Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheSerpentandtheDove 12 I

THEEUROPEANPLAN

Inthis 1880 illustration,ThomasNastdrawsa connectionbetween

stingycongressionaldefenseappropriations(representedbytheposter

oftheU.S.armyportrayedasa skeleton) andtheplansoreffortsof

BritainandFrancetobuilda canalthroughPanamawithoutAmerican

leadershiporevenparticipation.NastcallsSouthAmericathe"South-

ernStates"andthelineoftheproposedcanalthe"Mason-DixonLine."

Thiswasnota callfortheUnitedStatestoannexSouthAmerica;

rather,itwasa remindertoAmericanreadersbothoftheFranco-

BritishdesiretosplituptheUnitedStatesduringtheCivilWarandof

thevitalimportanceofthewholeWestern HemispheretoU.S.security.

ThomasNast.LibraryofCongress,PrintsandPhotographsDivision,Harper'sWeekly,

March13,1880,page 161

thegrowingpoweroftheUnitedStatesforced theBritishtorecog-
nizethata canalwithouttheconsentandcooperationoftheAmericans
wouldbeimpossible.IntheClayton-BulwerTreatyof1850,bothsides
acknowledgedastandoffandagreedthatneitherwouldbuilda canal
withouttheother.ThiswastheagreementthatTeddyRoosevelthadthe
greatsatisfactionofscupperingwhentheHay-PauncefoteTreatyof 190 I
recognizedthattheUnitedStatescoulddig,administer,andfortifya
canalwithoutBritishparticipation.
Atthetimeofitsconstruction,thePanamaCanalwasabletoaccom-