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

"VindicatorOnlyofHerOwn" 203

wasoneofthemostlightlyfortifiedmajorbordersintheworldevenata
timewhenAmerican-Britishrelationswerestillcrisis-prone.
Ina senseJeffersonians built a strategic relationship withGreat
Britainthathadsomeinterestingstructuralsimilaritieswiththebalance
theUnitedStatesreachedwiththeSovietUnionduringtheColdWar.
Britain,a potentiallyhostileglobalsuperpower,hadtheoptionatany
time ofdevastatingAmericancities with its navy, and ofthrowing
Americanfinancialmarketsintochaosandcollapsethroughitscontrolof
theinternationalcreditsystem.OntheotherhandtheAmericanscould
withholdneededimportsofcottonandwheat,andthelossofaccessto
theAmericanmarketmeantruinformanyofBritain'smajorindustrial
companies.Britishbankswerealsosodependentontheirloansandsecu-
rities intheUnitedStatesthatfinancialdisruptionsontheAmerican
marketwouldhavebroughtLondondown.Inaddition,asmanyBritish
strategistsrecognizedas earlyas theCivilWar,any militaryconflict
betweenthetwopowersmightbeginwithBritishattacksonthemajor
Americancities;itwouldinvolvea catastrophiceconomicupheavalin
bothcountriesbeforeitsprobableendingintheAmericanconquestof
Canada,andpossiblyinthelossoftheBritishpossessionsintheWest
Indiesaswell.
Thusthetwopowerswereina situationofmutualdeterrence-either
couldinflictunacceptabledamageontheother,butonlyatthecostof
acceptingsimilardamageitself.InthenineteenthcenturyasintheCold
War,Jeffersonians wanted tomaintain this deterrenceat the lowest
possiblecost.Thatmeantnucleararmslimitationsandotheragreements
withtheSovietUnionintheColdWar;duringthenineteenthcen-
turyitmeant,aboveall,thedemilitarizationoftheAmerican-Canadian
frontier.
This frontier, including the Alaskaboundary, stretchesfor 5,525
miles.Intheearlytwentiethcentury,Francemaintaineda regulararmy,
notcountingreserves,of540,000troopstodefendthe 280 miles^47 of
frontieritsharedwithGermany:1,928soldiersforeverymileoffrontier.
Atevenone-tenthofthis ratio,theUnitedStateswouldhavehadto
maintaina standingarmyofmorethana millionmentofortifyitsland
frontierwiththeBritishEmpire.Asitwas,theUnitedStateswasable
todefenditsboundariesagainsttheBritishthreatwithapproximately
1 percentofthemanpower-to-mileratioforcedonFrance.^48 Diplomacy
hadsucceededinmaintainingdeterrencewithdisarmament.
TheJeffersoniandiplomatsofthe 1820S charteda coursefor the
UnitedStatesthatenabledittowinthegreatestpossiblesecuritydivi-