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George Washington presented his final message to the nation. While Washington focused mainly on domestic issues in the address, he ended with a discussion of foreign affairs. “It is our true policy,” he declared, “to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world,” a statement that would shape American foreign policy for more than a century to come.
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In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson arranged for American diplomats to attempt to purchase New Orleans, a port city at the mouth of the Mississippi River. At the time, New Orleans was part of the French colony of Louisiana, and Jefferson feared that French control of the port would pose a threat to American trade flowing down the Mississippi.
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The following War of 1812 lasted more than two years. With no victory in sight, peace talks began in Ghent, Belgium, in mid-1814.
The Treaty of Ghent called for “a firm and universal Peace between His Britannic Majesty and the United States,” but it left unresolved the issues that initially caused the war. Still, the young nation had challenged Britain. Americans boasted, “Not one inch of territory ceded or lost” as the war drew to a close. -
In 1819, U.S. diplomats persuaded Spain to cede Florida to the United States. Expansionists then looked west to Oregon, an area that included what is now known as the Pacific Northwest. Oregon, however, was also claimed by Great Britain. The two nations had jointly occupied Oregon since 1818, and Britain had repeatedly refused U.S. attempts to extend the boundary to the 54th parallel.
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In 1821, Russia issued a decree extending its colony south into territory claimed jointly by the United States and Great Britain.
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Diplomacy did not work as smoothly when Americans looked south to Texas. In 1821, businessman Moses Austin received permission from Spain to found a colony in Texas, which at that time was part of Mexico.
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In a speech to Congress in 1823, he warned that “the American continents” were closed to “future colonization by any European powers.” He also stated that the United States would consider European interference in the new Latin American republics “as dangerous to our peace and safety.” These twin policies of non-colonization and non-interference in the Western Hemisphere became known as the Monroe Doctrine.
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Early in 1836, they declared Texas to be an independent country and named Sam Houston as their commander in chief.
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America gains a mass amount of land
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The Mexican-American War finally ended after Americans captured Mexico City in 1847.
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In 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in which Mexico formally recognized the annexation of Texas and the Rio Grande as its border. It also ceded a huge region of land to the United States, stretching from Texas to California. In return for the Mexican Cession, the United States paid Mexico $15 million.
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Commodore Matthew Perry led a small fleet of American warships into Edo Bay, Japan, now known as Tokyo. Perry had arrived in order to open up Japan to American shipping and trade
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Diplomacy also enabled the purchase of Alaska in 1867. Faced with the choice of either pouring money into Alaska to defend it, or making a significant profit by selling it, Russia decided to offer this massive region to the United States
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In 1867, the United States claimed the uninhabited Midway Islands, in hopes that these tiny islands—located northwest of the Hawaiian Islands—would serve as a coaling station for steamships.
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In the 1870s, the United States, Germany, and Britain all signed treaties with the Samoan king, who granted them access to the islands.
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When Britain later conceded its claim to Samoa in 1899, the islands became divided solely between Germany and the United States. American Samoa provided U.S. ships with an excellent harbor at the port of Pago Pago, which also became a critical military post. It has remained a territory of the United States to this day.