AMERICA, BUT BIGGER

An enlightening look at how far America’s borders might have stretched.

First-time author Kawar delves into the history of America’s failed attempts at expansion, discovering how internal politics, economics, and international resistance have all worked to shape the nation’s borders. Attempts to expand American territory began as early as the Revolutionary War, when the Continental Congress sent letters to the citizens of Quebec, unsuccessfully inviting them to join the American rebellion against Great Britain. American forces made small-scale incursions into Canadian territory during the War of 1812 but failed to seize any land, succeeding only in setting Canadians firmly against the American cause. America’s victory over Mexico in 1848 added what is now California, Arizona, and New Mexico to the nation’s map, but expansionist dreams of annexing the entire country were quashed by fears of protracted guerrilla warfare and racism: “Adding so many supposedly non-White people to the nation was more than some expansionist Democrats could stomach, even those who supported Manifest Destiny.” Ironically, Kawar reveals how Southern slaveholders saw a potential annexation of Cuba as a way to add more slave states to the union and bolster their power in Congress. Economic gain drove passage of the Guano Islands Act in 1856, which allowed American sailors to claim islands rich in the natural fertilizer, but only eight became permanent American possessions. Indeed, Kawar’s research demonstrates that America has often rejected offers of annexation: El Salvador, Yucatán, and Honduras all made unsuccessful bids for annexation, while Liberia—colonized by free Black Americans with the support of Congress and the Navy—was never annexed or made an official American protectorate. Kawar makes astute observations about the factors that both encouraged and limited American expansion, ultimately concluding that controlling other territories through economic and cultural influences was easier than pursuing physical acquisition: “America’s expansionist ambitions never really subsided. They just transformed.” Kawar’s research spotlights a host of forgotten adventurers, eccentrics, and dubious exploits from the nation’s history, rendering the book as entertaining as it is informative.

A superbly written, timely examination of America’s imperial temptations.