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This treaty established a tenuous peace between Americans and Native Americans. As explained in Smithsonian Magazine, “The Treaty with the Delaware Nation, signed at Fort Pitt in September 1778, represents a time when the newly independent United States needed American Indian allies to drive British troops from forts and outposts west of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite the treaty’s provisions, however, conflict continued in the Ohio Territory, leading the Delaware people to look for safer lands farther north and west.”

Washington, arguably the most respected foundational leader, was very clear about not getting involved in “foreign entanglements.” It’s important to contemplate his prescriptive advice and how close (or far) America has lived up to his vision.

Article 11 of this treaty established the United States as not being considered a “Christian Nation” by a foreign country. This would play an important part in diplomatic relations, especially with “non-Christian nations.” As one of our earlier treaties, this is also important because it sets the tone for foreign policy.

This item details “Monroe’s Doctrine” in President Monroe’s annual  message to Congress. President Monroe buried a very serious global policy within the text of a routine speech. In it, he warned European powers to recognize the western hemisphere as America’s sphere of influence. His words are important to study how U.S. policy shifted in a drastic way.

This cartoon is a satirical look at presidential power. IN it there is “A satirical view of the scramble among newly elected President James K. Polk's 1844 campaign supporters, or "patriots," for "their beans," i.e., patronage and other official favors.”

Many people who were annexed by the United States tried to resist. This document shows how native Hawaiians did not want to be part of the United States.

A session held by the Anti-imperialist league, this meeting consisted of people who spoke out against the U.S. annexation of the Philippines. It represents a domestic attitude about imperial ambitions.

Simply titled, “Pacifists,” this photo shows how many Americans wanted a more democratic process to foreign involvement with the implicit understanding that Americans do not desire foreign involvement.

Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen points were statements of principles that outlined why the United States was entering the first World War. In other words, it was a clear statement of what Americans were fighting for. To many historians, this marked the end of isolationism.

This picture shows how kids were recruited to help make “victory gardens” and help win the war effort. It’s useful for demonstrating how Americans at home supported war goals.

This source shows a time when an American argued in favor of American intervention on behalf of Haiti, Liberia, and Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

These images are telegrams sent from Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, to President Roosevelt, and his response.  According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, “in February 1939, the First Lady joined a list of prominent Americans who supported the passage of the Wagner-Rogers Bill, which proposed to ‘permit the entry of 20,000 German refugee children, ages 14 and under, into the United States’ over a two-year period and outside of the existing, restrictive immigration quota system. Though she was often outspoken on behalf of causes she cared about, this was the first time she publicly endorsed a piece of pending legislation as first lady. Eleanor Roosevelt told reporters that the bill was ‘a wise way to do a humanitarian act.’ The president never officially commented on the proposed legislation. The bill was never voted on.”

This Presidential Proclamation, which followed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, set the stage for the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Under this proclamation, even Japanese-American citizens were treated as “enemy aliens,” deprived of their Constitutional rights, and removed from their homes into internment camps for the duration of the war.

These two iconic images are most closely associated with their use during World War II, though the “Uncle Sam” character was first created during World War I. The Department of Defense refers to these images, intended to recruit soldiers to fight and women to work in the factories to support the war effort, as the “social media of the time.” The “We Can Do It” poster introduced the character of Rosie the Riveter, intended to attract more women to fill jobs left vacant by men leaving for the armed forces.

On February 11, 1945, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement. The three world leaders negotiated plans for the governance of Europe following the end of World War II.

In this draft of a speech WEB DuBois was critiquing war as a means to perpetuate supremacy. He argued against involvement.

This source shows the impact television made on foreign policy. Nixon and Kruschev debated about the merits of their respective economic types.

This satirical cartoon shows the seemingly inevitable nature of nuclear war, after getting entangled with The Soviet Union. It can be used to show how close the United States came to nuclear war and the results of brinkmanship policy.

A massive movement against the war in Vietnam, protestors took to the streets to voice their outrage in U.S. policy, arguing for less intervention in global affairs.

This meeting between the U.S. president and leaders from Egypt and Israel successfully produced the basis for an Egyptian-Israeli peace, in the form of two “Framework” documents, which laid out the principles of a bilateral peace agreement as well as a formula for Palestinian self-government in Gaza and the West Bank.