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

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general:agrandstrategicvisionfortheexerciseofAmericanpower.As
theBritishEmpiredeclinedandtheUnitedStatesmovedtowardreplac-
ingtheBritish worldorderwithone ofitsown, themissionary or
Wilsonianvisionhadenormousimpactinshapingthearchitectureof
Americanhegemony.Wewillreturntoananalysisofthisstrategicvision
anditsimpactontheconstructionoftheUnitedStates-ledworldorder,
butweneedfirsttoroundoutthepictureofnineteenth-centuryWilso-
nianismbyexaminingtheimpactthatthemissionarymovementandthe
assortedphilanthropical,spiritual,andpoliticalmovementsassociated
withithadontheUnitedStatesandtheworld.

HowtheMissionariesChangedtheWorld

Although the missionaries exerted a considerable influence over
governmentpolicy, theirmajorimpactwas outsidegovernment: the
creationofinstitutions,relationships,andculturalandsocialrealitiesin
theUnitedStatesandforeigncivilsociety,alongwithotherchangesthat
resultedfrommissionaryactivity.
Inmanyways,themissionarymovementhashadmoreimpactinside
the UnitedStates thanbeyondits frontiers. First, through mostof
Americanhistory,missionariesandtheiroffspringhaveservedasa gate-
waybetweenthemassoftheAmericanpeopleandpeopleabroad.While
traders,travelers,governmentofficials,sailors,journalists,consultants
(liketheex-ConfederategeneralswhoadvisedtheEgyptiangovernment
onmilitarymodernizationaftertheCivilWar),andgovernmentofficials
havelongmaintaineda significantAmericanpresencearoundtheworld,
missionariesandmission-relatedpersonnelwere,formuchofourhistory,
thechiefbridgebetweenAmericansandthenon-Europeancountriesin
whichthemajorityoftheworld'spopulationlives.
Inparticular themissionaries builtpersonalconnections between
ordinarypeopleintheUnitedStatesandabroad.Althoughtheexactstruc-
turevariedfromdenominationtodenomination,andalthoughmission-
relatedschools and colleges werestructured differently from direct
missions,theentiremissionaryendeavorrestedonvoluntarysupportand
contributionsbygrassrootsAmericans.Missionariesweresentoutbya
localcongregationorbyagroupofcongregationsinthesamegeographic
area,andthepersonnelwereoftenyoungwomenormenwhohadgrown
upinthecommunitiesthatnowundertooktheirsupport.Missionaries