-
Period: to
Isolationism
America was mostly isolationists. -
Jay's Treaty
On November 19, 1794 representatives of the United States and Great Britain signed Jay's Treaty, which sought to settle outstanding issues between the two countries that had been left unresolved since American independence. -
Pinckney's Treaty
Pinckney's Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. -
Washington's Farewell Address
In his farewell Presidential address, George Washington advised American citizens to view themselves as a cohesive unit and avoid political parties and issued a special warning to be wary of attachments and entanglements with other nations. -
Louisianna Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general Embargo that made any and all exports from the United States illegal. It was sponsored by President Thomas Jefferson and enacted by Congress. The goal was to force Britain and France to respect American rights during the Napoleonic Wars. -
The Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814 in the city of Ghent, was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy regarding domination of the American continent in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo in Spanish), officially entitled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, is the peace treaty signed on February 2, 1848, in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican–American War (1846–48). -
The Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. It was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in US history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. -
Pan-American Conferences
Pan-American conferences, various meetings between representatives of some or all of the independent states of the Western Hemisphere (Canada usually excluded). Between 1826 and 1889, several meetings between American states were held to discuss problems of common defense and juridical matters. -
Period: to
Interventionist
America became interventionist due to the world wars. -
Annexation of Hawaii
The overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii began with the coup d'état of January 17, 1893 on the island of Oahu, leading to the end of the indigenous, hereditary monarchs, largely at the hands of United States citizens within the kingdom government under Queen Lili'uokalani and backed by an invasion of U.S. Marines under John L. Stevens. Hawaii was initially reconstituted as an independent republic, but the ultimate goal of the revolutionaries was the annexation of the islands to the United States, -
The Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the U.S.-backed authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. -
Spanish-American War Armistice
On August 12, 1898, the United States and Spain signed an armistice agreement, bringing an end to the Spanish-American War. The agreement, called the “Protocol of Peace,” marked a decisive American victory and signaled the transition of the US into a world power, with Spain relinquishing control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. -
Open Door Policy
Secretary of State John Hay first articulated the concept of the “Open Door” in China in a series of notes in 1899–1900. These Open Door Notes aimed to secure international agreement to the U.S. policy of promoting equal opportunity for international trade and commerce in China, and respect for China’s administrative and territorial integrity. British and American policies toward China had long operated under similar principles, but once Hay put them into writing, the “Open Door” became the offi -
The Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from December 16, 1907, to February 22, 1909, by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with various escorts. -
The Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia. -
Good Neighbor Policy in Latin America
FDR wants to become a better neighbor with nations in Latin America. At the 7th Pan American Conference in Uruguay, FDR renounces armed intervention in Latin America, and the next year, he removed US Marines from Haiti. This and other diplomatic actions greatly improved US-Latin American relations. -
Period: to
America is an Interventionist
Due to the world wars America became the single biggest country in the world, and because so we now have obligations to guide and assist other countries in their times of need. -
Japanese Surrender
World War II officially ends as Japan surrenders to the U.S. unconditionally after the atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.’ The plan is named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who announced it in a commencement speech at Harvard University on June 5, 19 -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (formally, the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, sometimes, informally WarPac, akin in format to NATO) was a collective defense treaty among Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
The U-2 Incident
The 1960 U-2 incident happened during the Cold War on 1 May 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the premiership of Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down from Soviet airspace. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the first spaceflight that landed humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC (46 years ago). Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC.
