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[The article below was part of a larger paper entitled "The Principles That Must Underlie American Foreign Relations--An Historical Review Within the Context of the Current Strategic Situation." The paper was presented at an international symposium sponsored by the Center for American Studies and the Institute of World History, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, in November 2012.]

The True Principles of American System Foreign and Domestic Policy

The victory over Britain in the War of Independence was a watershed in the history of the 'western' world, where the populations in Europe for thousands of years had been subjugated by imperial policies, one empire after the other. Indeed, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution that followed a few years later, were the fruit of the ideas of the greatest philosophers in Europe. For the first time in the history of mankind, a nation was formed, based on universal ideas of the creative nature of man, in a conscious effort to create a republic free of oligarchism.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”

According to the Declaration, each individual is born with unalienable rights, that is, they cannot be taken away from the individual. Crowning these unalienable rights is 'pursuit of happiness', a concept inherited from the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), where 'happiness' (Glückseligkeit) is an elevated state of mind where the soul is striving for perfection and wisdom, i.e. creativity. Leibniz writes: “Wisdom is the science of happiness, and is what must be studied above all ...one cannot know the Creator without loving one's brother, one cannot have wisdom without charity (love)...” a concept very similar to the Confucian concept of 仁 (ren) .

Not separate, but as an extension of the Declaration, that is, these two documents must been understood as 'a one', the U.S. Constitution was formulated. Its Preamble states:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Although all six 'pillars' in the Preamble are important, and none can be omitted, two stands out, namely promote the general welfare, and, secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Ever since this willful creation of the United States of America, uniquely based upon universal principles, there has been constant and repeated efforts from the British Empire to destroy this nation (efforts that Chinese statesman Sun Yat-sen was very well aware of 1) through the war of 1812, the British support of the southern Confederacy, assassinations of Presidents, installment of puppet-Presidents (like Obama today) and various forms of subversions, like cultural warfare, dumbing down the population and media control. Time and space does not allow for discussing this destruction-effort by the British oligarchy further, but the reader can obtain thorough documentation from the EIR . Below follows two brief examples of leading Americans that with-stood these efforts, as crucial examples for which kind of thinking and actions that are necessary today to create and secure the future for coming generations. This is written to show, that there is a unique American system. As the wise statesman Benjamin Franklin put it: 'we have given you a republic, if you can keep it.'

Historical examples of American statesmen, whose policies and actions adhere to the founding principles of the American republic

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) is one such exemplary historical personality, as he lived the founding principles embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States his entire adult life. He was the father of the American System in foreign policy as well as domestic policy. Learning directly as a child and young man from Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and his father John Adams, and spending 20 years in Europe as ambassador to different nations, he got to know and to relish the most beautiful ideas from the greatest artists and philosophers in Europe, as well as obtained an in-depth knowledge of the suffocating and murderous policies of the British oligarchy, both in Europe, as well as how these policies were carried out in Africa and Asia in the form of colonialism.

Already as a young man, 24 years old, JQA begins to educate the population in a series of articles “Friends of the People”, and at 25, in 1793, when there was a big pressure on George Washington and Alexander Hamilton for USA to intervene in the fight between France and England, JQA writes a series of anonymous essays which call for a non-intervention policy and for USA to remain neutral, essays that had great influence in shaping the political environment against intervention. To show JQA's concern for guarding the young republic of the United States from subversion from abroad, and his knowledge of the British Empire intent to do so, here are a few quotes from JQA writing from Europe. It is 1796 and he is 26 years old.

From the Netherlands:

“Of all the dangers which encompass the liberties of a republican state, the intrusion of a foreign influence into the administration of their affairs, is the most alarming. . .”
“Above all I wish, that we may never have any occasion for any political connections with Europe.”

From London:

“Between the U.S. and Great Britain no cordiality can exist. I do not think it is on our part to be desired. But peace may, and I hope will, continue, notwithstanding all the conspiracies that may be formed against it in America and in Europe.”

According to JQA, the really important part of his life began with the British attack on the American ship 'Chesapeake' in 1807. JQA was then Senator, elected by the Federalist party to represent Massachusetts. While JQA wants to impose an embargo against Great Britain, the Federalist Party wanted to be neutral (having money interests involved), but, standing alone, JQA's response was: “Most Federalists are prepared to dissolve the Union and become subservient to Great Britain. To resist that I am ready, if necessary, to sacrifice everything I have in life, even life itself.”

From 1796 when he was appointed Ambassador to the Netherlands until his death in 1848, JQA served the United States uninterrupted in public office (State Senator, Secretary of State, President and Congressman) and consistently, throughout his service of the country, JQA acted above parties and special interests, and always according to principle.

In order to enhance the general welfare, and to increase happiness at the time as well as for the future, JQA was a big promoter of education and the sciences – he was a great promoter of astronomy and he emphasized the internal improvement of the country, imposed protective tariffs and initiated large-scale building of railroads, canals and roads. And, importantly, he was a great promoter of a credit system and a National Bank to that end, as opposed to a monetary system.

As Secretary of State, the greatest in American history, JQA not only created a continental nation, but he laid the foundation for the foreign policy of the young American republic, based upon its founding principles. In an anti-colonial, non-intervention speech in 1821 celebrating the 4th of July, referring to the Declaration of Independence, JQA states:

“. . .It demolished at a stroke the lawfulness of all governments founded upon conquest. It swept away all the rubbish of accumulated centuries of servitude. . .” and later he says, that although America wishes for other nations to have freedom and independence “she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. . .” “. . .She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own . . . She might become the dictatress of the world. She would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit. . .”

and he predicts that England will be forced to give up India. This speech was part of an ongoing effort to educate and to organize for the Monroe Doctrine, which was announced December 12, 1823. According to JQA, crafting this doctrine was his highest aspiration: “To lead the civilized nations into a noble agreement that would regulate neutral and belligerent rights, an accord that would be a real and solid blessing to humanity. If I can bring the world such a treaty, I would die for it with joy, and go before the throne of omnipotence with a plea for mercy and with a consciousness of not having lived in vain for the world of mankind!” Although carrying the name after President James Monroe, the doctrine was purely the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, and it explicitly assumes the principle, that the American continents no longer are subjects for any new European colonial establishments. Secondly, it states the intent of abstention from participating in the wars of the European powers; and thirdly, any effort of interference in the Americas, by any European power, will be seen as an unfriendly disposition towards the United States.

Although the Credit System and the 2nd National Bank was destroyed by the British puppet-President, Andrew Jackson and his vice-President, outright traitor van Buren, it is important to know, that JQA's industrialization of the North coupled with his organizing an opposition in the North against the British-supported confederate slave-holders in the South from his position as Congressman made Lincoln's victory in the Civil War possible.

Another out-standing example of a leader adhering to the founding principles of the United States, mirrored powerfully in both domestic and foreign policy, is Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) (1882-1945). When FDR was inaugurated President in March 1933, the country was ruined. Official unemployment was 25%. Industrial and agricultural production had collapsed. Almost all banking activities had ceased and the financial system was disintegrating. FDR 'went to work' immediately. In his inauguration speech, he ensured a desperate population, that “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper,” and, after having outlined the depth of the crisis, asked the population to “support my leadership in these critical days.” He next proceeded to expose the real culprits, namely the oligarchical financial interests: “Practices of the unscrupulous money-changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men . . . They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision, the people perish. . . The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profits.”

Assuming this recent history well-known, here follows a brief summation of the main immediate actions FDR took, to, in his own words, create a “New Deal” for the American people modeled upon American System methods. The relevance for the solution of today's crisis should be obvious.

First FDR drafted emergency legislation to deal with the financial crisis, announced a four-day “banking holiday,” issued his Emergency Banking Act of 1933, which put the entire U.S. Banking system through an orderly bankruptcy reorganization, and by law strictly separated commercial banks from investment houses, culminating in the famous Glass-Steagall Act, which greatly weakened the power of Wall Street. Representing the international financial oligarchy, City of London and Wall Street efforts to try to stop FDR and get him to change his policies, were outflanked repeatedly. One of the many proofs that FDR was a conscious proponent of the 'American System' is the speech he gave in 1936 accepting the nomination as Presidential candidate for the second time, a speech very relevant for today. Attacking Wall Street's “economic tyranny,” FDR said: “They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the ropes of legal sanction. . . The economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain about is that we seek to take away their economic power . . . The only effective guide of this most worldly of worlds, the greatest guide of all, is moral principle. We do not see faith, hope and charity as unattainable ideas, but we use them as the stout supports of a nation fighting for freedom in a modern civilization. . .Charity in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity, literally translated from the original, means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves. . .”

To provide credit for rebuilding the country, FDR used the Reconstruction Finance Cooperation to channel money into projects with a “multiplier effect” on the nation's entire physical economy. Overall, through FDR's initiatives about 50,000 infrastructure projects, from the small to the very big, were created, and made the United States the most powerful economic power on the planet.

In an article 1928 in Foreign Affairs, FDR stated that moral principles must govern foreign policy, and that imperialist looting and gunboat diplomacy were contrary to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and he instead called for a “good neighbor policy” respecting the sovereignty of the individual nations. Historical evidence shows that FDR entered into the military alliance with Britain with only one purpose in mind: the defeat of fascism and Nazism, but also, that FDR was fully committed to dismantling the British Empire.

When Churchill declared before the British Parliament, on Nov. 10, 1942: “I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire,” FDR wrote in a letter to an aide: “We are going to have worse trouble with Britain [after the war] than we do with Nazi Germany now.” This led to the fierce opposition between Winston Churchill, representing the British Empire, and FDR.

One example out of many. The first serious clash between the two took place in Argentina in August 1941, during the discussions of the Atlantic Charter, as reported by FDR's son Elliot Roosevelt in As He Saw It:

“The British Trade arrangements," Churchill began, "are . . ." Father broke in. "Yes. Those Empire trade agreements are a case in point. It's because of them that the people of India and Africa, of all the colonial Near East and Far East, are still as backward as they are."

Churchill's neck reddened and he crouched forward: "Mr. President, England does not propose for a moment to lose its favored position among the British Dominions. The trade that has made England great shall continue, and under these conditions prescribed by England's Ministers."

“You see," said father slowly, "it is along in here somewhere that there is likely to be disagreement between you, Winston, and me."
“I am firmly of the belief that if we are to arrive at a stable peace, it must involve the development of backward countries. Backward people. How can this be done? It can't be done obviously by eighteenth-century methods."

“Who is talking about eighteenth-century methods?"

“Whichever of your ministers recommends a policy which takes raw materials out of a colonial country, but which returns nothing to the people of that country in consideration. Twentieth-century methods involve bringing industries to these countries. Twentieth-century methods include increasing the wealth of a people by the standard of living, by educating them, by bringing them sanitation. . ."

“ You mentioned India," Churchill growled.

“Yes, I can't believe that we can fight a war against fascist slavery, and at the same time not work to free people all over the world from a backward colonial policy."

FDR won out. A clause in the Atlantic Charter states: “That they [the signatories] respect the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.” Churchill had insisted that this only applied to occupied nations, but FDR demanded the inclusion of the term “all,” meaning that its applicability was universal – it included all colonial peoples, and to start with, those of the British Empire.

Already in 1943, when it was clear that the war would be won, began FDR to think about a Grand Design, a global “New Deal” for postwar reconstruction. His intention was to maintain the war mobilization, but to reinvest it in a policy of peace through mutual development among the former belligerents, and for a massive world investment policy to achieve the take-off of the developing countries freed from colonial rule. FDR's postwar design was to put an end to the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese colonial empires, to make the victory over Nazism an instrument for general liberation, and to organize a world community of interest based on great infrastructural, long-term development, through the issuance of long-term, low-interest credits. With that in mind, he conceived the original idea for the creation of the United Nations, as a forum for all the peoples of the world, and a new financial and monetary order, which was going to become the Bretton Woods System associated with the Marshall Plan. In the same spirit FDR worked on a plan in the last days of his life which he called “Food for Peace.” This involved unleashing of American agriculture to feed the world, while deploying American technology to make hungry nations food self-sufficient.

The actualization of ridding the world of colonialism and poverty and creating a lasting peace through mutual development was buried with FDR. The British oligarchy and Wall Street immediately moved to thwart the purpose of the United Nations, the Cold War was established and the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction was imposed. The colonies remained colonies – the British imperial flag rose again.


1. Dr. Sun Yat-sen in his The Vital Problem of China gives a thorough and in-depth presentation of the British Empire's geopolitical manipulations: “...The key policy of England is to attack the strongest country with the help of the weaker countries, and join the weakened enemy in checking the growth of a third country. This British foreign policy has remained essentially unchanged for two centuries. When England befriends another country, the purpose is not to maintain a cordial friendship for the sake of friendship but to utilize that country as a tool to fight a third country. When an enemy has been shorn of his power, he turns into a friend, and the friend who has become strong, into an enemy. England always remains in a commanding position; she makes other countries fight he wars and she herself reaps the fruits of victory. She has been doing so for hundreds of years...In other words, Britain seeks friendship only with those which can render her services, and when her friends are too weak to be of any use to her, they must be sacrificed in her interests. Britain’s tender regard for her friends is like the delicate care usually shown by farmers in the rearing of silkworms; after all the silk has been drawn from the cocoons, they are destroyed by fire or used as food for fish. The present friends of Britain are no more than silkworms, and they are receiving the tender care of Britain simply because there is still some silk left in them...”

Within months of being inaugurated the first President of China, Dr. Sun issued an urgent appeal to all Americans: “We understand too well that there are certain men of power, not to include for the present certain nations, who would view with a greater or lesser satisfaction an internal rupture in the new [Chinese] Republic. They would welcome as a move toward the accomplishment of their own ends and designs a civil war between the provinces of the north and the south; just as, fifty years ago, there was applause in secret (in certain quarters) over the terrible civil strife in the United States...And I feel that we have just such enemies abroad as the American republic had; and that at certain capitals the most welcome announcement that could be made would be that of a rebellion in China against the constituted authorities..."

Sun Yat-sen: A True American Spirit