The Foreign Service Journal, March 2016

56 MARCH 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Dr. Edward Stevens played a crucial role in advising L’Ouverture and mobilizing aid from the Adams administration. This coop- eration was of great strategic importance in bringing forth the new nation of Haiti, upholding American democratic ideals and slowly altering the Atlantic region’s discourse on slavery and race. It also opened markets for U.S. trade and undermined French interests, leading to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Seeds planted around the world by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and its Bill of Rights would slowly grow throughout the 19th century. Numerous Americans conspired with Latin American rebels in their plans to liber- ate South America as a means of developing the continent and expanding commercial opportunities. Foreign writers pointed to Benjamin Franklin and George Washington as models for promoting economic progress and democratic leadership. They regularly cited Franklin’s declaration that America’s cause “is the cause of all mankind.” Extending the American Revolution Overseas Even during the initial decades of the 19th century, when U.S. attention focused largely on continental expansion and consolida- tion of the federal system of government, foreign technical assis- tance that is similar to what we know today was undertaken. For example, one of the wealthiest, most cosmopolitan figures of the period, Joel Poinsett fromCharleston, South Carolina, traveled to Russia in 1806 and 1807, advising Czar Alexander I on economic and agricultural improvements, assessing that country’s natural resources and advocating freedom for the serfs. In 1811, President James Madison called for an “enlarged philanthropy” in dealing with the revolutionary events “developing themselves among the great communities which occupy the southern portion of our hemisphere and extending into our own neighborhood.” As the first U.S. diplomat to serve in Chile (1810-1814), Poin- sett helped that country prepare its constitution and develop plans for its national government. He conducted training courses on the Bill of Rights and promoted agricultural produc- tion, while leading local troops fighting for Chile’s indepen- dence from Spain. As minister to Mexico (1825-1829), Poinsett used Masonic lodges to build greater awareness of democratic practices and governance, activity comparable to civil society development programs supported today by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy. Admittedly, Poinsett exceeded his instructions to promote U.S. goodwill and trade relations which demonstrates the tension between the idealist and realist approaches to American foreign policy that continues to this day. Other Americans traveled to South America to aid its wars of independence, encourage trade and render humanitarian assistance, often remaining there afterward to advance national progress. In 1812, Congress appropriated $50,000 to ship flour to earthquake victims in Venezuela. The flour was delivered by dip- lomat Alexander Scott, who was instructed to highlight that this aid was “strong proof of the friendship and interest which the United States…has in their welfare…and to explain the mutual advantages of commerce with the United States.” In 1819, at the request of President James Mon- roe, Congress appropri- ated funds for an even more ambitious overseas nation-building effort, providing $100,000 to the American Colonization Society for settlement of freed blacks to Liberia. Historian Daniel Walker Howe considers this “one of the most grandiose schemes of social engi- neering ever entertained in the United States.” Led LIBRARYOFCONGRESS,TAKENBYMATHEWBRADY John J. Crittenden (1787-1863) was the 17th governor of Kentucky and served twice as U.S. Attorney General. He represented the state in the U.S. Congress and strongly supported an “Appeal to the People of the Nation” to contribute to the relief effort following the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. LIBRARYOFCONGRESS Joel R. Poinsett (1779-1851) was Secretary of War and America’s first diplomat to serve in Chile.