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Not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a country,
appear to be materially connected with the prosperity of
manufacturers. Every nation ... ought to endeavor to
possess within itself all the essentials of a national supply.
They comprise the means of subsistence, habitation, clothing and
defense ... The expediency of encouraging manufactures in the United
States, which was not long since deemed very questionable, appears
at this time to be pretty generally admitted. - Alexander Hamilton
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The
great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in
extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little
political connection as possible . . . It is our true policy to
steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign
world
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- George Washington
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Against the insidious wiles of
foreign influence, . . . the jealousy of a free people ought to be
constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign
influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government.
- George Washington
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The underlying purpose of the ... elites of 19th century
British government ... was to preserve ... the interests of an
exclusive private power ... concentrated in the hands of a tiny
number of bankers and institutions of the City of London.
Such free-trade manipulation has been the essence
of British economic strategy for the past 150 years. Britain's
genius has been a chameleon-like ability to adapt that policy to a
shifting international economic reality. But the core policy has
remained—Adam Smith's 'absolute free trade,' as a weapon against
sovereign national economic policy of rival powers.
By the end of the 19th century, the
British establishment began an intense debate over how to maintain
its global empire… Britain embarked on a more sophisticated and far
more effective form for maintaining its dominant world role, through
what came to be called 'informal empire.'
While maintaining core imperial possessions in
India and the Far East … British capital flowed … into Argentina,
Brazil and the United States, to form bonds of financial dependence
in many ways more effective than formal colonial titles.
The notion of special economic relationships with 'client states,'
the concept of 'spheres of influence' as well as that of 'balance-of
power diplomacy,' all came out of this complex weave of British
'informal empire' towards the end of the last century.
– William Engdahl
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