"With respect to 19th century foreign policy you remember the shores of Tripoli? Perhaps you recall our war with Mexico? "
The Barbary Pirates episode was the one sad exception; wealth US merchants didn't want to pay "protection" to the Barbary Pirates, so Steven Decatur was sent to sort them out. Actually, it was Napoleon who really spelled "finis" to the Barbary Pirates. As for Mexico, that was just part of America's Manifest Destiny to spread from coast to coast. As for the Panama Canal, it fell within the Monroe Doctrine (we didn't want France or some other Old World power controlling access between the Atlantic and Pacific in our backyard).
You still need more history lessons. E.g. Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine were American government policies, like the Wilsonians use. How about TR's mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, or our invitation of the French navy to fight the British during our revolution, for other examples of an outward looking foreign policy. It appears that you have abandoned your call for autarchy, too.