Each President's "Annual Message" always gives a brief survey of the international relations of the year and often makes suggestions of future policy.Of these the most famous is Monroe's message in 1823.Since 1860 they have been accompanied by a volume of "Foreign Relations, "giving such correspondence as can be made public at the time.The full correspondence in particular cases is sometimes called for by the Congress, in which case it is found in the "Executive Documents" of House or Senate.A fairly adequate selection of all such papers before 1828 is found in "American State Papers, Foreign Affairs." Three volumes contain the American "Treaties, Conventions, International Acts," etc., to 1918.A.B.Hart's "Foundations of American Foreign Policy" (1901) gives a good bibliography of these and other sources.
More intimate material is found in the lives and works of diplomats, American and foreign.Almost all leave some record, but there are unfortunately fewer of value since 1830 than before that date.The "Memoirs" of John Quincy Adams (1874-1877), and his "Writings," (1913- ), are full of fire and information, and W.C.Ford, in his "John Quincy Adams and the Monroe Doctrine,"in the "American Historical Review," vol.VII, pp.676-696, and vol.VIII, pp.28-52, enables us to sit at the council table while that fundamental policy was being evolved.The most interesting work of this kind for the later period is "The Life and Letters of John Hay," by W.R.Thayer, 2 vols.(1915).
Treatments of American diplomacy as a whole are few.J.W.
Foster's "Century of American Diplomacy" (1901) ends with 1876.
C.R.Fish in "American Diplomacy" (1915) gives a narrative from the beginning to the present time.W.A.Dunning's "The British Empire and the United States" (1914) is illuminating and interesting.Few countries possess so firm a basis for the understanding of their relations with the world as J.B.Moore has laid down in his "Digest of International Law," 8 vols.
(1906), and his "History and Digest of International Arbitrations," 6 vols.(1898).
Particular episodes and subjects have attracted much more the attention of students.Of the library of works on the Monroe Doctrine, A.B.Hart's "The Monroe Doctrine, an Interpretation"(1916) can be most safely recommended.On the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, M.W.Williams's "Anglo-American Isthmian Diplomacy,"1815-1915 (1916) combines scholarly accuracy with interest.A.R.
Colquhoun's "The Mastery of the Pacific" (1902) has sweep; and no one will regret reading R.L.Stevenson's "A Footnote to History"(1892), though it deals but with the toy kingdom of Samoa.
The most important history of the Spanish War is Admiral F.E.
Chadwick's "The Relations of the United States and Spain," one volume of which, "Diplomacy" (1909), deals with the long course of relations which explain the war; and two volumes, "Spanish-American War" (1911), give a narrative and critical account of the war itself.E.J.Benton's "International Law and Diplomacy of the Spanish-American War" (1908) is a good review of the particular aspects indicated in the title.The activity of the navy is discussed from various angles by J.D.Long, "The New American Navy," 2 vols.(1903), and by H.H.Sargent in "The Campaign of Santiago de Cuba," 3 vols.(1907), in which he gives a very valuable documentary and critical history of the chief campaign.General Joseph Wheeler has told the story from the military point of view in "The Santiago Campaign" (1899), and Theodore Roosevelt in "The Rough Riders" (1899).A good military account of the whole campaign is H.W.Wilson's "The Downfall of Spain" (1900).Russell A.Alger in "The Spanish-American War"(1901) attempts to defend his administration of the War Department.General Frederick Funston, in his "Memories of Two Wars" (1911) proves himself as interesting as a writer as he was picturesque as a fighter.J.A.LeRoy, in "The Americans in the Philippines," 2 vols.(1914), gives a very careful study of events in those islands to the outbreak of guerrilla warfare.
C.B.Elliott's "The Philippines," 2 vols.(1917), is an excellent study of American policy and its working up to the Wilson Administration.W.F.Willoughby discusses governmental problems in his "Territories and Dependencies of the United States"(1905).
On the period subsequent to the Spanish War, J.H.Latane's "America as a World Power" (in the "American Nation Series,"1907) is excellent.A.C.Coolidge's "The United States as a World Power" (1908) is based on a profound understanding of European as well as American conditions.C.L.Jones's "Caribbean Interests of the United States" (1916) is a comprehensive survey.The "Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt" (1913) is indispensable for an understanding of the spirit of his Administration.W.H.Taft's "The United States and Peace" (1914) is a source, a history, and an argument.
The "International Year Book" and the "American Year Book"contain annual accounts written by men of wide information and with great attention to accuracy.Such periodic treatments, however, are intended to be, and are, valuable for fact rather than for interpretation.
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