Brinksmanship refers to an aggressive form of diplomacy that requires pushing dangerous events to the brink of a declaration of war, in order to gain the most advantageous positing for aggressor. The policy, along with the corollary phenomenon called "Mutually Assured Destruction," defined the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. The term began to be used during the Eisenhower administration and can be observed in numerous political crises of the twentieth century—for example, the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

In his famous “Fourteen Points” statement, issued at the end of World War I, Woodrow Wilson called for a united League of Nations to police global conflict and work towards a peaceful, cooperative world. The League was written into the Treaty of Versailles and established soon after; however, the Treaty of Versailles and the American entrance into the League of Nations failed to pass the United States Senate: without the membership of its primary charter member, the League was doomed to be ineffective. 

The European Recovery Program, colloquially named after U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall as "The Marshall Plan," was introduced in 1948 to support various Western European countries in their effort to rebuild after World War II. The Program gave direct economic and technological aid to any European country wishing to have it. All the Soviet controlled states refused the aid, as it meant US control over their economies. The Marshall Plan had multiple goals, including rebuilding damaged economies, strengthening democracies, improving the industry of Europe, and ultimately preventing the spread of communism.

In the aftermath of America's participation in World War I, many people in the country did not want to continue with Woodrow Wilson's vision of America's international role that got them into the war. The most profound statements were COngresses refusal to enter Wilson's pet project the League of Nations, and in the success of the Republican Party against Wilson's Democrats in Presidential elections. This meant the Foreign Policy lurched strongly towards the stance of isolationism, or trying not to get involved in any foreign conflicts.

In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was ousted in a coup by Soviet hardliners, a move which backfired and saw the dissolution of the USSR, because of his support for nuclear arms reduction with American president George H.W. Bush. While in domestic policy, Bush continued with the same programs as his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, but the fall of communism helped give the foreign policy of Bush a new direction.

"Dollar diplomacy" was the prominent foreign policy approach favored by President William Howard Taft (1909-1913), but was widely used before and after Taft's term in office. The general principle of dollar diplomacy was that financial, rather than military, muscle was the most effective way of convincing foreign governments to support American interests.

The Boston Tea Party was a protest conducted by citizens of Massachusetts in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. In response to increased taxes and tariffs, particularly on tea, many colonists took to organizing opposition to Parliament's acts. After the Tea Act, which raised duties on tea, the most popular drink on both sides of the Atlantic, some of the leading citizens of Boston boarded ships carrying tea and dumped it overboard into Boston Harbor. This act became infamous, but was only one of many protests to a variety of taxes and tariffs. All of these led towards the American Revolution.

Although the Battle of Yorktown was the last major land battle of the Revolutionary War, it was the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 that officialy ended the war between the new United States of America and Great Britain.

The Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815, during the War of 1812.  The battle actually was the last battle of the conflict, and was fought after the Treaty of Ghent officially ended the War.  Another clue in this question is that Andrew Jackson was the General in command, where the Mexican-American War was fought after he was President, and the other answer choices are Wars fought before Jackson even served in the Army.

At the time of the American Revolution, Mexico was not yet an independent nation, but was still under the direct control of Spain.  Many Europeans came to America to support the colonists' cause, however, including the Marquis de Lafayette of France, Theodore Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski of Poland, and Bernardo de Galvez of Spain.  Germans fought on both sides of the American Revolution in different capacities.