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

134 SPECiALPROViDENCE

youngChinesestudyintheUnitedStates.Itwasthefirmpurposeofthe
AmericanmissionariestomakeChinaanadvanced,Christian,anddemo-
craticcountry,andwhenSunYat-senrookpower, thosemissionaries
wereconvincedthatthedestinedhourwasathand.
WithChinesedemocracydawning,themissionaryworldwas out-
ragedthatgreedycapitalistsshouldtakeadvantageofthetemporarydif-
ficultiesofthenewregimetoimposeonerousconditionson theloan.
NowwasthetimetotreatChinawithgenerosity,tohelpthisforward-
lookingdemocraticregime.Americanpolicycertainlycouldandshould
leadtheway.Themissionaries,generallysentoutfromandsupportedby
smallgroupsofAmericanchurchesinruralaswellasin urbanareas,
wrotetotheirfriendsandsupportersdenouncingtheloanandurging
themtoprotesttoCongress.Thegoodchurchpeoplecomplied,andthe
hallsofCongresssoonechoedtoanti-railwayloanrhetoric.
Intheendthemissionariesgottheirway.U.S.oppositionkilledthe
originalrailwayproposal,anda newagreement,morefavorabletoChina,
wasdrawnup.
Thisisbutoneexampleofa secondschoolatworkintheAmerican
foreignpolicyprocess, aschoolthatoftenfavorswhatsomemisleadingly
callan"idealist"foreignpolicy.Forconveniencewecancallthisschool
Wilsonian,butthelabelshouldnotblindus.Wilsonianswereactively
shapingAmericanforeignpolicylongbeforeWilsonmovedtoWashing-
ton,andtheideasthatunderliethisWilsonianschoolaremoredeeply
rootedinthenationalcharacterandmoredirectlyrelatedtothenational
interestthanmightappearatfirstglance.
WhileWilsonianismhasuniquecharacteristicsdrawnfromAmeri-
cancultureandhistory,thephenomenonofa greatpowerlinkingitsdes-
tinytothespreadofa particularideologyisnotuniquetotheUnited
States. Athens and Sparta lookedfor allies, respectively,among the
democraticandaristocraticpartiesoftheGreekcity-statesoftheirera.
ThespreadofHelleniccivilizationwasanobjectofpolicyforAlexander
theGreatandhissuccessors;theChristianemperorsofRomeandByzan-
tiumandtheMuslimcaliphsofDamascusandBaghdadbelievedthat
faithcould,would,andshouldfollowtheflag,sotospeak.
AstheCrossandtheCrescentsluggeditoutintheNearandMiddle
East,thepowersofWesternEuropealsoconsciouslysought-andgener-
allyfound-ideologicalrationalesfortheirpoliticalambitions.'England,
Holland,Sweden,andtheLutheranprincesofGermanywereProtestant
powers;theHapsburgdominionswere proudlyCatholic. Thecynical
powerpoliticsofeighteenth-centuryEurope,inwhich "enlightened"