Donald Trump's call to acquire Greenland by trade or force echoes another episode in American history: the reckless campaign to acquire Cuba before the Civil War.
During the era of Manifest Destiny, vast new territories came under U.S. control, including: Texas in 1845, Oregon in 1846 and large-scale cessions by Mexico. in 1848 After the Mexican-American War.
However, the country hit a wall when it tried to take Cuba from Spain in 1854.
Slavery expansionists had long set their sights on Spain's colonies. The American filibusters launched an expedition to conquer the island, but failed. However, Franklin Pierce's victory in the 1852 presidential election gave new hope to those eager to secure new land where slavery could flourish.
Pierce, a New Hampshire native, was the epitome of a brash Northern politician who was friendly to Southern slave-owning interests and especially eager to expand the border.
“My administration's policies will not be dictated by dire premonitions of escalation's evil,” he said in a statement. inaugural speech.
When three of Europe's top diplomats wrote a letter in October 1854 advocating for the United States to acquire Cuba from Spain, it was not at all surprising. This infamous document became known as the Ostend Declaration, named after the Belgian city where James Buchanan, John Mason, and the fickle Pierre Soulet met to formulate their plan. Ta.
In a tone reminiscent of the Declaration of Independence, their manifesto “The time has come in the evolution of human events when Spain's vital interests will be as seriously involved in the sale of the island as the United States will be in its purchase,” it declared. Such a deal, he continued, “would prove equally honorable for both countries.”
Similar to President Trump's rationale for acquiring Greenland, the authors cited the island's strategic location and importance in countering national security risks. Like Trump, they paired their takeover offers with threatening language. If the Spaniards refused to sell Cuba, they professed“If we then had power, we would be justified by every law, human and divine, to take it from Spain.'' The stench of plunder was unmistakable. .
In response, Spanish officials made it clear that they would rather see the island sink to the bottom of the ocean than succumb to American bullying.
Pierce was embarrassed on the international stage, struggled domestically and watched his dreams of winning Cuba disappear.
Historian John Svall is the author of Dangerous Ground: Squaters, Statesmen, and the Antebellum Rupture of American Democracy.
