New States and Territories
policy by acquiring the unfinished Panama Canal and vigorously pushing it to completion. It was also a Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, who, when the German Kaiser had fitted out a formidable naval and military expedition for the invasion and conquest of Venezuela, calmly but resolutely informed him that the German expedition on its arrival in American water would be met by the American battle fleet ready for action; at which announcement the sailing of the German expedition was promptly countermanded. It was under a Republican government that the dispute between this country and Great Britain over the Alaska boundary was settled through arbitration and the title of the United States to all that it had claimed was finally confirmed.
It was, indeed, because of Republican policies and under Republican government that the United States began to be spoken of as a “world power.” The phrase was something of a misnomer, no doubt, for the United States had in theory and to a degree in fact been a world power since its foundation. But it was Republican statesmanship that so made the legitimate influence of this nation felt throughout the world as to cause a general use of that designation and to emphasize its appropriateness.
The policy of the Republican party has, indeed, been notably that which was wisely established at the beginning of our national life by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and their compeers. It has been to develop to the full our own continental Republic and to cultivate its territorial possessions; to vindicate the independence of American states against any European attempts at re-subjugation; to participate freely in the
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