DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICY: SS.7.C.4.

1
The U.S. Constitution lists several powers for Congress that deal specifically
with foreign and domestic policy. Domestic policy is the nations plan for
making laws and policies that affect people in the United States. Domestic
policy covers a wide range of areas, including education, the economy,
taxes, social welfare, and health care. The main goal of domestic policy is to
help and protect the people within the U.S.
The federal government is also concerned with foreign affairs, or
relationships with other nations. The federal government makes foreign
policy to decide how it will interact with nations around the world. This
includes a plan for diplomacy, which means trying to keep good
relationships with other nations. The government has to decide which
countries to form an alliance with, and the alliance might include military
agreements with other nations. Finally, the government also sometimes
makes treaties, or formal agreements, with other nations on such issues as
trade and defense.
The President and the Secretary of State are the main leaders in charge
of foreign policy. They usually have several general goals for their foreign
policy. These goals include: (1) national security (keeping the United States
safe, especially at its borders), (2) promoting peace (creating relationships
and alliances with other nations, (3) spreading democracy (talking with
other nations about the benefits of democratic government), (4) promoting
international trade (the buying and selling of goods between countries) and
(5) providing foreign aid (military, economic, and other types of help to
countries in need). One example of foreign aid was the Marshall Plan,
through which the United States helped to rebuild Europe after the
destruction there during World War II.
The U.S. government has to create a plan for diplomacy in order to keep
good relationships with other nations. Ambassadors and diplomats,
including the Secretary of State, work all around the world on these
relationships. Sometimes they have to solve problems that come up in
relationships with other countries. The U.S. government also has to decide
which countries to form an alliance with. The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) is one example of a strong military alliance between
the U.S. and many European countries.
The U.S. government sometimes makes treaties, or formal agreements,
with the leaders of other nations for the purposes of trade, defense, and
national security.
U.S. leaders hope that their international relations, relationship between
nations around the world, will create better a safer and more peaceful world
through cooperation with other countries.