the imperial powers, and the Royal Navy's dominance ensured that no European force reached American shores. This wave of British intervention ch anged the course of histo ry. To make it stick, they proposed what became the Mo nroe D octrine as a joint accord with the US. Pres ident M onroe consulted with fo rmer Pres idents Adams and Jefferson, who suppo rted this, but, interestingly, Fo reign Secretary John Quincy Adams opposed it. H e said that there might be a "community of interest" in the British proposal, but what Victory in Tow. H MS Victory under tow by HMS N eprune to safe harbor at Gibraltar after the we needed in such a binding damage she sustained at Trafalgar. Nelson's flagship went on to a long career as one of the Royal Navy scheme was a "communi ty of capital ships that underwrote the worldwide Pax Britannica. Today, she still carries that message as a principle." In other words, a commissioned warship on exhibition at Portsmouth, England. Painting by Clarkson Stanfield philosophic commitment goand become pan of the United Stares, and G rear Britain had ing beyond the British interest in free trade with the Americas, learned to respect American rights ar sea. There was never any which a revival of the Spanish Empire in America would have requestion of Britain "reconquering" America in 18 12, a fantasy stricted . For this reason, he pointed out, the British were barring entertained by movie makers and, alas, some histo rians today- French and Spanish intervemion by sea anyway, without benefit bur ambiguities in the status-quo peace that was signed could of a pact that might ultimately prove embarrassing to the United have led to conflict. There arose poims of tension as rhe US and Stares. So when rhe Monroe D octrine was announced, the growing Canadian borders stretched westward in com ing years. No nethe- strength of the US was lined up w irh the British navy to contain less, rhe factual, on-the-ground achievement of that peace was European mili tarism , without a wrirren agreement. The Commuone unprecedem ed in recorded history- a 3, 000-mile undefend- ni ty of Principle, tho ugh nor declared, proved to exist when the ed fromier between two nations that had been at war. This is a chips were down. Later events made this very clear. remarkable early example of American and British determinati on A big tes t came with the American Civil War. British industo rise above the powe r politics of rhe day-in effect a rejectio n try depended on Southern cotto n and naval stores, and Southern of zero-sum military gam es in favor of cooperative relationships leaders, closely involved with the British aristocracy, felr King among nations. N ot heaven on earth, but a bold and successful Co tto n wo uld compel British recognition of their independence. step toward the lion lying down wirh the lamb. No t that America They had a rude shock com ing to them; from the o utset the Britwas anybody's lamb. ish pursued a strict neutrality. They allowed all co mers (i ncluding The second great developmem to ser the pattern of wo rld Southerners) to buy ships and arms for cash on the barrelhead. evem s was even more radical, rhe proclama tion of rhe Mon roe More serio us was the French expedition to Mexico to collect o n Doctrine in 1823. This much-misunderstood American initiative overdue debts, m ounted when the C ivil War had American forces followed on intense negotiatio ns launched by Britain, aimed ar fully occupied. The British joined in the French imervemion but gerring an Anglo-American proclam ation declaring the Ameri- pulled o ut when the expedition developed into an armed invacas off-bounds to European intervention. Europe posed a very sion . They then barred French reinforcements, which might have real danger in this regard, because once a European peace was sustained rheir Emperor Maximilian on his throne. In the Spanish-American War and in rhe Open D oor Policy, established and rhe Bourbon monarchy reinstated in France, the leading E uropean powers united in a Hol y Al liance to quell revo- which preserved the territorial imegrity of C hina in 1899, Britai n lutions and maintain despotic societies. France and Spain par- aligned itself wirh America. These and other examples of ove rseas ticularly wam ed to recover their positions in the Americas, where cooperation also served the free-trade imeresrs of borh societies, South and Central American republics had arisen and thrown off but in one critical area commercial considerations clearly did not imperial rule. play a role. This was the seismic change in the wo rld order, which Britain naturally opposed this and, in fac t, aided the new led to the abolition of the slave tra de and ultimately of slavery American republics in "all measures short of war." British volun- itself in all English-speaking countries. From Britain's abolition of teers like Admiral Cochrane, who led ships and armies against slavery in England and Canada in. 1772 to rhe abolition of slavery 28
SE A HISTORY 11 2, AUT UMN 2005