Great Powers

by Thomas P. M. Barnett

  82. As Kagan notes, by imposing “one set of values . . . will now be valued and traded. Kagan, Dangerous Nation, p. 85.

  83. As such, George Washington’s retiring admonition . . . those same European powers. On this point see Kagan’s brilliant analysis in Dangerous Nation, pp. 112-25.

  84. Intimidated by the loss of Britain’s protection . . . establishing an inland empire. Kagan, Dangerous Nation, pp. 53-54 and 126-29.

  84. Indeed, Washington himself foresaw . . . inimical to the long-term health of the nation. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), p. 357.

  85. Later, as cotton became king . . . today’s OPEC could never dream of achieving in oil. In 1850, America accounted for 68 percent of world cotton production; see Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 128.

  86. As biographer Ron Chernow writes . . . piracy of British trade secrets.” Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), pp. 371-72.

  86. But even more crucial than such initial . . . markets into a single unified whole.” Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 378.

  87. Chernow calls him “a messenger from a future that we now inhabit.” Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 6.

  87. As Winik notes: “Hamilton’s fingerprints . . . remarkably, that is not an exhaustive list.” Winik, Great Upheaval, p. 479.

  87. A committed Jefferson Republican . . . to “become real and true Americans.” Maurice G. Baxter, Henry Clay and the American System (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2004), p. 57.

  88. It is argued by some historians . . . the Civil War itself might have been averted. On this, see Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 690.

  88. Clay’s primary scheme to implement . . . basis for funding roads and canals. Baxter, Henry Clay, p. 33.

  88. An unrepentant economic nationalist . . . in effect, external improvements. The term “external improvements” comes from Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 360.

  88. Still, much as Hamilton pushed Jefferson . . . surpassed until the late 1850s. See Howe’s chart on “Federal Government Expenses for Internal Improvements, 1789-1858” in What Hath God Wrought, p. 361.

  88. Jackson, as historian Daniel Walker Howe . . . the town eight years later on a train. Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 563.

  88. Howe argues that Clay expanded Hamilton’s . . . domination of the global economy. Howe, What Hath God Wrought, pp. 270-71.

  89. This was Hamilton’s ambition . . . protect herself, both at home and abroad.” Kagan, Dangerous Nation, p. 37.

  The American System, Tested and Transformed

  90. For all practical purposes . . . until Andrew Jackson . . . rode into power in 1828. Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 210.

  90. As Howe writes: “Our own age finds . . . the years between 1815 and 1848.” Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 4.

  90. It is surprising that the word “nationalism” . . . into a nationwide market economy.” Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 116.

  91. The canal also catapulted . . . map of the United States and put itself at the center.” Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 120.

  92. Jackson’s age likewise saw plenty of social . . . viewed as essentially nonwhite. On this point, see Stephen Prothero, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—and Doesn’t (New York: Harper One, 2007), pp. 70-71.

  92. The incoming Irish were . . . the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s. Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 825.

  92. America’s Second Awakening in religious fervor . . . promised lands of the Middle East. See Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 165; and Oren, Power, Faith, and Fantasy, pp. 80-97.

  92. Quincy Adams, by the way . . . unwanted association with the abominable practice. See Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 610.

  92. As Robert Kagan argues, the South . . . the North’s free-labor civilization.” Kagan, Dangerous Nation, p. 212.

  93. As the South increasingly dreamed of erecting . . . biggest slave state yet—Texas. On “tropical empire,” see Kagan, Dangerous Nation, pp. 234-45.

  93. By the time the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 . . . an emerging global antislavery crusade. Kagan, Dangerous Nation, pp. 210-18.

  94. Lincoln and Seward, Kagan notes . . . and a strong federal bank.” Kagan, Dangerous Nation, p. 258.

  94. Lincoln himself, who idolized fellow . . . with the construction of the Erie Canal. The quote regarding Clay comes from Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954), p. 105. On the “Illinois System,” see Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 569; and Goodwin, Team of Rivals, p. 92.

  94. Lincoln believed deeply in the essential equation . . “elevate the condition of men.” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, p. 90.

  94. In this manner, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin . . . undisputed giant. Goodwin, Team of Rivals, p. 28.

  95. Lincoln wisely tempered . . . Britain and France from intervening in the war.” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, pp. 342 and 364.

  95. But Lincoln, Goodwin writes . . . easily maneuvered into supporting the South.” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, p. 468.

  97. Perhaps the most important bill was the Homestead . . . plough to unbroken soil.” Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, p. 300.

  97. As a wartime measure . . . normal agricultural workforce was otherwise employed. See Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, p. 300.

  97. One out of every sixteen of those people settled on farms through the Homestead Act. See Hernando de Soto, “Citadels of Dead Capital: What the Third World Must Learn from U.S. history,” Reason, May 2001, found online at www.reason.com/news/show/28018.html.

  97. According to the U.S. Archives . . . of all U.S. lands—passed into the hands of individuals.” U.S. Archives, “Teaching with Documents: The Homestead Act of 1862,” found online at www.archives.gov/education/lessons/homestead-act/.

  97. The rest of Lincoln’s legislative agenda . . . to be permanently instituted in 1913). On this, see Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, p. 383; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, pp. 460-61; and Heather Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America After the Civil War (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), pp. 24-25.

  98. In Richardson’s view . . . both rich and poor—that inhabited society’s margins. Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox, p. 1.

  98. Its erosion—both perceived and real . . . what Fareed Zakaria calls the “rise of the rest.” Zakaria, Post-American World, pp. 1-2.

  The American System Matured, Then Extrapolated

  101. If you view the American Civil War . . . opening to America in the early 1970s. Kagan, Dangerous Nation, p. 265.

  103. Railroad companies dominated the economic . . . other way around in the West). On these phenomena, see Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox, p. 208.

  103. In the metaphors Thomas Friedman uses . . . production and international commerce. Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree (New York: Random House, 1999).

  103. As historian Edmund Morris notes . . . cities of salt and cloth and corn and copper.” Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex (New York: Modern Library, 2001), pp. 28-29.

  103. Consider this account from Morris . . . under the efficient glare of Edison light bulbs.” Morris, Theodore Rex, pp. 20-21.

  104. If Americans today fear that China . . . and settle Britain’s national debt in the bargain.” Morris, Theodore Rex, p. 21.

  104. But before America could display . . . latter decades of the nineteenth century. Kagan, Dangerous Nation, p. 65.

  105. After the Civil War . . . never met their companies’ owners face-to-face. See Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox, p. 93.

  105. Before the Civil War, public corporations . . . private ambition was enough. See Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox, p. 131.

  105. Despite the incredible rise of disposable income . . . in our nation’s history. See Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox, pp. 189-92. The inequality of income analysis comes from Benjamin Friedman, The Moral Consequences
of Economic Growth (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), p. 112.

  105. In the 1880s, it was common for one-quarter . . . Only half made it to the age of five. See Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox, pp. 97-98.

  105. Not surprisingly, hard times amid apparent plenty . . . extended into the mid-1890s. See Friedman, Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, pp. 120-24.

  106. When TR was sworn into office . . . experienced individual ever to serve as president. See Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (New York: Modern Library, 2001), pp. xi-xxiv. Morris’s prologue is the hands-down best preface to a biography that I have ever read—a real masterpiece in miniature. What follows naturally relies heavily on Morris’s brilliant two-volume biography (the second being titled Theodore Rex).

  107. Despite his reputation as a “cowboy” . . . across his seven-plus years as president. A point made by Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. xvi.

  108. Following Frederick Jackson Turner’s notion . . . would be authoritarianism. On the “stationary state,” see Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, pp. 478-84.

  108. The defensive impulse was external . . . waste spaces are being settled and seeded.” Quoted in Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 481.

  108. That “new and dark power” . . . the trusts and combinations of the imperial age. Quoted in Morris, Theodore Rex, p. 27.

  108. When a younger Teddy declared . . . made available to all Americans—north and south. Quoted in Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 473.

  109. It’s interesting to note . . . popularized the term “Middle East”). Oren, Power, Faith, and Fantasy, p. 307.

  109. Mahan’s notion of sea commerce “pressure points” . . . most of the Cold War. On Mahan, I suggest the “Introduction” by Antony Preston in Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1805 (New York: Gallery Books, 1980), pp. 6-11.

  109. By progressively extending . . . keeping sea lanes open for everyone’s trade. For an excellent history of how the Dutch ceded that role to the British, who in turn ceded it to the Americans, see Mead, God and Gold, pp. 85-101.

  109. America consumes about one-tenth of the Persian Gulf’s oil; the rest goes elsewhere. See data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s International Energy Outlook 2006 report (the 2007 report did not include a chart on global oil trade), found online at www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/archive/ieo06/pdf/tbl4.pdf.

  110. As he himself declared, “I could not ask a finer . . . for my administrations.” Quoted in Morris, Theodore Rex, p. 549.

  110. Roosevelt was a depressed, volatile . . “the most dangerous man of the age.” Quoted in Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. xv.

  110. Plus, quite frankly, given his seven years . . . that makes for effective diplomacy.” Quoted in Morris, Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. xvi.

  110. I don’t pretend that Roosevelt was anything . . . adjudicators that kept the game fair. Quoted in William H. Harbaugh, “About Theodore Roosevelt, Modern American Poetry website: www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/espada/roosevelt_life.htm.

  A Global American System, an American Century

  2. Figure out your actual economic leverage going in and make it clear in negotiations.

  118. It would, as Wilson confided to an aide, “force them to our way of thinking.” Kendrick A. Clements, Woodrow Wilson: World Statesman (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999), p. 185.

  119. As historian Kendrick Clements notes . . . than its leaders imagined.” Clements, Woodrow Wilson, p. 201.

  119. Lend-Lease was designed, as historian . . . in yet another costly European world war. Elizabeth Borgwardt, A New Deal for the World: America’s Vision for Human Rights (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2005), p. 100.

  119. Robert Skidelsky, British biographer . . America did right through WWI. Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: A Biography, vol. 3: Fighting for Freedom, 1937-1946 (New York: Viking, 2000), p. 100; cited in Borgwardt, New Deal for the World, p. 101.

  119. As President Calvin Coolidge coldly replied . . . “We hired them the money, didn’t we?” Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), p. 320.

  3. Build your domestic constituency from the start and keep it bipartisan.

  120. Wilson, whose 1885 scholarly book . . . the highly partisan nature of that age. Clements, Woodrow Wilson, p. 14.

  120. It also reflected Wilson’s personality . . . limit their number to an absolute minimum. On these points, see Clements, Woodrow Wilson, pp. 147 and 186; and Brownstein, Second Civil War, pp. 44-45.

  121. As Clements argues, “He wanted to be remembered . . . that structure needed to be. Clements, Woodrow Wilson, p. 197.

  121. As Walter Lippmann, a future influential . . . viewed it as the “great loot of the war.” Quoted in Oren, Power, Faith, and Fantasy, p. 377; see also pp. 376-87.

  122. Senator Arthur Vandenberg . . . opponent in the Senate, Henry Cabot Lodge. A point made by Borgwardt, New Deal for the World, p. 161.

  4. Be realistic about what you can achieve by intervening.

  123. Wilson’s first-term effort to conclude . . . more such interventions in the future. Quoted in Clements, Woodrow Wilson, p. 126; see also pp. 124-27 and 144-46.

  123. In FDR’s final address to Congress . . . and expect the world to survive again.” Quoted in David McCullough, Truman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), p. 337.

  123. For FDR, leveraging the Soviet Union’s manpower . . . war among all participants). For details, see the casualties graphic at the Wikipedia entry for World War II, found online at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:World_War_II_Casualties2.svg.

  124. Despite his lack of foreign policy experience . . . and launching the Berlin Airlift. Quoted in McCullough, Truman, p. 452.

  5. No political solutions for economic problems.

  125. In this amazingly prescient book . . . with one another and the larger world outside. On the question of German anger over the peace settlement, see John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (New York: BiblioBazaar, 2007), pp. 133-34, 154-55, and 165-67.

  125. In short, “Europe before the war” . . . and great havoc inflicted upon global order. On this, see Keynes, Economic Consequences of the Peace, pp. 15-24.

  126. In less than thirty pages of text . . . sine qua non of a stable peace. On this, see Keynes, Economic Consequences of the Peace, pp. 155-83.

  126. Wendell Willkie, Republican nominee . . . house built upon sand.” Cited in Borgwardt, New Deal for the World, p. 96.

  6. State your positive goals as early as possible.

  127. Once into the fight, however, Wilson . . . the freedom of nations can make them.” For the complete text of the speech, delivered April 2, 1917, find it online at www.firstworldwar.com/source/usawardeclaration.htm.

  128. As Elizabeth Borgwardt argues . . . a modern declaration of individual independence. For quotes and overall analysis of the Atlantic Charter’s historical importance, see Borgwardt, New Deal for the World, pp. 4-21.

  7. Plan for the postwar right from the start.

  129. Almost purposefully playing behind the curve . . . of the American Protective League. Quoted in Clements, Woodrow Wilson, p. 159.

  129. Having made virtually no prewar attempt . . . new standard of “100% Americanism.” See Clements, Woodrow Wilson, pp. 173-75.

  130. His Pulitzer Prize-winning 1970 autobiography . . “present at the creation.” Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (New York: W.W. Norton, 1987).

  8. Recognize that your recent experiences determine your usable skills.

  131. The Great Depression, of course . . . the “economic laboratory of the world.” See Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, pp. 506-7.

  131. Paramount in their thinking . . . “one overriding aim: to do better than last time.” Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, p. 669.

  131. As policymakers on both sides . . . chosen withdrawal after the last world war.
Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, p. 669.

  132. Sensing that FDR did not have long to live . . “the Missouri Compromise.” Cited in McCullough, Truman, p. 320.

  132. Even FDR admitted as late as July 1944, “I hardly know Truman.” Quoted in McCullough, Truman, p. 292.

  132. But here are the two key connections . . . postwar economic and security order. Quoted in McCullough, Truman, p. 219.

  132. When stunned by his new responsibilities . . . his first day after being sworn in. Quoted in McCullough, Truman, p. 353.

  132. As journalist Allen Drury noted . . . this first time, ask them to come to him.” Quoted in McCullough, Truman, p. 353.

  132. This single request, coming in the highly charged . . . House minority leader. Quoted in McCullough, Truman, pp. 468-69.

  133. As McCullough writes of his subsequent inauguration . . . prosperity and power.” McCullough, Truman, p. 733.

  133. McCullough notes of his inaugural address . . . ‘people all over the world.’ ” McCullough, Truman, pp. 729-31.

  133. The Washington Post headline said it all: . . . and Abraham Lincoln! Cited in McCullough, Truman, p. 731.

  9. Once the war is won, the only alternative to withdrawal or domination is transformation.

  133. After achieving decisive victory in war . . . other states within the order.” John G. Ikenberry, After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 4; cited in Borgwardt, New Deal for the World, p. 15.

  133. Woodrow Wilson knew, as Franklin Roosevelt . . . he sought to end that system. Quoted in Oren, Power, Faith, and Fantasy, p. 456.

  134. His replacement . . . “normalcy,” withdrawing America from world power. See Brownstein, Second Civil War, pp. 46-47.