Throughout U.S. history, the American people and their governments have struggled with the question of preserving freedom and leading its spread across the globe. The following quotations, from U.S. Presidents, spanning U.S. history, are expressions of how Americans conceive the role of freedom and independence in foreign policy. We hope you find this collection illuminating.
-- Nagoya American Center, July 4, 2000
"In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated."
-- George Washington, Farewell Address, September 1796
"The occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. . . . It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course."
-- James Monroe, declaration of the Monroe Doctrine, 1823
"Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her [America's] heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
-- John Quincy Adams, Independence Day Address, 1821 (presidential term: 1825-29)
"We have never made ourselves parties to their [Europe's] wars or alliances, we have not sought their territories by conquest, we have not mingled with parties in their domestic struggles; and believing our own form of government to be the best, we have never attempted to propogate it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force. We may claim on this continent a like exemption from European interference."
-- James K. Polk, Message to Congress, 1845
"While naturally sympathizing with every effort to establish a republican form of government, it has been the settled policy of the United States to concede to people of foreign countries the same freedom and independence in the management of their domestic affairs that we have always claimed for ourselves, and it has been our practice to recognize revolutionary governments as soon as it became apparent that they were supported by the people."
-- Grover Cleveland, Withdrawal of the Treaty for the Annexation of Hawaii, 1893
"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts - for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free."
-- Woodrow Wilson, Request for Declaration of War, 1917
"One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was the fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. . . . I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed force or by outside pressures."
-- Harry S Truman, Truman Doctrine Speech, 1947
"The world is very different now. For man holds in his hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebearers fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. We dare not forget that we are heirs of that first revolution. . . . Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
-- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961
"We can no longer separate the traditional issues of war and peace from the new global questions of justice, equity, and human rights. It is a new world, but America should not fear it. It is a new world, and we should help shape it. It is a new world that calls for new American foreign policy - a policy based on constant decency in its values and on optimism in our historical vision."
-- Jimmy Carter, Notre Dame Address on Foreign Policy, 1977
"Let us be clear that we have no dreams of empire, that we seek no manifest destiny, that we understand the limitations of any one nation's power. But let it also be clear that we do not shirk history's call; that America is not turned inward but outward - toward others. Let it be clear that someday all of the people of the world will enjoy lives of decency, lives with a degree of freedom, with a measure of dignity."
-- Ronald Reagan, Election Eve Speech, 1980