The English in America

Written by Mark Summers

Part Four: From Enemies to Allies: 1783-1941

After the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, the relationship with England (and the rest of Great Britain) moved into the realm of foreign policy. Relations between the United States and Great Britain remained tense throughout the remainder of the 18th and for most of the 19th century. Increased technology and communication along with the emergence of the United States as a world power eventually neutralized U.S. isolationism and strengthened cultural ties between it and the “Mother Country”. By the beginning of the Second World War, these strengthened relations would be tested as the United States mulled its decision on whether or not to enter that global conflict.

American isolationism began just as the ink was beginning to dry on the United States Constitution. The goal of U.S. isolationism as set forth by the first president George Washington was twofold. The first goal of the United States was to maintain its independence by avoiding European conflicts. As a young nation the U.S. did not have the military or economic might to involve itself in a European war. Secondly, the United States maintained a “moral status” as a revolutionary nation to support and promote republicanism across the globe. By the end of Washington’s presidency, France, still technically an Ally since 1779, was in the midst of its own revolution. U.S. policy would be tested as the French Revolution went from the ballot box to the guillotine.

At the dawn of the 19th century the American “two party” political system emerged. Although George Washington had warned the nation of the dangers of political parties, the emergence of them testified to the strength of the U.S. constitution and the maturity of American politics. What did however make the party system so dangerous was that they were tied into pro-English and pro-French factions.

The first political party to emerge was the Federalist Party. The Federalists were for a strong central government and a political system similar to England’s. Their fiery leader was Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury (similar to Exchequer). Hamilton, a West Indian (white), by birth, emerged from obscurity to become aid to George Washington and military hero during the War for Independence. An Anglophile, Hamilton was trusted by the British during the 1790’s, so much so he was known in British diplomatic circles as “Number Seven”. The Federalists were dominant in politics until the War of 1812. They later became the American Whig Party, and are today the ancestors of the Republican Party.

The second political party to emerge was the Democrats (originally called Republicans or Democratic-Republicans). This party centered on the first Secretary of State, and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, now an Anglophobe, favoured relations with France. He counted on the support of the rural South and the urban artisan class. By the time Jefferson became the third U.S. president, France, had fallen out of favour in American eyes. Jefferson and his Party continued to harbour a strong dislike of England, which contributed to the War of 1812.

This resentment, which stemmed from the War of Independence, was not relegated just to politics. A New England man, named Daniel Webster, was a Puritan minister and political activist. An avid believer of education, Webster pushed for an Americanised version of the English language. The legacy of the Webster’s popular dictionaries is seen today when one sees how the word “honour” becomes “honor” in American usage etc.

Jefferson and his successor Democrats maintained control of the presidency through 1825. During this time the United States expanded its borders with the Louisiana Purchase. The United States believed itself “destined” to control the Western Hemisphere. As such the young nation feared British involvement with the Western Indians as well as in Canada. Great Britain meanwhile was fighting the Napoleonic threat in Europe and striving to protect its industries at home. The United States was required to purchase British permits in order to trade in England. The French often captured ships baring such permits. Both Great Britain and France locked in the death grip of war boarded U.S. ships and seized sailors to be impressed into their navies. Despite propaganda to the contrary, most U.S. sailors taken by the British were in fact British subjects who jumped to the United States merchant marine for better pay.

Many Americans, particularly Democrats, clamored for war against Britain. The War came on 12 June 1812. Most of the fighting in what is called the War of 1812 took place on the U.S. Canadian border. The war was a disaster for the young United States. After Americans burnt the future site of Toronto, Ontario, in Canada, British forces seized and destroyed much of Washington, D.C. Although the Americans managed to defend Baltimore, Maryland (which inspired the American national anthem), and despite a few naval successes, the war was a failure. Several New England states even threatened to secede. Only the timely arrival of the Treaty of Ghent, signed 24 December 1814, and Andrew Jackson’s victory at New Orleans on 8 January 1815 (after the war was over) prevented a complete breakdown of the government. British tacit support of the Monroe doctrine of 1824 (which stated U.S. dominance of the Western Hemisphere), plus the US need of British naval dominance against the Spanish ended violent conflict between the two nations.

The following decades saw the political discussion of the United States centre around the issue of Black slavery. Much of the growing Northern state abolitionist movement was inspired by the English Anti-slavery societies. Several abolitionists including former slave Frederick Douglass were popular speakers in England. Nevertheless as the slavery question pushed the Northern and Southern states to war, Great Britain was divided over which section to support in the conflict known as the American Civil War.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) was the bloodiest conflict fought on American soil. Both the United States government (aka the Union) and the insurgent Confederate States Government (aka rebels, Confederacy) purchased thousands of British made Enfield muskets from Tower Arms. The English aristocracy largely supported the South. The region was a major supplier of cotton to English textile mills. Southern independence would ensure a weaker United States, which could no longer threaten Canada or interfere with the British economy. British army Colonel Arthur Fremantle of the Coldstream Guards visited the Confederacy in 1863. His book “Three Months in the Southern States” documented his account of the Battle of Gettysburg. The English working class supported president Abraham Lincoln, particularly after his Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 turned the war into a crusade against slavery. Although the British government came close to recognizing the Confederacy, by 1863, Britain chose to remain neutral. The actions of U.S. minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams also secured a ban of manufacturing English ships for the Confederacy. The CSS Alabama for example, built in Liverpool, sank 64 U.S. ships before being sunk.

During the latter half of the 19th century, the United States emerged as a growing world power. On a cultural front, many Americans because of steamship travel began traveling to England on a regular basis. One can read in the novels of the American writer Henry James the “transatlantication” of the American wealthy elite. These “new money” Americans began importing such Anglicism’s as foxhunting, manor houses, and even English butlers. They became the basis of the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) elite who pushed for a growing conformity with England in American foreign policy.

This was tested at the end of the 19th century. Great Britain supported the American war against Spain in 1898. In response the United States maintained neutrality during the South African Boer War of the period, despite the protests of the strong German, Dutch, and Irish-American communities. By the beginning of the 20th century, the United States agreed to support Britain against German influence in Africa, and the British agreed to not to interfere with American plans to construct a canal at Panama.

In 1914 as the First World War began, the United States maintained is isolationism. Despite the sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania and other ships by the Germans the United States would not enter the war against Germany until 1917. This was once again largely due to a fear of the German and Irish American electorate. Some Americans of English descent did volunteer to fight in Canadian forces before 1917. Even with the defeat of Germany and President Wilson’s push for a League of Nations, the United States continued to remain isolationist.

The isolationism was challenged as Hitler’s forces began invading Europe. By 1940 Great Britain stood alone among the Western Democracies against the German onslaught. President Franklin Roosevelt managed to push a $30 billion aid package to Great Britain despite the U.S. official position. By 1940 80% of the U.S. public supported remaining out of the war. Despite this some American men volunteered to fight on the British side. Famous among these were the American Eagles, two U.S. volunteer RAF squadrons raised by ex-pat Charles Sweeney. Six American pilots are counted in the Roll of Honour among the killed in the Battle of Britain.

Isolationism would not die until December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Germany declared war on the United States the following day. Thousands of American planes, tanks and other equipment would be sent to England. Thousands of American G.I.s would follow. Living among the English people, they would be known as “Our Boys”. Beginning with WWII a new generation of leaders and a new relationship with England, still the “Mother Country” would begin.