An American Progressive Looks North

An American Progressive Looks North ROBERT D. CUFF The Promise of American Life, written by Herbert Croly in 1909, was one of the most significant intellectual statements to come out of the progressive era. While Crolyi s book was not the fundamental source of Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalist program of 1912, as many once believed, it nevertheless sharpened and extended the ideology of a crucial group of liberal opinion-makers. Croly wrote a devastating critique of the Jefferson tradition, charging, in essence, that its legacy of excessive individualism , antagonism to big business, and suspicion of the state undermined the search for national cohesion in modern American society. As part of his design to merge Jeffersonian ideals with Hamiltonian methods Croly urged professional political elites to abandon faith in Adam Smith's invisible hand and to cultivate the techniques and trends of corporate social organization. 1 In addition to its importance to the evolution of domestic reform, The Promise of American Life was also a major statement in the progressive debate over American foreign policy. Unlike many historians since his day, Herbert Croly recognized the interdependence of domestic and foreign policies and the need to analyze them together. He very shrewdly realized, moreover, that an extension of American responsibilities in world affairs would enhance the acceptance of his principles of social rationalization at home. Conversely, gains for a domestic corporate order would concentrate America's power for more effective use abroad. The isolationists' refusal to accept responsibility for maintaining order in foreign affairs Croly regarded as simply the logical manifestation of an outmoded domestic tradition of laissez faire. Creation of "a peaceable international system in the Americasn was central to Crolyis vision of the country's new responsibilities and he showed the familiar Rooseveltian willingness to pacify and integrate South American states by colonial administration or armed intervention if necessary. The place which Canada occupied in Croly's vision is less well-known, however, even though Croly himself regarded CanadianTHE CANADIAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES VOL. III, NO. 1, SPRING 1972 American relations of equal importance in constructing a peaceful American system. In the following passage Croly outlines the tactics and strategy in American-Canadian relations required by the new liberal order. The most difficult task, [however,] connected with the establishment of a peaceful American international system is presented by Canada. In case such a system were constituted, Canada should most assuredly form a part of it. Yet she could not form a part of it without a radical alteration in her relations with Great Britain. Canada is tied to the British Imperial system, and her policy and destiny depends upon the policy and destiny of the British Empire. She is content with this situation, not merely because she is loyal to the mother country, but because she believes that her association with Great Britain guarantees her independence in respect to the United States. Many Canadians cherish a profound conviction that the United States wishes nothing so much as the annexation of the Dominion; and the one thing in the world which they propose to prevent is a successful attack upon their independence. This is the natural attitude of a numerically weak people, divided by a long and indefensible frontier from a numerous and powerful neighbor; and while the people of this country have done nothing since the War of 1812 positively to provoke such suspicions, they have, on the other hand, done nothing to allay them. We have never attempted to secure the good will of the Canadians in any respect; and we have never done anything to establish better relations. Yet unless such better relations are established, the United States will lose an indispensable ally in the making of a satisfactory political system in the Western hemisphere while at the same time the American people will be in the sorry situation for a sincere democracy of having created only apprehension and enmity on the part of their nearest and most intelligent neighbors. Under such circumstances the very first object of the foreign policy of the United States should be to place its relations with Canada on a better footing. There was a time when this object could have...