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250 Years of American Foreign Policy

The United States developed from a fragile union focused on survival to a superpower with global interests. Throughout that journey, the country has grappled with recurring questions about how to protect its interests, articulate its values, and define its role in the world. Trace the path of U.S. foreign policy with the timeline below.

The statue of liberty backlit by fireworks in the night sky.
The statue of liberty backlit by fireworks in the night sky. Getty Images

By experts and staff

Published

Over two-and-a-half centuries, the United States grew from a loose union of former colonies to the global superpower it is today. Along the way, its leaders have faced a vast array of foreign policy challenges and responded to those challenges in equally various ways. But throughout the country’s history, foreign policymakers in the United States have grappled with recurring questions that would likely have been familiar to Benjamin Franklin himself: When should the United States involve itself in foreign conflicts? How should the country balance its ideals with its interests? And what obligations, if any, come with the country’s growing power? The answers have shifted over time—sometimes dramatically so—but the questions have endured.