The Serpent and the Dove: Hamiltonian Foreign Policy

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The Serpent and the Dove Hamiltonian Foreign
Policy
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Alexander Hamilton

• 1757-1804
• Pro-Whig during Revolution
• Strong Federalist
• Pro-business attitude rivaled that of Jefferson
  and Madison

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• The Hamiltonian Way combines realistic serpents
  and idealistic doves
• Hamiltonians put financial national interests of
  the U.S. first and foremost

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The Hamiltonian Way

• Seek commercial orientation
• No illusion about frailties of human nature
• Work for upper class
• Willing to consider morally painful ideas
• Balance of power
• International force
• Overall a realistic and unsentimental philosophy

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Hamiltonian vs. Wilsonian

• Hamiltonians more deceptive
• More inclined to warfare i.e. creating a
  powerful navy standing army just to protect
  free trade

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Foreign Policy

• Consider nations interests develop a policy to
  safeguard its resources
• Exploit its strengths
• Consider its weaknesses

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Hamiltonians vs. Europeans

• European geographic outlay surrounded by powers
• Hamiltonian geographic outlay no surrounding
  threats, similar to Great Britain
• Modeled Hamiltonian policy after Great Britain,
  but took it farther

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Commercialism

• Policy focused on free trade and the economy
• Main concern was trade access, not territorial
  rule
• Not a lose-lose situation, both nations benefit
• Commerce leads to peace

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Militarism

• No need to build great military to look over
  American interests
• America needed a component military the state
  itself needed to be civilian

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Freedom of Seas

• American citizens
• American goods
• American ships to travel in interests of peaceful
  trade
• Piracy suppressed

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Freedom of Skies

• Fought against hijacking
• Wanted peaceful commercial trade
• Geography of U.S. makes us dependant on safe
  transport of goods and people
• Interference is a threat to immediate interests
  and Hamiltonians reserve the right to respond
  with force if needed

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Free Flow of Money

• Dollars, pounds, francs etc. should be freely
  exchanged
• Traders and investors move money from one country
  to another
• Government must have sound fiscal and monetary
  policies
• No excessive borrowing
• Central bank

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Hamiltonians and the Pacific

• Interest in the Pacific when independence gained
• American merchants waiting to trade with eastern
  Asia
• By 1800s hundreds of U.S. ships found in Pacific
  Ports

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Trade in the Pacific

• China didnt want Western goods
• Opium was a big hit
• Whaling
• Spermaceti, whale oil, and baleen
• Over 600 whale ships

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Protecting the Pacific

• Military presence as early as 1812
• Early naval ships regularly patrol far eastern
  coasts
• Humane treatment of shipwrecked sailors
• Suppression of privacy

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Japan and U.S. trade

• Japanese kept imports out
• U.S. wanted an open market
• Before WWII, the U.S. opposed Japanese ambitions
  in China
• After WWII, the U.S. supports Japan against China

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19th century Britain

• dominated American commerce, mining, and
  agricultural communities
• controlled worldwide communication
• excelled in the area of industrial technology
• had the only fleets capable of attacking the U.S.
  at home

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British-American Trade Relationship 1800s

• Shared language and legal system benefited both
  nations
• U.S. was an important source of raw materials and
  foodstuffs for Britain
• By 1890, Britain absorbed 52.2 of American
  exports
• Strong pro-British party in the U.S. and strong
  pro-American party in Britain

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The House of Baring

• American governments most important foreign
  banker
• Louisiana Purchase
• Financial affairs during the War of 1812
• Purchase of more than 1,000,000 acres of Maine
  land

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The House of Morgan

• Served as the de facto central bank of the U.S.
• Rescued the dollar during the gold panic of 1893
• Prevented a massive financial collapse in the
  wake of the panic of 1907

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British-American Defense Relationship 1800s

• Allies
• Britains fleets on seas, U.S. troops on land
  (could capture Canada) resulted in balance of
  power
• Extraordinarily cheap and simple defense policy

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Other World Powers

• Germany established itself in Africa and China
• Germans rival British in Latin America
• French moved into Asia and South Pacific
• Anglo-Japanese naval alliance
• British alliance with Germany

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1900-1914

• Characterized by great confidence
• Panama Canal
• Shifts in power in Germany, Japan, and Britain

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Panama Canal

• Britain and the U.S. struggled to control the
  Isthmus of Panama, but the U.S. finally won the
  right to build the canal without aid or consent
  - from Britain.
• The American navycould project power into both
  the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans much more easily
  and cheaply than any other state.

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Germany

• Fastest rising power in Continental Europe
• Technological, industrial, and economic
  superiority over Britain
• Armed forces and navy to rival Britain
• Seeking colonies and dependencies worldwide

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Japan

• Racial superiority paradigm shifts with
  realization that nonwhite people are equally
  capable of mastering the technological secrets
  of white civilization.
• Russo-Japanese war illustrated Japans rising
  capabilities
• Japan sought a colonial empire in Asia

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Britain

• British Empire dismantled
• Britain unable to sustain a worldwide balance of
  power
• Decline of British power increased British
  dependence on special relationship with the U.S.

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Implications

• U.S. took a more active role in world politics
• Panama Canal made it possible
• Fall of British Empire made it necessary

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Aftermath of the Fall of Britain

• Two world wars and Cold War can be seen as wars
  of succession
• U.S. helped dismantle the empire
• U.S. fought off challenges from Germany, Japan,
  and USSR
• A new international order created to ensure U.S.
  position as gyroscope of world power

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Hamiltonian Response

• Free trade, open markets still the primary
  concern
• Unprecedented interest in full consent and
  cooperation of trading partners
• Strong military to protect American interests
  encouraged Cold War
• Sought international common laws

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Two Major Changes

• In the mid-twentieth century there were two major
  changes as a result of the fall of Britain
• Security matters a new commitment to foreign
  alliances
• Economic matters discarded system of industrial
  protection and tariffs