber, W., "A Second Struggle for Independence and Union (1789-1815),"

in The American Age, pp. 40-67.

Alison L. LaCroix, "A Singular and Awkward War: The Transatlantic Context of the Hartford Convention," American Nineteenth Century History, Vol. 6, March 2005, pp. 3-32. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Sept 18: LaFeber, W., "The First, the Last: John Quincy Adams and the Monroe Doctrine

(1815-1828)," in The American Age, pp. 71-91.

Edward P. Crapol, "John Quincy Adams and The Monroe Doctrine: Some New Evidence," The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 48, No. 3. (Aug., 1979), pp. 413-418. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Sept 20: Gilderhus, M. T., "The Monroe Doctrine: Meanings and Implications."

Presidential Studies Quarterly, v. 36, no. 1 (March 2006) p. 5-16. (Available from Wilson Web at Honnold.)

Jeffrey J. Malanson, "The Congressional Debate over U.S. Participation in the Congress of Panama, 1825-1826: Washington's Farewell Address, Monroe's Doctrine, and the Fundamental Principles of U.S. Foreign Policy," Diplomatic History, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp. 813-838 (November 2006). (Available from Blackwell Synergy at Honnold.)

Sept 25: LaFeber, W., "The Amphibious Expansion of a Sixty-Five-Hundred-

Thousand-Horsepower Steam Engine (1828-1850)," in The American Age, pp. 94-126.

Sept 27: Michael A. Morrison, "New Territory versus No Territory": The Whig Party

and the Politics of Western Expansion, 1846-1848," The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1. (Feb., 1992), pp. 25-51. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Kenneth E. Shewmaker, "Daniel Webster and the Politics of Foreign Policy, 1850-1852," The Journal of American History, Vol. 63, No. 2. (Sep., 1976), pp. 303-315.

Oct 2: Norman A. Graebner, The Mexican War: A Study in Causation,

The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 49, No. 3. (Aug., 1980), pp. 405-426. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Oct 4: LaFeber, W., "The Climax of Early U.S. Foreign Policy: The Civil War

(1850-1865)," in The American Age, pp. 130-153.

Oct 9: LaFeber, W., "Laying the Foundations for 'Superpowerdom' (1865-1896),"

in The American Age, pp. 157-187.

Oct 11: Stephen Kinzer, "A Hell of a Time Up at the Palace," Overthrow, pp. 9-30.

Oct 16: LaFeber, W., "Turning Point: The Years of McKinley (1896-1900),"

in The American Age, pp. 193-227.

Oct 18: Stephen Kinzer, "Bound for Goo-Goo Land," Overthrow, pp. 31-55.

Oct 25: LaFeber, W., "The Search for Opportunity: Rough Riders and

Dollar Diplomats (1901-1913)," in The American Age, pp. 232-265.

Oct 30: Stephen Kinzer, "From a Whorehouse to a White House, Overthrow, pp. 56-77.

Stephen Kinzer, "A Break in the Hisory of the World," In Overthrow, pp. 78-108.

Nov 1: Paterson, Thomas G., "United States Intervention in Cuba, 1898: Interpretations of

the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War, The History Teacher, Vol. 29, No. 3. (May, 1996), pp. 341-361.

Silbey, "McKinley and American Imperialism," in A War of Frontier and Empire, pp. 30-66.

Nov 6: Schoonover, Thomas D., "Morality and Political Purpose in Theodore Roosevelt's

Actions in Panama in 1903," in The United States in Central America, 1860-1911: Episodes of Social Imperialism and Imperial Rivalry in the World system, pp. 97-110.

Schoonover, Thomas, G., "An Isthmian Canal and the U.S. Overthrow of Nicaraguan President José Santo Zelaya," in The United States in Central America, 1860-1911: Episodes of Social Imperialism and Imperial Rivalry in the World system, pp. 130-148.

Nov 8: La Feber, W., "Setting up the System," in Inevitable Revolutions:

The United States in Central America, pp. 19-85.

Nov 13: LaFeber, W., "Wilsonians, Revolutions, and War (1913-1917)," in

The American Age, pp. 269-297.

Schoonover, Thomas, G., "The World Economic Crisis, Racism, and U.S. Relations with Central America, 1893-1910," in The United States in Central America, 1860-1911: Episodes of Social Imperialism and Imperial Rivalry in the World system, pp. 111-129.

Nov 15: LaFeber, W., "Victors Without Peace (1917-1920), in The American Age,

pp. 302-330.

Bruce J. Calder, "Caudillos and Gavilleros versus the United States Marines: Guerrilla Insurgency during the Dominican Intervention, 1916-1924," The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 58, No. 4. (Nov., 1978), pp. 649-675. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Kenneth J. Grieb, Warren G. Harding and the Dominican Republic U.S. Withdrawal, 1921-1923," Journal of Inter-American Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3. (Jul., 1969), pp. 425-440. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Nov 20: LaFeber, W., "The Rise and Fall of the American Structure for World

Order (1920-1933)," in The American Age, pp. 335-363.

Little, Douglas, "Antibolshevism and American Foreign Policy, 1919-1939: The Diplomacy of Self-Delusion," American Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 4. (Autumn, 1983), pp. 376-390. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Nov 27: Schoonover, Thomas, G., "A U.S. Dilemma: Economnic Opportunity and

Anti-Americanism in El Salvador, 1901-1911," in The United States in Central America, 1860-1911: Episodes of Social Imperialism and Imperial Rivalry in the World system, pp. 149-165.

Kenneth J. Grieb, "The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez," Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Nov., 1971), pp. 151-172. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Philip F. Dur, "US Diplomacy and the Salvadorean Revolution of 1931," Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Feb., 1998), pp. 95-119. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Nov 29: Powell, Anna I., "Relations between the United States and

Nicaragua, 1898-1916," The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 1. (Feb., 1928), pp. 43-64.

Max Boot, "Chasing Sandino: Nicaragua 1926-1933," in The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power, pp. 231-252.

Richard V. Salisbury, "Mexico, the United States, and the 1926-1927 Nicaraguan Crisis," The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 66, No. 2 (May, 1986), pp. 319-339. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Dec 4: Wright, Jr., Theodore P., "Honduras: A Case Study of United States Support

of Free Elections in Central America," The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 40, No. 2. (May, 1960), pp. 212-223. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Dec 6: Longley, Kyle, "Peaceful Costa Rica, the First Battleground:

The United States and the Costa Rican Revolution of 1948," The Americas, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Oct., 1993), pp. 149-175. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Olander, Marcia. "Costa Rica in 1948: Cold War or Local War?," The Americas, Vol. 52, No. 4. (Apr., 1996), pp. 465-493. (Available from JSTOR at Honnold.)

Dec 11: Grieb, Kenneth J., Guatemalan Caudillo: The Regime of Jorge Ubico,

Guatemala, 1931-1944, pp. 1-14, 67-81, 248-280.

Dec 13: LaFeber, W., "FDR and the Entry into World War II (1933-1941),"

in The American Age, pp. 369-406.