page_title: History of U.S. foreign policy, 1861–1897
hierarchical_section_title: History of U.S. foreign policy, 1861–1897
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of William H. Seward, Secretary of State 1861-69
context_page_description: The history of U.S. foreign policy from 1861 to 1897 concerns the foreign policy of the United States during the presidential administrations of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. The period began with the outbreak of the American Civil War 1861 and ended with the 1897 inauguration of William McKinley, whose administration commenced a new period of U.S. foreign policy.
  During the Civil War, the Lincoln administration succeeded in ensuring that the European powers, including Britain and France, did not directly intervene on the side of the Confederacy. Nonetheless, the French defied the Monroe Doctrine and established the Mexican Empire as a puppet state. After the war, pressure from the Johnson administration helped forced the withdrawal of the French and the eventual collapse of the empire. Tensions with Britain escalated as a result of disputes emanating from the Civil War, but the 1871 Treaty of Washington helped restore friendly relations between Britain and the United States.
context_section_description: The history of U.S. foreign policy from 1861 to 1897 concerns the foreign policy of the United States during the presidential administrations of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. The period began with the outbreak of the American Civil War 1861 and ended with the 1897 inauguration of William McKinley, whose administration commenced a new period of U.S. foreign policy.
  During the Civil War, the Lincoln administration succeeded in ensuring that the European powers, including Britain and France, did not directly intervene on the side of the Confederacy. Nonetheless, the French defied the Monroe Doctrine and established the Mexican Empire as a puppet state. After the war, pressure from the Johnson administration helped forced the withdrawal of the French and the eventual collapse of the empire. Tensions with Britain escalated as a result of disputes emanating from the Civil War, but the 1871 Treaty of Washington helped restore friendly relations between Britain and the United States. In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the Alaska Purchase, thereby acquiring Russian Alaska. The Grant administration negotiated a treaty to annex the Dominican Republic, but it failed to win ratification by the Senate.
  Secretary of State James G. Blaine and President Harrison pursued an ambitious trade policy with Latin America, seeking to increase American prosperity and prevent British domination of the region. The U.S. became involved in a protracted dispute with Germany and Britain over Samoa that ultimately ended with the establishment of a three-power protectorate. President Harrison sought to annex Hawaii during the final months of his tenure, but annexation was rejected during Cleveland's second presidency. After the Cuban War of Independence broke out in 1895, Cleveland announced that the U.S. would remain neutral in the conflict. Cleveland's decisions would later be reversed under President McKinley, leading to a new era of foreign policy during which the U.S. established an overseas empire.
caption: William Seward served as Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869
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