Question

What foreign policy issues arose in the nation's early years?

Answer 1

Piracy and its answer a standing Navy was an issue as was the forced impressment of merchant seamen by th British. The cost was a huge issue due to the lack of taxing authority of the early congress. Also the ownership of the lands making up the Louisiana purchase first by Spain and later France made the Missisippi unusable to early settlers for transport thus making the Hudson a vital artery. Relations between the US, Spain, Britian & France were very tenuous especially with the rise of Napoleon. The European wars however provided opportunity and led to our ability to seek what was phrased as our " manifest destiney" to expand sea to sea. At the expense of course of the peoples who lived there.