“Foreign policy is a relatively consistent course of conduct pursued by a state over an appreciable period in its relations with other states. American foreign policy has been largely determined by precedent and tradition, international treaties, moral and legal obligations, national interest, and physical circumstances. During most of its course it emphasized neutrality, freedom of navigation and trade, noninvolvement in European affairs, and resistance to foreign encroachments on the Western Hemisphere. Involvement in World War I interrupted the main trend. After World War II American foreign policy emphasized cooperation with the United Nations in the peaceful solution of the world problems, Marshall Plan aid to Europe and similar assistance to underdeveloped countries, a system of alliances (as NATO, SEATO, CENTO) for the containment of Communist aggression, and direct military confrontation of Communist aggressors (as in Korea, Vietnam). The President formulates foreign policy with the aid of the Secretary of State, Specialists in the State Department, and confidential advisers. The Senate and House committees on foreign affairs wield great influence because of the necessity for obtaining the Senate’s consent to treaties and congressional acts authorizing projects and appropriating money.” (Dictionary Of American Politics: pg 157)
A nation needs many qualities to survive, but most of all it needs faith and confidence. Skeptics can’t build great societies; it is the idealists that are the great builders. It is only the societies that believe in themselves and their purposes that will rise to their challenges. (American Foreign Policy: pg 42) The framers of our constitution believed in the purpose of creating a government that would survive the tests of time, but when it came time to write Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, which states, “The President shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” several different opinions on who should have domineering power in the situation arose. The Idea of the President and Senate having somewhat of equal power in foreign relations had already been brought up when the debate began. It was too Eldridge Gerry’s observation that a majority of the senate would actually only represent about one-fifth of the people, so a vote of two thirds present was all the more needed. Virginia disagreed to a certain extent, they believed that a two-thirds majority of the whole number of the Senate was needed not just of those in attendance, to ratify commercial treaties, and they wanted a three-fourths majority of all the members of both Houses for making treaties that involved issues of territorial or navigational rights. John Jay and his colleges enthusiastically approved of the joint responsibility vested by the constitution in the President and the Senate having a hand in foreign affairs. Jay believed that the members of the lower house of Congress held office too temporarily and was too large to serve effectively in treaty making. The senators and President were “best qualified” to make foreign policy decisions and use the power to the good of the public. Since the senators had a six year term in office they would have “sufficient time to become perfectly acquainted with our national concerns, and to form and introduce a system for the management of them.” In a nutshell he expected the Senate to make foreign policy but thought it would me more suitable for the president to conduct that policy. “The negotiation of treaties sometimes require secrecy and dispatch.” explained Jay. He summarized the matter by adding “the constitution provides that our negotiations for treaties shall have every advantage which can be derived from talents, information, integrity, and deliberate investigations on the one hand (the senate), and from secrecy and dispatch on the other (the president).” William R Davie, a signer of the Constitution, readily disagreed. It was his perceptive intuition that the president should possess exclusively the power of making the treaties, because he was the one that was elected by the people so he would have their best interest at heart. It was Pierce Butler from South Caroline, who had been a member of the Brearly committee, argued that the President’s treat making power was a check on the Senate so that a balance ultimately prevailed. But still General C.C. Pinckney, Carolina, and a few other members of the convention wanted the treaty power to go exclusively to the President. By these remarks we know that some of the Framers wanted a major role for the president and only a minor one by the senate. (Original Intent and the Framers’ Constitution: pg 30-54) Anti Federalists proposed that the House of Representatives should have a hand in the foreign policy process also. They feared that treaties would violate state constitutions and state laws, but still agreed that the senate had a crucial role in the process. (Hard Choices: pg 457) After all the debating Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2, was created in the form we read it as today. As for the original intent of the framers, the senate was probably intended to be the main force in foreign policy. Even though today the President is the dominating factor in foreign policy the evidence is abundance and easily shows that the Framers intended Congress to control the conduct of war, the Senate to control foreign policy, and the President to control formal functions of representing the nation in its foreign relations, personally or thought diplomats. (Original Intent and the Framers’ Constitution: pg 30-54)
Alexis de Tocqueville thought democracies have great trouble conducting foreign affairs but because of today’s technology and mass media, foreign affairs are significantly influenced by the citizens. For example, there was a shift in public opinion towards withdrawal from the Vietnam War, as the war was covered by the media. Similarly public opinion was in favor of American intervention in Somalia and Bosnia, after watching news reports on the starvation in Somalia and the civil war in Bosnia. (www.pinkmonkey.com) It is also known by the majority of educated people in America that not everything our government does foreign policy wise is covered by the media or even open to public review. A great majority of policies that could have an astounding affect on our lives are more then likely kept secret and will be for decades. As a citizen there has to be a certain amount of trust that our government is doing whatever deems necessary for the good of the country and its citizens. And the only way for our government to do so is if a certain number of elites know what is going on and make the decisions.

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