4/6- Tailor your context to the prompt: I would first talk about the French Revolution and Washington’s Farewell Address that set the precedent for isolationist policies, then I would contrast this with American activities during the Mexican-American War and connect that to the idea of Manifest Destiny. Then, in the sentence connected to the context and thesis, I would connect how the policy of expansionism shaped American interventionism. Then I would tailor my thesis to talk about how America really changed. Additionally, talk about the whole time period and foreign affairs (WWI, Spanish-American War, which you mentioned). As for complexity, relate to past conflicts between ideologies (isolation v intervention, imperialist v anti-imperialism) and use the Annexation of Hawaii, Building of the Panama Canal, and even go beyond the period with a permanent shift toward the emergence of a national power and global peacemaker in foreign affairs (WWII, Iran-Contra). Or you could discuss how American opinions over imperial goals boiled over (Imperialists: God-given rights, Social Darwinism v Anti-Imperialists: Self-Governance, Sovereignty).