108 SPECIALPROVIDENCEBritain,France,theNetherlands,Portugal,andSpaintolimittherightof
AmericanshipstotradewiththeiroverseascoloniesaftertheRevolution.
This long-standingtheme inAmericanforeignpolicy couldstill
makeitspresencefelt inthetwenty-firstcentury.The"bananawar"
betweentheUnitedStatesandtheEUthatvexedtransatlanticrelations
duringtheClintonadministrationrepresentedAmericanoppositionto
ways inwhichtheEUdiscriminatedinfavorofexportsfrom former
EuropeancoloniesintheCaribbean(andtheEuropeancompaniesthat
controlledtheirexporttrade)against"dollarbananas,"grownincoun-
trieslikeEcuadorandGuatemalaanddistributedbyU.S.-basedfirms.
Theattempttoopenthedoorsofthecolonialempireswasa major
thrustofAmericanpolicyintheearlydecadesofindependence,andsuc-
cessinthisendeavorplayedanimportantroleinAmericaneconomic
development.NotthatAmericandiplomatscouldclaimallthecredit,
however.ThecollapseoftheSpanishandPortugueseempiresintheNew
World,France'sabandonmentofitsimperialambitionsintheWestern
Hemisphere,andthetriumphoffreetradeprinciplesinBritishpolitics
meantthatthefirsthalfofthenineteenthcenturywasatimeinwhich
Americanaccesstoworldmarketsincreaseddramatically.
Giventhesesuccesses,theopendoordiminishedasanelementin
Americanforeignpolicyuntiltheendofthenineteenthcenturywit-
nesseda newworldwidescrambleforcoloniesandeconomicadvantages
bytheEuropeanpowers. TheUnitedStateswasnotgreatlyexercised
aboutthepartitionofAfrica,buttheextensionofEuropeaninfluenceon
thePacificRimpresentedamuchmoreseriousproblem.Hamiltonians
believedthattheUnitedStatescouldnotacceptanexclusivecolonial
partitionofChina.TheUnitedStatesconsistentlyopposedEuropean
schemestodivideChinaintospheresofinfluence,andpursueda long-
termstrategytoacquirebases inthe PacifictoensurethatEuropean
nations,eithersinglyorincombination,couldneverextendtheexclu-
sive colonialsystem toacountrywhose trade, Hamiltoniansfirmly
believed,wasvitaltothefutureofthenation.
Thispolicyshouldnotbeconfusedwiththekindofprincipledanti-
imperialismtobefoundamongJeffersonians.AsinthecasesofHawaii,
the Panama Canal, and the Philippines, Hamiltonian thinkers and
politicianswereperfectlycapableofbehavingasimperialisticallyasany
Europeanpowerwhen theybelievedthatthenationalinterestrequired
it. Burtheywerenotgratuitouslyimperialistic.Unlikemanyofthe
Europeans,theydidnotseektoplantthenationalflagwherever they