America250 — 250 years since 1776. Explore two and a half centuries of American history. Start the tour

#Diplomacy

47 entries

People (5)

Benjamin Franklin

Printer, diplomat, and scientist who helped engineer American independence

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady, diplomat, and the human rights conscience of the 20th century

First Chief Justice of the United States and co-author of The Federalist Papers

John Quincy Adams

6th President of the United States, diplomat, and antislavery congressman

Robert R. Livingston

The Committee of Five member who helped draft the Declaration — and later bought Louisiana

Places (5)

The South Pacific territory whose people are American nationals, not citizens

The Dutch fur post that became Albany, founded 1624

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

The Atlanta library joined to the center that defined his later life

Oregon Territory

The Pacific Northwest land secured by treaty with Britain in 1846

The United States Virgin Islands

The Danish West Indies, bought for $25 million in 1917

Events (16)

Battle of Saratoga

The 1777 American victory that brought France into the Revolutionary War

Battle of Yorktown

The 1781 siege that ended the Revolutionary War and secured American independence

The CIA's Failed Invasion of Cuba and Kennedy's Defining Early Crisis, April 1961

The 11-Month Mission That Defied the Soviet Blockade, 1948–1949

Cuban Missile Crisis

Thirteen days in 1962 when nuclear war became a real possibility

Fall of the Berlin Wall

The 1989 night that signaled the end of the Cold War

Iran Hostage Crisis

The 444-Day Captivity That Ended the Carter Presidency, 1979–1981

The 1794 agreement that kept peace with Britain — and nearly tore the republic apart

The 1994 trade pact that bound North America together

The Adams-Onís Treaty

The 1819 treaty that gave the United States Florida and a line to the Pacific

The Gadsden Purchase

The 1854 land deal that finished the map of the lower 48

The Paris Climate Agreement

The 2015 global pact to limit climate change — and America's wavering role

The undeclared naval war that nearly broke the Franco-American alliance

The Treaty of Paris (1898)

Spain gives up an empire and the United States buys the Philippines, December 1898

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 peace that gave the United States a third of a continent — and intensified the slavery crisis

The French bribery scandal that nearly dragged the young republic into another war

Documents (6)

The American Program That Rebuilt Western Europe After World War II

Monroe Doctrine

The 1823 declaration that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization

North Atlantic Treaty

The 1949 alliance document that reversed 150 years of American foreign policy

The Olive Branch Petition

A last appeal to George III, July 1775

The Platt Amendment

The conditions written into Cuba's constitution, 1901-1934

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The agreement that ended the Revolutionary War and recognized American independence

Concepts (7)

Nixon and Kissinger's strategy of easing Cold War tensions through direct diplomacy

The Open Door Policy

America's turn-of-the-century bid for equal access to China

U.S.–Britain Relations

From the empire America rebelled against to its closest ally — two centuries from war to the "special relationship"

U.S.–China Relations

From Open Door to trade war — the relationship that will define the 21st century

U.S.–France Relations

The ally that won America its independence, sold it a third of a continent, and gave it the Statue of Liberty

U.S.–Soviet Relations

Allies for four years, adversaries for 46 — the rivalry that defined the 20th century

U.S.–Spain Relations

From the empire that colonized half the continent to the war that ended its American reach

Organizations (8)

The 1949 alliance that bound America to Europe's defense and deterred the Soviet Union for forty years

The Cold War alliance built to contain communism in Asia, 1954–1977

The League of Nations

The world body Woodrow Wilson built — and the U.S. Senate refused to join, 1920

The Organization of American States

The Western Hemisphere body that carried old doctrines into the Cold War, 1948

The Peace Corps

JFK's volunteer corps that sent young Americans to serve abroad, 1961

The Warsaw Pact

The Soviet military alliance that answered NATO, 1955–1991

The World Health Organization

The UN's global health agency — and America's fraught partner in it, 1948

The international body America founded in 1945 — and has funded, led, and defied ever since

All Tags

Politics 178 Economy 171 Military 129 Reform 121 Civil Rights 118 Law & Justice 116 Presidency 113 Science & Technology 112 Foreign Policy 107 Arts & Culture 103 Race 98 Founding Era 96 Industry 90 Constitution 75 Modern America 67 Protest 66 Cold War 65 Civil War 62 Westward Expansion 61 War 59 Revolution 59 Slavery 57 Media & Press 57 Women 56 Indigenous 51 Diplomacy 47 Immigration 41 Labor 40 Environment 36 Colonial America 34 Congress 33 Religion 33 World War II 32 Supreme Court 32 Disaster 29 Exploration 27 Public Health 25 Progressive Era 25 Abolition 22 Finance 22 Reconstruction 22 Democracy 20 Gilded Age 19 Assassination 15 Education 15 Suffrage 11 World War I 9 Sports 9 Corruption 9 Prohibition 1