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

18 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

DANIELINTHELION'SDEN

UnlikeJackson,politiciansliketheHamiltonianDanielWebsterwho

wereseenas"softonGreatBritain"oftencameunderattackwhenthey

madeconcessionstoothercountries.Inthis 1852 cartoon,Webster,

thenSecretaryofState,isshowngettingsousedinthedenofthe

Britishlion,withthecartoonistsuggestingthat,justasWebsterhad

allegedlysacrificedAmericaninterestsinBritain'sfavorintheClayton-

BulwerTreaty,hewouldnowtaketoosofta lineina roundofnegotia-

tionsovertheoffshorefishingrightsof Americans.

FrankBellew.LibraryofCongress,PrintsandPhotographsDivision,LC-USZ62-34224

theprices oftobacco, cotton, and otheragriculturalproducts drove
uncountedAmericanstothebrinkofbankruptcy.
UntilwellaftertheCivilWartheUnitedStateswasinapermanent
waratmosphere,inwhicheitheritoritsEuropeannegotiatingpartners
werecontinuallythreateningwar,levying sanctions,andissuingthreat-
eningorderstotheirarmedforces.Theobjectsofthesethreatswerenot
limited tothe Western Hemisphere;American fighting forces were
foundineveryoceanandoneverycontinentduringthistimeofisolation
andinnocence.
GreatBritain,astheonlyglobalpoweroftheday,wasthecountry
withwhichtheUnitedStatesmostoftencameclosesttowar.Fromthe