Le ferment nationaliste: Aux origines de la politique exterieure des Etats-Unis, 1789-1812

Marie-Jeanne Rossignol does for the early national period what Frederick Marks (Independence on Trial, 1973) did for the Confederation era, that is, attempt to show how Americans' responses to foreign policy problems unified them-in the earlier instance, to make a Constitution; in Rossignol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of American history (Bloomington, Ind.) Vol. 84; no. 3; p. 1047
Main Author Hill, Peter P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Organization of American Historians 01.12.1997
Subjects
Diplomacy
Foreign policy
French language
International relations
Mainstreaming
Nationalism
Self concept
Spanish language
Haiti
Washington DC
United States > US
Europe
Louisiana
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Summary:Marie-Jeanne Rossignol does for the early national period what Frederick Marks (Independence on Trial, 1973) did for the Confederation era, that is, attempt to show how Americans' responses to foreign policy problems unified them-in the earlier instance, to make a Constitution; in Rossignol's context, to develop a clearer sense of national purpose and self-identity. What passes for "diplomacy" with these fringe groups, except where it dovetails with the overarching national goals of prosperity and expansion, may not assort well with the issues traditionally thought to be of major foreign policy concern, but Rossignol puts her selectivity to good use in supporting her "nationalist" thesis. [...]while she has difficulty mainstreaming the narrative of Native American "diplomacy" with commercial and maritime issues that have a more look-alike quality in their British, French, and Spanish contexts, she concludes reasonably that constant warfare with the tribes united the elites in opposition to Indian land claims and generated bipartisan support for westward expansion. Just as the foreign policy issues differed by reason of geographical proximity, so did the resultant self-imaging as when, for example, Americans sought to portray themselves to Europe as neutral and peace loving while developing a quite different "national characteristic" in their aggressive and warlike dealings with "inferior peoples."
ISSN:0021-8723
1945-2314