To the Issue of Creation and Functioning of the U.S. Department of State (18th-19th Centuries)

In: Mižnarodni zv'jazky Ukrai͏̈ny: naukovi pošuky i znachidky : mižvidomčyj zbirnyk naukovych prac', Heft 26, S. 273-289

Abstract

The article focuses on the question of the creation of the U.S. Department of State and its functions. We surveyed historiography (works by Mihalkanin E., Plischke E., West R.,Glad B. and so on). For over 200 years, the Department of State has conducted American diplomacy through war and peace, amidst the competing currents of isolationism and internationalism that have shaped American foreign policy and its commitment to liberty and democracy. The Department of State was established as the Department of Foreign Affairs by the act of July 27, 1789 and became the first Federal agency to be created under the new Constitution. In September 1789, additional legislation changed the name of the agency to the Department of State and assigned to it a variety of duties. There are 5 main periods of existence of the U.S. Department of State: the emerging State Department (1789-1860), the Department comes of age (1861-1895), managing the foreign affairs of a great power (1900-1940), the Department of state and the U.S. as a Superpower (1945-1960), the Department of State's role in the U.S. Foreign Affairs Community (1961-2000). Special attention is paid to the positions of the Secretary of State who is in charge of defining and implementing U.S. foreign policy. Thomas Jefferson, Henry Kissinger, John Quincy Adams, William Jennings Bryan, Henry Clay, James Madison, George C. Marshall, George Schultz, and Daniel Webster are just a few of the Secretaries who played the greatest role in the providing of the USA' foreign affairs. Then author gives the illustration of the secretary relations with the President, Cabinet and Congress.