The following passage is taken from a book by George C. Herring titled From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 (© 2008 by George C. Herring).
- From their foundation, the
- American colonies were an
- integral part of the British
- Empire, and hence of an
- Atlantic trading community.
- According to the dictates of
- mercantilism, then the
- dominant school of economic
- thought, the colonies supplied
- the mother country with
- timber, tobacco, and other
- agricultural products and
- purchased its manufactured
- good.
- But the Americans also broke
- from prescribed trade patterns.
- New England and New York
- developed an extensive illicit
- commerce with French Canada,
- even while Britain was at war
- with France. They also opened a
- lucrative commerce with Dutch
- and French colonies in the
- West Indies, selling food and
- other necessities and buying
- sugar more cheaply than it
- could be acquired from the
- British West Indies. Americans
- benefited in many ways from
- Britain’s mercantilist Navigation
- Acts, but they staunchly resisted
- efforts to curb their trade with
- the colonies of other European
- nations.
- The American colonies were also
- part of a Eurocentric
- “international” community.
- Formed at the Peace of
- Westphalia in 1648, this new
- system sought to end years of
- bloody religious strife by
- enlarging the stature and role
- of the nation-state. Based in
- part on concepts developed by
- Hugo Grotius, the father of
- international law, Westphalia
- established principles such as
- the sovereign equality of states,
- non-interference by one state
- in the domestic affairs of others,
- peaceful resolution of disputes,
- and the obligation to abide by
- international agreements.
- After Westphalia, diplomacy
- and war came under the
- purview of civil rather than
- religious authority. A corps of
- professional diplomats emerged
- to handle interstate relations.
- A code was produced to guide
- their conduct. François de
- Callières’s classic manual of the
- eighteenth-century diplomatic
- art affirmed that negotiations
- should be conducted in good
- faith, honorably, and without
- deceit – “a lie always leaves a
- drop of poison behind.” On
- the other hand, spies were
- essential for information
- gathering, and bribes–although
- that word was not used—were
- encouraged.
- Negotiation required keen
- powers of observation,
- concentration on the task at
- hand, sound judgment, and
- presence of mind, de Callières
- explained. But a “gift presented
- in the right spirit, at the right
- moment, by the right person,
- may act with tenfold power upon
- him who receives it.” It was also
- important to cultivate the ladies
- of the court, for “the greatest
- events have sometimes followed
- the toss of a fan or the nod
- of a head.”
- Far from eliminating war, the
- new system simply changed the
- reasons for fighting and the
- means of combat. Issues of war
- and peace were decided on the
- basis of national interest as
- defined by the monarch and
- his court. Nation-states acted
- on the basis of realpolitik rather
- than religious considerations,
- changing sides in alliances
- when it suited their foreign
- policy goals. Rulers deliberately
- restricted the means and ends
- of combat. They had seen the
- costs and dangers of unleashing
- the passions of their people.
- They had made substantial
- investments in their armies,
- needed them for domestic
- order, and were loath to risk
- them in battle.
- Once involved in war, they
- sought to avoid major battles,
- employed professional armies
- in cautious strategies of
- attrition, used tactics
- emphasizing maneuver and
- fortification, and held to
- unwritten rules protecting
- civilian lives and property.
- Their aim was to sustain the
- balance of power rather than
- destroy the enemy. War was
- to be conducted with minimal
- intrusion into the lives of the
- people. Indeed, that master
- practitioner of limited war,
- Prussia’s Frederick the Great,
- once observed that war was
- not a success if most people
- knew it was going on.