The Thin Veil of American Altruism

by: Alison Salisbury

American foreign policy in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be defined by the unique collaboration of cultural, economic, and political policies that has been a factor in every subsequent era of foreign policy in the United States. American policies toward China and Latin America from 1890 to 1920 imposed a protectionist doctrine against European encroachment on these regions, justified by the U.S as altruistic in nature. However, American protectionism of China and Latin America ultimately served as an alternative means of colonialism in these regions, driven by American desires for economic expansion. Altruism was a thin cover for American economic expansionist policies like the Open Door Policy in China and Dollar Diplomacy in Latin America.

In the decades that followed the Civil War, a new prosperous United States rose from the ashes of what had been a fiercely divided nation. Highly industrialized and with new technology like the telegraph, railroad, and steamship, the U.S. emerged as an important player in the world market. Foreign policy makers and businessmen were highly aware of the potential for American goods abroad. Senator Albert Beveridge expressed these sentiments in 1898, acknowledging: “…today, we are raising more than we can consume, making more than we can use. Therefore we must find new markets for our produce.”3 Americans like Beveridge, while touting the new economic power of the U.S., was also afraid of the potential damage it could do to the country. In order to avoid the danger of over production, foreign markets quickly became the answer to new American economic growth. The rise of American commercial power with desires to expand sparked a global race between Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the U.S. to establish firm holds on economic markets around the world leading up to the dawn of the twentieth century. This desire to establish global markets, combined with the emergence of the American commercial giant encouraged the United States to adopt an expansionist foreign policy in order to develop strong footholds in Latin America and China to sell their goods.

Americans recognized their potential to establish foreign markets dominated by U.S. made goods. While the United States realized the promising capital gains from expanding markets, some Americans argued that expanding U.S. markets abroad was not an option but rather a necessity in order to continue to achieve economic prosperity in the United States. One such individual was Charles Denby, Jr. who wrote that, “The productiveness of American industry has outstripped the demand of the American market, and the manufacturer begins to look abroad… For the manufacturer of the United States the export trade has become a necessity, and it should be fostered with a jealous care.” Denby was quick to note that American businesses can go abroad and gain markets, but it is only with the support of the United States government to aid these ventures in the political realm that American economic prosperity can continue to boom. It is with arguments like Denby’s in mind that over the course of the 1890s to the 1920s U.S. foreign policy used plans like the Open Door Policy and Dollar Diplomacy to secure the markets that Denby emphasized needed to be so guarded closely for American interests. In order to achieve such results, the United States adopted a foreign policy portrayed to be altruistic, but in reality was only meant to further American interests.

The Open Door Policy in China is a specific example of the economic expansionist policies explored by the United States between 1890 and 1920. The late nineteenth century was ripe with conflicts all over the world, including Asia. Viewed as the next frontier by Europeans and Americans alike, the Asian continent quickly became the newest colonial playground. European powers, aided by internal strife in China, quickly established spheres of influence in the country. Americans quickly discovered the wealth of Chinese markets. Although the United States still lacked the military power that European nations used to create markets in China, the U.S. instituted a policy based on the Open Door Notes of 1899 that guaranteed the right to hold markets in China. Richard F. Hinton explains the need for the U.S. to differentiate themselves from Europeans in the matter of foreign markets, explaining: “… it will be to our best interest to give counsel and lend protection, perhaps, to others of the peoples who dwell on the Indian Archipelago, Cochin-China, Siam, etc. We must aid them to stand alone, because we shall in that way only secure our share of the rich commerce there.” Hinton argues that it is not just about gaining new markets around the world. Rather, it is the rapport the U.S. would gain as a defender of Chinese interests in the face of European domination that would allow the United States to gain more market advantages in China. Hinton’s concept of U.S. protection for China directly feeds into the premise of altruism acting as a thin guise for American economic expansion, which was achieved through the Open Door Policy.

The Open Door Notes of 1899 was a bold move by the United States government to stop the sectioning off of China by European powers. In order to avoid such arrangements, Americans argued for an “equality of access” in China, rather than a sphere of influence. Not strong enough militarily to substantially influence European power in China, the U.S. led through their commercial power by suggesting shipping and railway privileges be equal for all world powers in China. By claiming in the Notes to respect Chinese sovereignty, and suggest a general Chinese tariff collected by the Chinese government, the United States offered an arrangement that appeared to be altruistic in nature, but this policy simply aided the United States in gaining an economic foothold in China with little respect for the Chinese people.

Americans sought to influence the Chinese in a social and cultural sense through the Open Door Notes. Even while calling to respect the sovereignty of China, American missionaries flooded the country, establishing schools and Christian establishments in hopes of westernizing China and making its officials grateful to Americans. These endeavors hardly had their intended effect, as the Chinese resented the cultural and social intrusions into their country through responses like the Boxer Rebellion. While the Chinese desired their nation to become an international economic market, they did not want it to come at the expense of their traditions and culture. In this manner, the supposed altruism of the U.S. failed, and it drove the Chinese to view Americans in a similar light to that of their European counterparts. The failed mirage of American altruism left the U.S. portrayed as just another world power set on achieving an economic and ideological marketplace strictly for their benefit. The United States also tried to pursue a policy of altruism in Latin America with dollar diplomacy. Implemented by President William Howard Taft, dollar diplomacy became Taft’s central foreign policy emphasizing the use of money and commerce to lead the United States abroad, instead of a policy based on military power as favored by his predecessor Theodore Roosevelt. Based on his experience as Governor of the Philippines, Taft wanted to achieve a foreign policy that implemented humanitarian and development ideas into U.S. policy to encourage Latin American countries to look favorably at the U.S. This enhanced the thin cover of altruism in American foreign policy.

Dollar diplomacy was touted to be mutually beneficial to the U.S. and the countries that received U.S. loans. In the case of Nicaragua, the supposed altruism of the United States with dollar diplomacy ended up working against the United States. U.S companies had been involved in Nicaraguan affairs for many years by the time of the Taft presidency. The rise of dictator Jose Santos Zelaya threatened these interests as he created an export tax, which greatly affected the U.S. banana companies in Nicaragua. The fear that Zelaya would limit capitalist ventures encouraged the U.S. to support a revolution in favor of Adolfo Diaz. Deeply in debt under Diaz, Taft suggested a U.S. loan to help deal with the debt and keep Diaz in power. While championed as an altruistic gesture of the U.S. to Nicaragua, Taft was more concerned about protecting U.S. economic ventures in the country through monetary loans and supporting an uprising against a leader who did not look favorably on the U.S. than truly hoping to benefit Nicaragua. By giving a loan to Nicaragua, the United States was strengthening their foothold in the country by ensuring Nicaragua would have to repay the United States back for the loan. By engaging Nicaragua to pursue such a loan, the U.S. was guaranteed Nicaraguan policies that would look more favorably on American interests in the country until these loans were paid off.

In Nicaragua, dollar diplomacy did not end up having the effect Taft intended. The loan given to Nicaragua paired with a corrupt Diaz government led to a surge in nationalism. Subsequently debt continued to rise, Diaz was overthrown, and U.S. resentment increased dramatically. Adding to U.S. resentment, Taft had to send in Marines to quell the revolt. What was a policy that intended to encourage peace in Latin America and garner support for American economic and political ventures ultimately ended up having the opposite effect. Although touted as altruistic in nature, dollar diplomacy in Nicaragua proved to solidly be a U.S. economic venture that threw a country into revolution and farther in debt than it had been before. The 1890s to the 1920s was a period of rapid economic growth for the United States. In this sense, economic prosperity encouraged the evolution of American foreign policy to look outward for new markets to expand. While trying to maintain traditional foreign policy themes likes avoiding political alliances and protecting U.S. interests in the Western hemisphere, Americans developed a policy that appeared to be altruistic in nature. However, by examining the Open Door Policy and Dollar Diplomacy, the altruism championed by the United States appears to have been a thin veil, screening a more American-centric motive for economic expansion while disregarding the effects on the countries these markets were established in, culminating in a unique form of colonialism.