From Enemy to Ally
In
the more than 200 years since the American Revolution, the United States
and Great Britain have moved from enmity to a firm alliance often spoken
of as the "special relationship." However, the road to this friendship
was not smooth.
The hostility
aroused in the United States by the American Revolution was inflamed
by various disputes that arose between the two nations during the Napoleonic
Wars (1803-1815). The main issue was the forcible seizure of American
seamen by the British Navy but disputes also arose about commerce, Indian
policy, and boundaries. The spiraling anger culminated in what is known
in the United States as the War of 1812, a conflict considered in Britain
as a sideshow to the struggle against Napoleon. More or less a draw,
the war was concluded in 1814 by the Treaty of Ghent. The treaty resolved
none of the issues for which the United States had fought, but it created
a framework for future friendly relations between the United States
and Great Britain.
In the following
decades, the two nations quarreled about the Canadian boundary but settled
the disputes by negotiation. The American Civil War brought Britain
and the United States to the edge of hostilities because of attacks
against Union commerce by Southern ships fitted out in British ports.
After the war the British apologized to the United States for their
part in the actions of the Confederate marauders and paid a large indemnity
for losses suffered, a sign that the United States had emerged from
the war as a powerful nation whose good will Britain now wished to secure.
The last significant
foreign-policy dispute between the United States and Britain occurred
in 1895 over an American demand that Britain submit to international
arbitration its dispute with Venezuela about the western boundary of
British Guiana, near which gold had been discovered. Because neither
the United States nor Britain wanted trouble, the dispute was resolved
amicably.
Ever since
the United States fought at Britain's side during World War I, relations
between the two countries have grown so close that they habitually act
in concert in war and diplomacy. The alliance of what Winston Churchill
memorably called the "English-speaking peoples" in World War II is still
fresh in many memories. Recent headlines about the cooperation between
the two nations in the Balkans demonstrate that the "special relationship"
shows no signs of weakening.
The British Burn the Library of Congress
On August 24, 1814, a British force led
by General Robert Ross (1766-1814) and Admiral George
Cockburn (1772-1853) burned Washington's principal government
buildings, including the Capitol, which contained the
Library of Congress. To an American bystander, who complained
about the burning of the "elegant library," the Admiral
expressed his regret, asserting that he made war "neither
against Letters nor Ladies."
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G. Thompson.
"The Taking of the City of Washington
in America."
London: G. Thompson,
October 14, 1814. Engraving.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (63)
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An Account of the Receipts and
Expenditures of the United States for the Year 1810.
Washington, D.C.:
A.G. Way, 1812.
Rare Book
and Special Collections Division,
Library of Congress
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The Book That Survived the Fire
Until 1940 it was thought that no Library of Congress book
had survived the burning of the Capitol. In that year,
a benefactor of the Library, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach (1876-1952),
presented to the Library the volume seen here, which Admiral
Cockburn took as a souvenir. It bears this notation, said
to be in Cockburn's hand: "taken in the President's room
in the Capitol, at the destruction of that building by
the British, on the capture of Washington 24th, August
1814."
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The "Star-Spangled Banner"
Here is a copy, written in 1840 by Francis
Scott Key (1779-1843), of the words for the"Star-Spangled
Banner." A Washington attorney, Key witnessed the British
bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor on the
night of September 13 14, 1814. Exhilarated by the successful
defense of the fort, Key wrote the words that became in
1931 the national anthem of the United States.
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Francis Scott Key.
The Star-Spangled Banner.
Washington, D.C., October 21, 1840. Holograph manuscript.
Music Division,
Library of Congress (65)
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"Ye Conference. 'Not Any We
Thank You Mr. Davis'."
Cincinnati:
Ehrgott and Forbriger, 1861.
Lithograph.
Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress (67)
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Queen Victoria Rebuffs the Confederacy
In this cartoon the Confederate President,
Jefferson Davis (1801-1889), seeking recognition of the
independence of the southern states by France and Britain,
is rebuffed by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Napoleon
III (1808-1873). In one hand Davis carries a plate of
cotton, with which the South hoped to sway Britain because
its textile industry was dependent on the supply of Southern
cotton. Queen Victoria declared Britain neutral on May
13, 1861.
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British Civil War Artists
Alfred Waud (1828-1891) and Frank Vizetelly
(1830-ca.1883), both British, were two of the most accomplished
sketch artists covering the Civil War. Waud drew throughout
the war for Harper's Weekly; Vizetelly, who
sympathized with the South, drew for the Illustrated
London News. In this sketch by Waud of General
Daniel Sickles (1825-1914) and his staff, reconnoitering
along the Potomac River, Vizetelly is depicted as the
civilian riding at Sickles's side.
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Alfred
Waud.
General Sickles and His Staff
on a Reconnoitering Expedition along the Banks of the Potomac,
September, 1861.
Drawing.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of
Congress (69)
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John Tenniel.
"Britannia Sympathises with
Columbia."
Punch, May 6, 1865, p. 183.
General Collections
(71)
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Britannia Sympathizes with Columbia
This drawing, expressing the widespread
sympathy in Britain for the grief felt in the United States
after Lincoln's assassination, appeared in the popular
British magazine, Punch . The artist was
John Tenniel (1820-1914), the famous illustrator of Alice
in Wonderland.
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Queen Victoria consoles
Mary Todd Lincoln
This moving letter of condolence to Mary
Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), suffering from the shock of
her husband's assassination, was written by Queen Victoria
(1819-1901) from her residence on the Isle of Wight, to
which she frequently withdrew under the weight of melancholy
over the loss of her own husband, Prince Albert (1819-1861).
The prince was, she told Mrs. Lincoln, "the light of my
Life my stay my all" whose death in 1861 had left her
"utterly broken-hearted."
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Queen Victoria.
Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln,
April 29, 1865.
Page 2
Envelope:
Front - Back
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (72)
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Oliver Evans Wood.
"The Pending Conflict."
Philadelphia:
Herline and Hensel, Lith., 1863.
Lithograph.
Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress (73)
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The Alabama Claims
The damage inflicted on Union shipping
by the C.S.S. Alabama and other Confederate
commerce raiders built in Britain during the Civil War
threatened to provoke war between America and Britain.
In this cartoon Jefferson Davis assaults the Union, represented
by a soldier enveloped by a Copperhead (an epithet for
a southern sympathizer in the North) with a club labeled
the "Pirate Alabama," furnished by Britain, depicted as
John Bull, lurking behind the Confederate president.
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The Venezuelan Boundary Crisis
This cartoon by John Tenniel shows Britain,
in the person of Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain,
conciliating the American eagle, representing Secretary
of State, Richard Olney (1835-1917), who in 1895 accused
Britain of violating the Monroe Doctrine by attempting
to appropriate lands claimed by Venezuela in a gold-producing
area bordering British Guiana. The territorial dispute
was settled by arbitration.
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John Tenniel.
"Pretty Dick!"
Punch,
February 8, 1896, p. 67.
Engraving.
General Collections
(75)
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James Anderson.
We're Over.
Warren, Ohio: Halkett and Anderson, 1918.
Sheet music cover.
Music Division, Library of Congress (78)
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World War I Songs
World War I produced a flood of patriotic songs, written by popular and obscure composers alike. Here is an example of the latter, showing an American soldier arriving in Europe and greeting British and French compatriots.
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Wilson's Fourteen Points
On January 8, 1918, President Woodrow
Wilson (1856-1924), presented to Congress a list of Fourteen
Points that would constitute the basis for a peace settlement
of World War I acceptable to the United States. The fourteenth
and final point called for the establishment of a League
of Nations, which the United States Senate ultimately
refused to permit the nation to join.
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Woodrow Wilson.
Shorthand Notes for Fourteen
Points Speech,
[January 1918],
p. 6.
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (80)
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British Royal Family with President
and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson at Buckingham Palace,
December 26, 1918.
Gelatin silver photograph.
Wilson Papers,
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (81)
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Wilson at Buckingham Palace
This photograph was taken at Buckingham
Palace on December 26, 1918, and signed by President and
Mrs. Wilson (1872-1961), King George V (1865-1936), Queen
Mary (1867-1953) and Princess Mary (1897-1965) during
Wilson's triumphal tour of Great Britain in the last week
of December 1918. During the tour the President took a
brief trip to Carlisle, England, the birthplace of his
mother.
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Lend Lease in Action
During World War II, under the authority of the Lend Lease Act of March 11, 1941, the United States distributed more than fifty billion dollars of aid to Britain and other allied powers who were unable to pay for the necessities needed to conduct the war. In this photograph, shot in December 1941, British children, evacuated from London's East End, are receiving a meal made from American dehydrated vegetables, provided under the Lend Lease program.
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Lend
Lease in Action: Vegetables for British Children,
Office of War Information,
December, 1941.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (84)
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Pro- and Anti-war Sentiment in Song
World War II inspired American song
writers to write patriotic music, much of it dedicated to the
indomitable spirit of the British people. Before the U.S. entered
the war, some Americans, opposed to another involvement in a European
conflict, also found their voice in songs.
The Duncan Sisters.
"Let's Not Go Over There."
Chicago: D.L. Winter,
1940.
Sheet music cover.
Music Division,
Library of Congress (85b)
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Marce Smith and
Eddie Lundquist.
"Fight on Britain-Fight On."
Los Angeles: Marce Smith and Eddie Lundquist, 1941.
Sheet music cover.
Music Division,
Library of Congress (86c)
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| Abner
Silver and Mann Curtis.
"Let's Stand Behind Great
Britain."
New York: Lincoln Music Corp., 1941,
pp. 1 and 4.
Sheet music cover.
Music
Division, Library of Congress (85a)
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Earl
Watters and Ken Bradshaw.
"We Won't Be Over Till
It's Over Over There."
Bloomington, Illinois: Watters and Bradshaw, 1940.
Sheet music cover.
Music
Division, Library of Congress (86d)
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Fred
Wise, Milton Leeds, and Harry Donnelly.
"Carry On London Town."
New York: Sheldon-Mitchell Publishing Corporation, 1941.
Sheet music cover.
Music Division,
Library of Congress (85d)
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The Joint Air War Against Germany
These charts show the mutual British-American contributions
to the air war against the Axis powers in 1943. The British
effort far exceeded the American at this point, although
the balance shifted as the war progressed and as the growth
of the American Army Air Force accelerated.
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Charts Comparing RAF and USAAF
fighter operations,
November 3, 1943.
Chart 2
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (87a,b)
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Corporal Sweeney.
Night and Day Cartoon, ca.
1940s.
Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress (89)
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Night and Day
The point of this cartoon, based on the
American popular song "Night and Day" is that the American
Air Force, commanded by General Ira Eaker (1896-1987),
bombed Germany during daylight hours and the British,
commanded by Air Marshal Portal (1885-1949), bombed at
night.
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An Air Force Dance Band
American popular music, especially jazz, became extremely popular
in Britain after World War I, a popularity that has persisted.
The "Flying Yanks," advertised here as playing a benefit
for the British Red Cross in Derby, were a highly regarded
World War II Air Force Dance band.
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"Flying Yanks."
Derby, England,
July 31, 1943.
Poster.
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (91)
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Franklin Roosevelt and Winston
Churchill at the Atlantic Conference,
Argentia Bay,
August 8 12, 1941.
Copyprint.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (92)
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Churchill and Roosevelt
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)
and Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965) established
a close working relationship even before the United States
officially entered World War II. The meetings the two
leaders held in August 1941 at Argentia Bay off Newfoundland
resulted in the promulgation of the Atlantic Charter.
General George Marshall (1880-1959) and General Sir John
Dill (1881-1944) are standing behind and to the left of
the two statesmen.
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Churchill Addresses the
Virginia General Assembly
In Churchill's speech of March 9, 1946, to the Virginia General
Assembly, he salutes Virginia as "the cradle of the Great
Republic" and reminisces about "so much of what we have
in common," including the "light of the Elizabethan age,
with Shakespeare, Raleigh and Grenville." Churchill concluded
by asserting that "among the English-speaking peoples,
there must be the union of hearts based upon conviction
and common ideals."
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Churchill's Address to the
Virginia General Assembly,
March 9, 1946.
Page 2
Carbon copy with holograph revisions.
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (93a,b)
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W. Somerset Maugham.
Of Human Bondage,
1914.
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Holograph manuscript.
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (95)
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Art Celebrates Victory
On April 20, 1946, at a ceremony in the
Library of Congress, British novelist W. Somerset Maugham
(1874-1965) presented an autograph copy of his novel Of
Human Bondage, originally titled, "Beauty for Ashes" to
repay the debt owed the Americans for shelter during the
recent war. Maugham stated: "it is not only for my own
small family, but for all those of my fellow countrymen
who found refuge on these shores that I wish to offer
this manuscript to you . . .as an acknowledgment of the
debt we owe you."
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The Marshall Plan
In 1947 Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a plan
under the terms of which the government of the United
States granted billions of dollars to the nations of western
Europe to enable them to rebuild their war ravaged economies.
Here a British family is seen receiving food from the
United States under the auspices of the Marshall Plan.
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"Something For Everyone."
The Marshall Plan in Action,
1950.
Copyprint.
W. Averell Harriman Collection,
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress (96)
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