Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

CHAPTER V
American Commercial Diplomacy,
1776-1783
Our diplomacy, in its aim and purposes, from the beginning was
commercial as distinguished from political, and this purpose, in its very
nature, gave to it the character of sincerity and straightforwardness…
our first concern was to negotiate treaties of amity and commerce. 1
Oscar S. Straus (1911)
Introduction
The handicap of “an imperfect union and an impotent national
government,” did not halt American commercial expansionism. 2 Right from the
beginning, the United States set out seeking a place among centuries-old
nations that were already evolving in a complex system of international
relations. As wicked and self-centered as children playing at the courts of the
great nations, its ‘militia diplomats’ were going to use all possible and
impossible means to place American commerce in an advantageous position on
international markets. From a position of duplicity, American envoys
1 Oscar S. Straus, “American Commercial Diplomacy,” The North American Review, 194: 2 (Aug.,
1911), p. 218.
2 Bemis, A Diplomatic History, p. 65.
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