Coming now to the study of the specific events which illustrate these principles, the teacher will be ready to develop and the class will be ready to appreciate the series of events which begin with Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality, which are involved in the disputes with England which were settled temporarily by the Jay Treaty and later by the War of 1812 and the Treaty of Ghent. Next the negotiations with Spain concerning the right of entry and deposit at the mouth of the Mississippi and the later negotiations with France concerning the purchase of Louisiana may be developed. Finally in this analysis the class will find the key to that series of proclamations and messages which begin with Washington’s Farewell Address, which proceed through the messages of Adams and Jefferson, which end with Monroe’s message of December, 1823, commonly known as the Monroe Doctrine. When all this is done, the well-equipped teacher will be ready to discuss briefly with his class the later diplomatic history of the country, the gradual modification of the principles for which Washington, Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Monroe contended, but he will find to his surprise that until the very last years of the nineteenth century little change was made in the whole system.
In the study of this period the teacher is earnestly recommended to have frequent recourse with his class to the documents which illustrate the history. Most of them can be found in convenient form in MacDonald’s “Documents,” in the “American History Leaflets,” in the “Old South Leaflets,” and in Hill’s “Liberty Documents,” a comparatively recent publication. For further reading, the teacher is recommended not only to the standard histories of the United States like Schouler’s, and McMaster’s, but also to the exhaustive work of Henry Adams, “History of the United States in the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison.” Finally, there are the three or four diplomatic histories of the United States of which the best are John B. Moore’s “American Foreign Policy,” Hart’s “Foundations of the American Foreign Policy” and John W. Foster’s “A Century of American Diplomacy.” In each of these works the teacher will find a thorough analysis of the Monroe Doctrine, its history and its application; should he desire to examine the Doctrine further, he will find material in two special studies: George F. Tucker’s “Monroe Doctrine,” and William F. Reddaway’s “Monroe Doctrine.” The first is an American presentation of the subject; the second that of an Englishman.
Additional References.
(1) Lalor’s Cyclopædia under such headings as “Blockade,” “Contraband,” “Naturalisation,” “Neutrality,” etc.
(2) John Westlake, “International Law,” Part I, chapter x, on “Citizenship”; Part II, chapter vii, on “Blockades”; chapters ix and x on “Contraband.”
(3) William Hall, “International Law,” Part II, chapter v, on “Citizenship”; Part IV, chapters v and vi, on “Contraband”; chapter vii, on the privileges of “Free Ships”; chapter viii, on “Blockades.”
(4) Theodore D. Woolsey, “Introduction to the Study of International Law” (the standard American authority); Part I, chapter iii, on “Citizenship”; Part II, chapter ii, on “Neutral Trade.”
Ashley’s “American History”
REVIEWED BY H. R. TUCKER, McKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL, ST. LOUIS, MO.