2. Differences: International and Economic Context

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we turn to explain one of the key differences in US Foreign Policy in this period, namely the international and economic context. We'll explore three changes that were occurring in the world and the US which affected US foreign policy, these are: (i) New Imperialism: European powers were increasing their imperial possessions in this period; (ii) Spanish decline: the Spanish empire was in steep decline throughout the 19th century, allowing for opportunity for the US; (iii) Economy: the Civil War ushered in an industrial revolution in the US which affected how it saw itself on the world stage.

Course

In this course, Professor Jay Sexton (University of Missouri) explains the similarities and differences in attitudes about the US’s proper role in the world in the period 1865-98. We start by looking at the key continuities in US foreign policy for this period in comparison to earlier decades. After this, we'll turn to explain the key differences in this period which included: (i) the international and economic context; (ii) pro-imperialism; and (iii) the politics of annexation. After this, we'll then turn to examine the role and arguments of the anti-imperialists.

Lecturer

Jay Sexton is the Rich and Nancy Kinder Chair of Constitutional Democracy and Professor of History at the University of Missouri. He is also a former Director of the Rothermere American Institute (RAI), a Distinguished Fellow of the RAI and an Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He specialises in the political and economic history of the nineteenth century and has written a number of books including A Nation Forged by Crisis: A New American History, Debtor Diplomacy: Finance and American Foreign Relations in the Civil War Era, 1837-1873, and The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America.