escribed as
negligible.

So simple has been the process of empire building for the United States;
so natural have been the stages by which the American Empire has been
evolved; so little have the changes disturbed the routine of normal life
that the American people are, for the most part, unaware of the imperial
position of their country. They still feel, think and talk as if the
United States were a tiny corner, fenced off from the rest of the world
to which it owed nothing and from which it expected nothing.

The American Empire has been built, as were the palaces of Aladdin, in a
night. The morning is dawning, and the early risers who were not even
awakened from their slumbers by the sound of hammer and engine, are
beginning to rub their eyes, and to ask one another what is the meaning
of this apparition, and whether it is real.

4. _The Will to Power_

The forces of America are the forces of Empire,--the geography, the
economic organization, the racial qualities--all press in the direction
of imperialism. There is logic behind the two centuries of conquest in
which the American people have been engaged; there is logic in the rise
of the plutocracy. Now it remains for the rulers of America to accept
the implications of imperialism,--to thrill with the will to power; to
recognize and strengthen imperial purpose; to sell imperialism to the
American people--in other words to follow the call of manifest destiny
and conquer the earth.

The will to power is very old and very strong. Economic and social
necessity on the one hand, and the driving pressure of human ambition
and the love of domination on the other, have given it a front place in
human affairs. The empires of the past were driven into being by this
ardent force. As far back as history bears a record, one nation or tribe
has made war on its more fortunately situated neighbor; one leader has
made cause against his fellow ruler. The Egyptians and Carthaginians
have conquered in Africa; the Persians, Assyrians and Babylonians
conquered in Asia; the Macedonians, Greeks, Romans, Spanish, Dutch,
French, and British built their empires on one or more of the five
continents. Conqueror has succeeded conqueror, empire has followed
empire. Spoils, domination, world power, have been the objects of their
campaigns.

Each great nation grew from small beginnings. Each arose from some
simple form of tribal or clan organization--more or less democratic in
its structure