America’s mission

Senator Albert Beveridge described our mission in 1898: “God has . . . made us the master organizers of the world to establish system where chaos reigns. He has given us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the forces of reaction throughout the earth. He has made us adept in government that we may administer government among svage and senile peoples. Were it not for such a force as this the world would relapse into barbarism and night. And of all our race He has marked the American people as His chosen nation to finally lead in the regeneration of the world. This is the divine mission of America, and it holds for us al the profit, all the glory, all the happiness possible to man.”

Beveridge wasn’t all religious fervor. In an uncannily Leninist vein, he added: “American factories are making more than the American people can use. American soil is producing more than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and shall be ours . . . . We will cover the ocean with our merchant marine. We will build a navy to the measure of our greatness.”