Arms Race

The confederate naval build up did not go un-noticed in Washington. Technically the two countries were still at war. While Longstreet was in office this was not a great concern (the real building spree did not begin in earnest until after the Longstreet administration). The southern President was actually every bit as popular in the North, during that time period, as he was in the Confederacy. In many ways he was more so. Longstreet attended the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, along with his old friend (and cousin by marriage) Ulysses Sam Grant. Longstreet was actually given a hero’s welcome by the city as he was the first Confederate President to visit the United States.

At that time many in the north might have seen this as a return to some sort of normalcy. Things were happening and the news was good. This was not to last. Confederate Presidents only serve a single term and Longstreet stepped down in January of 1886. None of his successors were as talented or as diplomatically shrewd and he was. None of them were as well liked north of the border either. The building of a blue water Confederate Navy was seen as nothing short of an act of war in a country that already felt itself under siege and victimized by what was seen as a hostile Royal Navy.

This is perhaps why another famous name from the war won the presidential election in the United States in November of 1888. The big difference here was that Longstreet had directly participated in the war while the new President Lincoln had only watched it, even if he had done so from the White House. Robert Todd Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States in early 1889, and took up the office that his father had left in defeat. This sent shockwaves through the south and accomplished more for bolstering the Confederate defense budget than every trick that Longstreet knew.

Robert Lincoln was not his father even if they did share little to no sympathy for the Confederate States of America. He was clearly not on the warpath despite what southern fire breathers believed. Even so, he was deeply committed to building up the defenses of the United States. Lincoln and his supporters were under the distinct opinion that the real problems facing their country were not south of the Mason-Dixon but rather, across the Atlantic in London.

Post war America seemed like a lonely place. It had no real friends, it was surrounded by enemies, and it’s life blood (trading on the open seas) were exposed to the mercies of the British Empire that had already proven to be hostile in the best of times. Lincoln was the first President to throw off the cherished advice of George Washington. He would become embroiled in world politics and seek foreign alliances. The details of this, he left to the capable hands of his Secretary of State, John Hay.

Vice President, Elihu Root, and Speaker of the House, James Blaine, began ramming defense spending through Capitol Hill. All the while the Minority leader of the house, William Jennings Bryan, made his name by unsuccessfully opposing the legislation. The country was still deeply divided by the scars of the war and here it was ever so visible.

The US Navy, always larger than their Confederate counterparts, were still hopelessly outgunned by even the smallest of European fleets. The US naval build up was never intended to out do the Confederate fleet. It was aimed at rivaling the largest fleet in the world, the Royal Navy of Great Britain. It was here that Lincoln and his compatriots saw the real threat. What was to become known as the Great White Fleet, was well on it’s way to being a reality when Lincoln left office in 1893. Ironically, his controversial arms race was what empowered the very man who had unsuccessfully tried to stop it. 

William Jennings Bryan was sworn into office as President of the United States in January of 1893. This very well might have been the end of the arms race had not other factors come into play. It was too late to turn back now. The dice had been cast and the United States, like it or not, was now fully committed to the world stage. The world beyond the borders could no longer be ignored. Bryan tried to turn the nation back to looking inward and, he failed. His former rival Lincoln may have been gone from office but, the ideals and followers of Lincoln were not. There were plans in motion that could no longer be stopped.