Foreign Politics: The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era also belongs to the age of American imperialism, where the US gained control of many oversea territories and interfered heavily with foreign politics. Progressive presidents employed three different ways to handle foreign politics: Roosevelt employed the aggressive “big stick” diplomacy foreign policy; Taft focused on economic growth with “dollar diplomacy”; while Wilson followed the Monroe Doctrine and intervened in Latin America with “moral diplomacy”.

President Roosevelt utilized the foreign policy of “Big Stick” Diplomacy. This policy was made infamous by his quote: “Speak softly and carry and big stick; you will go far”. Roosevelt advocated for initial diplomatic negotiations, but in instances when the US doesn’t receive a favorable agreement, miltary threats would be liberally employed. When attempting to build a canal in Panama, then a province of Colombia, the US tried to negotiate with Colombia. However, after the US’ proposal was rejected, it encouraged Panaman settlers, who were generally unhappy with Colombian rules, to revolt. The US
The prominent example for this policy was the US’ intervention in Mexico. After Mexican peasants revolted against the Mexican government and established the Huerta government, the US refused to recognize the new regime since it was violent and nondemocratic. Consequently, the US government constantly seeked a way to intervene in Mexico, and finally declared war against the Huerta government after a small incident with US sailors. The Huerta government collapsed after this intervention, and a new US-approved government was established