184 SPEC!AL PROVIDENCEThishasn'talwaysbeentrue.TheearlyJeffersonianshadobjectives,
mostlyterritorial:Chieflytheywantedcontr~loftheGulfCoastfrom
FloridatothemouthoftheMississippi,whichmanyofthembelieved
alsorequiredthepossessionofCuba.TheLouisianaPurchaseandthe
annexationofFloridalargelysatisfiedtheJeffersonianhungerforland.
JeffersonianslikeJohnQuincyAdamsopposedtheannexationofTexas,
counseledcautionintheOregoncontroversywithBritain,andbitterly
denouncedtheMexican War. WilsoniansandHamiltonianstogether
plottedtheoverthrowoftheHawaiianmonarchyandU.S.annexationof
thatlandandpeople;JeffersonianswantedtoleavetheHawaiiansalone.
Jeffersonians like Mark Twain denounced the war that established
AmericanruleinthePhilippineswiththekindoffierceinvectivetheir
successorswouldhurl attheplannersoftheVietnamWar. Fewthings
wereclearertotheJeffersoniansthanthatthegrowthoftheAmerican
republicintoanintercontinentalempirewasa badbusinessallaround.
OncetheUnitedStateshadachieveda reasonablycleartitletomost
ofthekeyrealestateontheJeffersonianshoppinglist,therewaslittle
more,concretely,tobegainedfromanactivistforeignpolicy.Jeffersoni-
anscertainlyfoundlittletotemptthemintheambitiousplansperiodi-
callyputforwardbyHamiltoniansandWilsoniansforglobalsystems.
Theworldwide commercial system the Hamiltonianswantedwould
reinforcepreciselythecommercialelitethatJeffersoniansdeeplyfeared
athome.Itwasa badthing,nota goodone.EndlesslyinvolvingAmeri-
canarms,credit,honor,andprestigeinattemptstospreaddemocracyto
ungratefulandincapablerepublicsinSouthAmericaor,worse,interven-
inginBalkanwarsbetweentheOttomansultansandtheirrebellious
Christiansubjectsseemedtoinvolverisks,includingconflictswithother
powersand buildingupa strong military-industrialcomplexin the
UnitedStates,dependentonthepublictreasuryandaddictedtowar.
T
herearetwobasickindsofdangertolibertythatmightarise
fromdevelopmentsinforeignpolicy:Therearethosethingsthat
foreigncountriesmaydotousthatthreatenourlibertiesdirectly;there
arealso,perhapsmoredangerous,thethingswemaydotoourselvesas
weseektodefendourselvesagainstothers,orevenasweseektoadvance
ourvaluesabroad.Inthefirstgroupfalltheobvious,notoriousdangersof
foreignpolicy:Foreigncountriesmightinvade,devastate,occupy,and
finallyconquertheUnitedStates.Usingthreatsorbribes,theycould