The first foreign policy of the United States was neutrality. Just overcoming the English and getting liberty, the US faced the difficult undertaking of forming a new country. In an attempt to protect themselves from taking part in the quarrels of the Europeans and focusing on domestic affairs, a path of neutrality was followed. The roots of this first strategy can be seen as early as the administration of George Washington.Soon after Washington's inauguration in 1789, the French Revolution began. As the revolution deepened and became bloodier, the English wanted to utilize the weakness of the French government. While disagreement between the Fre ...view middle of the document...
While he also warned against the divisive problems of political parties, it was his call for neutrality and avoiding alliances that set the course of US foreign policy.Washington warned the nation to stay away of enduring alliances, remarking that even provisional treaties or alliances were satisfactory only under urgent situations. It was this attitude set by Washington's words and his presidency that established neutrality as the first foreign policy of the United States.President Monroe's address to Congress in 1832 marked a major landmark in US foreign policy. The Monroe Doctrine as it became known was meant as a caution to the countries of Europe to end the colonization of the Western Hemisphere. The doctrine stated that the establishment of new colonies or the disruption of newly independent colonies in the Western Hemisphere would be taken as a direct threat to US interests and "dangerous to our peace and safety". The Monroe Doctrine also promised that the European non-involvement in the Western Hemisphere would be met by US non-involvement in European affairs. Essentially it reciprocated European neutrality in the Americas with US neutrality in Europe. While not well received by the European nations, many ignoring the statement by the then weak American government, the Monroe Doctrine did establish a key policy in our foreign affairs and reinforce the message of neutrality established by Washington. This would prove the main US foreign policy up through the US Civil War.
