separates us from the past and connects us with the future only; and so far as regards the entire development of the natural rights of man, in moral, political, and national life, we may confidently assume that [the United States] is destined to be the great nation of futurity.”3 During this time, the United States, driven by belief in Manifest Destiny, expanded across the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In addition, the United States also resolved the issues of slavery, states’ rights, and sectional discord during the American Civil War. After the war, the United States spent the rest of the nineteenth century concentrating its energies toward reconstruction in the South, consolidation and expansion against the American Indians in the West, and staying away from foreign entanglements outside the Western Hemisphere.4
Map 1. U.S. Amphibious Operations in Latin America (1898–1914)
While the United States was undergoing these trials, it also went through significant political, social, and economic changes at home. The American Civil War was the catalyst for these developments, which transformed the United States in several ways. Politically, during President Abraham Lincoln’s administration, a strong federal government was established that provided the unity, organization, and tools to focus the collective interests and resources of the states. In addition, the federal government also had the ability and power to implement policy and coordinate the United States’ manpower and resources against potential threats. Finally, the American government established the conditions that allowed the continued development of the nation’s economy by establishing high tariff barriers against imported foreign goods and implementing a series of economic policies that nurtured innovation and expansion in agriculture, industry, transportation, and commerce.5 This environment ultimately led to the United States’ extraordinary economic and scientific development, leading the nation into the Second Industrial Revolution. Michael H. Hunt argues in his study of America’s rise that, “A union of wealth, confidence, and leadership [provided] the basis for sustained international success, which in turn [created] a virtuous cycle, reinforcing confidence, confirming national myths, and giving rise to widely accepted policy codes. By assembling precisely these constituents of national power, [the United States] won security for their new nation, then international standing as a major power, and finally uncontested supremacy.”6
By the end of the nineteenth century, the United States was strategically positioned to dominate the international environment. Politically, the American government reigned supreme and had firm federal control over its various states and territories at home. Economically, the United States had a growing industrial base that was threatening to overtake the European industrial powers. Militarily, while America enjoyed order and security over its territories, its hegemony over the North American continent only had to deal with weak, divided states and nonstate actors that allowed the United States to run matters as it saw fit. Interestingly enough, American diplomacy remained detached and aloof from international affairs for the first one hundred years of the nation’s existence as a republic. While the United States did weigh in on matters concerning diplomatic affairs and foreign involvement in the Western Hemisphere, national leaders tried to stay true to President George Washington’s guidance when he urged, “The great rule of conduct for [the United States] in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagement let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith.”7
With political, economic, and military dominance secured on the North American continent after only one hundred years of existence, the United States managed to stay out of the world’s various foreign crises and wars perpetuated by the ambitions of the European powers. In addition, the consolidation of American power in North America created an excess of political and economic capital that allowed U.S. leadership to consider plans for future expansion beyond the confines of the North American continent.8 Part of this development was due to the American republic’s maturation process and its finally emerging in the international system, while the other part was influenced by the growing power and developmental impact of science and technology. Michael H. Hunt points out, “Only a dynamic and growing economy can create the material resources essential to realizing great international ambitions. Generation of wealth in turn depends on science and technology driving productivity and on a society attuned to innovation.”9 Therefore, as the United States grew in strength, the European continent during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was also experiencing a dynamic social, economic, and scientific transition that changed the face of the international system, as seen with the Enlightenment and the First Industrial Revolution.10
While elements of these influences in Europe touched the United States and impacted American political, economic, and social circles, the slow transition of the political leadership from the American Revolution generation into the Antebellum Period becomes apparent. The desire for isolation to focus on domestic issues within the United States began to change with a series of foreign policy moves that tied the American republic into the international system. The U.S. war against the Barbary States and, later, France and Great Britain reflected the reality that America’s interests went beyond the continental United States, and that, in fact, America was already engaged in foreign affairs to a greater or lesser degree in certain parts of the world.11 In addition, the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the purchase and annexation of European holdings in the Florida and Oregon territories, and the conquest of Mexico’s northern territories reflected a United States that was becoming increasingly aggressive in its actions and assertive in its foreign policy dealings.12 In his study of American diplomatic strategy during the nineteenth century, Howard Jones states that the United States needed to focus on strengthening its northern and southern borders, continue its expansion west toward the Pacific, and expand its commerce into Latin America. In doing this, these objectives necessitated bringing about order to the Western Hemisphere and establishing the United States as the New World’s guardian against Old World interference. The end result was bringing forth a greatly enhanced feeling of national security that rested on the United States making itself the most influential power in the hemisphere.13
The technological advances of the eighteenth and the early half of the nineteenth centuries, covering the latter years of the Enlightenment and much of the First Industrial Revolution, quickly shaped American political, economic, and military thinking. With American political leaders becoming increasingly aware of what was going on within the United States and the world around them, decisions and policies were shaped and implemented in reaction to the changing dynamic environment of the international system. These domestic and foreign policy decisions were made in the context of seizing an advantageous opportunity or exploiting a weakness that would significantly benefit both the United States and the American people. Walter Nugent points out, “Within this global context, the United States of America was a huge success [ending up] much larger economically, demographically, politically, and also imperially, than it had entered it.”14 Therefore, American actions in the international system did have consequences for the development of the United States based on an overall goal toward national security and shaping its geopolitical environment. Retired general Tony Zinni, former commander of U.S. Central Command, points out that national security strategy is defined by how a nation decides to engage the world. That nation can either decide on a strategy and then use its power and influence to shape the environment to fit its strategy, or that nation can take a hard, cold look at the environment to see how it can shape its national security strategy to achieve the best possible goals within the limits of the environment and its own national power and influence.15
In this context, the United States was breaking out of its geopolitical shell and beginning to view itself as a unique nation with a special mission in the world. Howard Jones argues that, unlike the European powers that talked about power relationships and strategic considerations, the United States discussed natural rights, republic ideas of popular rule, free trade, neutral rights, and freedom of the seas. While past American leaders were fairly consistent
