“TO ENLARGE THE PEACEFUL INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN IDEALS”: THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION’S OPTIMISM VIS-À-VIS GERMAN UNIFICATION IN 1871
“TO ENLARGE THE PEACEFUL INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN IDEALS”: THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION’S OPTIMISM VIS-À-VIS GERMAN UNIFICATION IN 1871

Summary/Abstract: In 1871, the administration of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant viewed German reunification favorably, as unification had the real potential to reduce French power in the Western Hemisphere. Grant, who equated the French Second Empire with the Second Mexican Empire and with the Confederacy in the American Civil War, welcomed the new German Empire, especially since unreconstructed former Confederates tended to support France. In addition, the Germans gave several indications that the new polity could espouse republican values. Grant passively aided German Unification through his strict interpretation of U.S. neutrality in the Franco-Prussian War, particularly in the active prevention of weapons transfers to France. Grant continued holding a warm regard for Germany, and for its Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, well after his term of office had ended. Through his German policy, Grant emerges as a more activist, and globally-minded, president than many historians have credited him.

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