Quote of the Day (Beveridge, on Imperialism)

“Therefore, in this campaign, the question is larger than a party question. It is an American question. It is a world question. Shall the American people continue their march toward the commercial supremacy of the world? Shall free institutions broaden their blessed reign as the children of liberty wax in strength, until the empire of our principles is established over the hearts of all mankind?”—Albert Beveridge, “The March of the Flag,” delivered at Tomlinson Hall, Indianapolis, September 16, 1898

Yesterday’s Quote of the Day from Martin Luther King Jr. eulogy for the victims of the Birmingham Church bombing retains its incandescent magic and prophetic power 45 years after it was delivered. In his day, Albert Beveridge—who went on to win his subsequent Senate election, and then serve out two terms representing Indiana—also had a reputation for eloquence, even though this particular speech grates on our sensibilities more than King’s.

Nevertheless, Beveridge’s speech warrants analysis as a turning point in American history, for the young (36-year-old) Senate hopeful offered here one of the most systematic defenses of America’s need to adopt the models of imperialism then being practiced by Great Britain, France, and Germany. Just how important it was at the time can be seen in this fact: the address became the GOP campaign document for Indiana, Iowa and other states.

Just weeks before this speech was delivered, hostilities in the Spanish-American War had, for all intents and purposes, ceased, leaving the U .S. in possession of territories once held by Spain. In this address, Beveridge urged his listeners to spread the blessings of liberty abroad—and, at the same time, ensure that America had access to the goods and services these overseas possessions ensured.

A long speech such as this required more space than I can devote to it now, but I’d like to focus on just two aspects:

1) The invocation of race—or, to put it in Beveridge’s terms, “a people sprung from the most masterful blood of history; a people perpetually revitalized by the virile, man-producing working-folk of all the earth.” The language is not unlike that found in Theodore Roosevelt’s history The Winning of the West—and in fact Beveridge was such a steadfast supporter of T.R. that he nominated him for President on the Progressive ticket.

2) The inversion of geography to justify empire—At the beginning of the 19th century, Thomas Jefferson had pointed to ocean barriers as a reason for seeing America as the foundation for his “empire of liberty.” Now, Beveridge was suggesting that borders didn’t matter in this new empire. Naval power could transcend this--a view held not only by Commander Alfred Mahan and Beveridge but also by Theodore Roosevelt.

Beveridge was by no means a bad man, for his time or even ours. He was a Progressive, remember, backing Theodore Roosevelt’s call for the Pure Food and Drug Act and curtailing the power of Big Business. All the sadder, then, that he did not see clearly enough the deeper moral issues that might have made him question imperialism.