Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 411: American Counterattack
The last thing the United States wants to see is Britain colluding with the Han Kingdom, a potential competitor of the United States in South America.

Because the beginning of 1889 was a transitional period for the replacement of the old and new presidents of the United States, Harrison, who had not yet officially taken over the presidency, could only convene political allies within the Republican Party and preferred members of the new government in a private capacity to discuss response strategies.

"In order to counter the unreasonable interference of the British Empire in American affairs, and also to restrict the entry of foreign industrial products into the local market and protect the national interests of the eastern states of the mainland.

I propose that on March 3, after the new government officials officially take office, a government meeting be held immediately to urge Congress to pass the "Foreign Goods Restriction Act" to impose a 6% import tariff on goods from Britain, France and other countries, and when other countries impose high import tariffs on American goods, the US government will also impose an import tariff rate of the same ratio on some of their goods. "

Harrison, as the president of the new government, was the first to propose it.

"Raising tariffs on imported goods will cause countermeasures from European countries, which is not conducive to the overseas development of Republic capital. I am opposed to using economic sanctions to counter the improper interference of the British in American affairs."

A Republican cadre disagreed with Harrison's lose-lose approach and objected: "The British have always liked to interfere in American affairs. This is not a big deal for America. I don't think it is necessary to drastically change the Cleveland government's foreign policy because of the British's actions."

"So, Your Excellency, what do you think is the most important thing for the new government right now?"

Harrison, nicknamed the Iceman of politics, asked back in his usual cold attitude.

“The real enemy of the American Republic has never been external countries such as Britain and France, but within the United States.

The biggest crisis and problem within the Republic at present is the unrestricted and brutal expansion of monopolistic enterprises in all fields, and the fierce social contradictions caused by this. In Indiana, California and other places, millions of lower-class white people, including retired soldiers during the Civil War, are very dissatisfied with the previous government's indulgence of trust enterprises in monopolizing commodity supply and arbitrarily raising commodity prices. In the past few years, the "Chinese Immigration Restriction Act" approved and implemented by the government merely found a scapegoat to divert some of the dissatisfaction of the lower-class white people, but it did not ultimately solve the problem.

Therefore, I think that the most important thing for the new government after its establishment is to introduce a bill to restrict the monopoly of trust enterprises in the market, to increase the minimum living allowance for the lower-class people, and to ease the social contradictions caused by the free development of the local economy. "

Alleviating social conflicts and promoting rapid and healthy development of the local economy are issues that every US president has to face.

Harrison was born into a political family. His grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was the ninth president of the United States. During his political career, Harrison was a high-handed and nitpicking person. Although he was dignified as an official, he was a second-rate politician in terms of economic and national governance.

Moreover, in the presidential election of 1888, he relied on the support of party tycoons and a group of industrialists and bankers, and was elected president by defeating President Grover Cleveland through tricks and vote buying by the Republican Party.

Therefore, in domestic policies, he was more inclined to maintain the interests of groups such as large industrialists and bankers, while consciously ignoring the growing dissatisfaction among farmers and workers.

The other party's objections not only represented the interests of the majority of lower-class white people, but also reflected the political views of some bigwigs within the Republican Party. Therefore, Harrison could not pretend not to hear them and ignore them.

"The policy of free business is the foundation for the prosperity of the American economy. Simply restricting the development of large enterprises is not in line with the founding ideals of the United States.

Of course, the difficulties faced by the lower-class white people are also real problems. Therefore, in order to solve temporary social problems arising in the process of economic development, the new government can provide a certain degree of guidance to the development of large enterprises. For example, it can propose a bill requiring that any contract or any merger of enterprises must not appear in the form of a trust or other similar form of organization. Any plans to restrict trade or the flow of goods between states are illegal.

At the same time, in order to ease the social contradictions caused by the low subsidy policy implemented by the first Cleveland government and appease the emotions of veterans during the Civil War, the new government can apply for the implementation of the Minimum Standard Pension Act to increase the cost of pensions from 1888 million US dollars in 8800 to 12900 million US dollars to solve the living problems of disabled and retired soldiers.

After dealing with the difficulties of different political factions within the party, Harrison brought the topic back to South American affairs. However, having learned from the previous lesson, he did not directly express his views this time, but instead signaled his political ally, the new government's Secretary of State James Gillespie Bryan, to say what he wanted to say. James Gillespie Bryan is a famous politician and diplomat in American history, and is revered as the "founder of Pan-Americanism" in the United States. He served as the United States Secretary of State twice and was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate four times.

In 1881, during his first term as Secretary of State, he proposed policies and suggestions to challenge Britain's global economic dominance, especially to seize markets in the Western Hemisphere;
It was also he who proposed to Harrison the modern Pan-American movement and the convening of an international conference in the Americas.

James Gillespie Bryan intended to completely change the United States' isolationist policy in foreign affairs and implement a more radical expansionist policy. Therefore, when faced with the solicitation of the new government's President Harrison, he did not hesitate too much and decisively agreed.

"The core area of ​​interest of the Republic is in America. Britain's intervention in American affairs is a serious infringement of the national interests of the Republic and must be clearly and effectively counterattacked!"

After understanding Harrison's intention, James Gillespie Bryan tapped the table with his fingers and said in an excited tone: "I agree with the President that the promulgation of the Foreign Goods Restriction Act to restrict the erosion of European goods on the domestic economic market is a very necessary measure and the first countermeasure to fight back against Britain's maritime hegemony!
As an overall strategic policy to counter British maritime hegemony and safeguard and expand the Republic's overseas interests, we also need to strengthen our control over Central America and the Caribbean. Only by establishing and consolidating the Republic's dominant position in Central America and the Caribbean and completely expelling the influence of European countries such as Britain and France from the two places can the Republic expand its sphere of influence to the Isthmus of Panama, South America, the North Pacific, the Central Pacific and other regions. "

"Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Spain control many islands in the Caribbean. According to your thinking, does the Republic need to send out the navy to capture all the islands occupied by the four countries?"

"If the Republic had the strength to deal with a joint war between Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands, occupying all the colonies of European countries in the Caribbean and even North America would be the most direct solution. However, the current Republic does not have the strength to be an enemy of most European countries."

James Gillespie Bryan avoided the traps set by his opponent and stated his views in an orderly manner.

"At a time when European countries still have colonies in North America and the Caribbean, developing the navy and using the Republic's navy to seize control of the Caribbean is the only effective way to deal with it.

Control of the seas is of utmost importance to the Republic's expansion of overseas influence. The main ocean routes can bring a lot of commercial benefits, so there must be a strong fleet to ensure control of the seas, as well as sufficient merchant ships and ports to take advantage of this benefit.

Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea, the Panama Canal being built by the French, and the Hawaiian Islands in the central Pacific are all vital maritime hubs for the Republic. By occupying the above three places, the Republic will control the passages in and out of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enhance the radiation of local forces in overseas areas, and avoid the danger of war with hostile countries in the local area.

Therefore, in order to achieve the above goals, we must increase our efforts to develop the navy."

Harrison's most important strategy was to seize control of Central America and the Caribbean from the British and then expand the influence of American capital to Venezuela and Colombia in northern South America. However, it was not easy to vigorously develop the navy and persuade the congressmen who represented the big entrepreneurs and bankers in the country to agree to divert government financial funds to naval expenditures.

After the Civil War, the United States, whose population exceeded that of Britain and France and whose land area was nearly twenty times that of France, drastically reduced the number of its army and navy and only maintained a regular army of tens of thousands of people on its vast territory. This had a lot to do with the stance of the big domestic capitalists.

The strong isolationism in the country cannot be completely reversed by one or two politicians or one or two governments. Since the 19th century, the US government's economic expansion in the Americas and its reduction in military spending and troop numbers have been the most direct manifestations of the stalemate and struggle between the two forces.

Harrison lacked the confidence to convince members of Congress to agree to the proposal to vigorously develop the navy, and could only express limited support for James Gillespie Bryan's suggestion to build a large navy and seize sea power.

Amid arguments and debates, the bigwigs of the new US government spent two days and finally reached a compromise on some issues.

In terms of domestic affairs, the interests of big capitalists were basically met, and the interests of the grassroots people were also taken care of to a certain extent. As for the navy, because the strength of military-industrial enterprises was far from competing with big entrepreneurs and big bankers, they only received a few benefits from the government, such as expanding subsidies for ocean routes and increasing the number of white immigrants in Hawaii. As for building large warships and increasing military spending, they were temporarily shelved.

(End of this chapter)