Why It Matters: Age of Empire—American Foreign Policy

Why learn about American foreign policy in the early 20th century?

A poster is titled, “William H. West’s Big Minstrel Jubilee.” A label at the bottom reads “The Charge of San Juan Hill. Wm. H. West Impersonating Col. Roosevelt, Leading the Famous ‘Rough Riders’ to Victory.” An illustration shows a mounted Roosevelt leading a charge of Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War.

Figure 1. This poster advertises a minstrel show wherein an actor playing Theodore Roosevelt reenacts his leadership of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War and illustrates the American public’s zeal for tales of American expansionist glory.

Ask yourself: how does U.S. foreign policy affect you today? Consider things like the size of the country’s military, or its relationship with different countries around the world. Also keep in mind America’s ideas about territorial and economic expansion both at home and abroad. As you think about these things, consider how they got to be that way. Americans were asking themselves the same questions in the 1890s, and their answers continue to affect us in the present.

One of those responses came from the historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who presented his ideas at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. As he approached the rostrum to speak before his fellow historians, Turner appeared nervous. He was arguing a point that would alarm all who believed that westward expansion had fostered the nation’s principles of democracy. He claimed that the frontier—the place where European traditions pushed up against and were tested by the wilderness—had played a fundamental role in shaping American character, but that the American frontier no longer existed. Turner’s statement raised questions. How would Americans maintain their unique political culture and innovative spirit in the absence of the frontier? How would the nation expand its economy if it could no longer expand its territory?

Later historians would see Turner’s Frontier Thesis as deeply flawed, a gross mischaracterization of the West. But the young historian’s work greatly influenced politicians and thinkers of the day. Like a muckraker, Turner exposed the problem; others found a solution by seeking out new frontiers in the creation of an American empire. The above advertisement for a theater reenactment of the Spanish-American War shows the American appetite for expansion. Many Americans felt that it was time for their nation to offer its own brand of international leadership and dominance as an alternative to the land-grabbing empires of Europe.