There’s been talk of the United States acquiring Greenland, which is autonomously governed within the Kingdom of Denmark. The argument is that with the Arctic Ocean passages possibly opening amid Russia’s and China’s predation, plus Greenland’s vast mineral wealth, U.S. security would benefit from the acquisition. Greenland ostensibly would add to American greatness.

It’s an odd proposal because the U.S. has not actively sought significant territorial acquisition since the 19th century. After independence from Britain, the U.S. purchased the vast Louisiana territory from the French. After victory in the war with Mexico, the U.S. purchased the southwest. The Pacific northwest was acquired through negotiation with Britain. Alaska was purchased from Russia after the Civil War. Hawaii was gained late in the century. America’s westward movement was sometimes justified as “manifest destiny” with the notion that America was providentially called to spread from sea to sea to create a great republic.

Generally, Americans have claimed not to be interested in “empire,” even as European monarchies were snatching lands in Africa and Asia across the 19th century. The Europeans saw overseas empires, even if draining, as intrinsic to national prestige. America mostly defined itself as a democratic republic, not an empire, which typically had a monarch.

The Spanish American War opened up the empire question for America when Spain’s former territories fell to America. Amid claims of Spanish atrocities in Cuba, America declared war on Spain to liberate Cuba, whose “liberation” included Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. Although some American jingoists celebrated the idea of American empire, most Americans were discomfited by the idea, even if favoring expanded American influence. President William McKinley, who went to war reluctantly, also was hesitant about an American empire. A devout Methodist, his 1899 explanation for the U.S. decision to keep the Philippines to a visiting Methodist delegation is famous:   

Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine Business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish feet, and did it!

But that was as far as I thought then. “When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides – Democrats as well as Republicans – but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way – I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain – that we would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany – our commercial rivals in the Orient – that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves – they were unfit for self-government – and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for who Christ also died.

“And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!”

Of course, the Philippines did not become a permanent part of the United States but were a territory held in trust that did not gain full independence until after liberated from the Japanese in World War II.  Some American advocates of expansion wanted permanently to annex the Philippines, but the idea ultimately contravened America’s self-conception. U.S. territorial acquisition largely has not been an issue for over 120 years. The U.S. did buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917. And some tiny Japanese held islands were taken by the U.S in World War II, like the Marshalls and the now Federated States of Micronesia, which now are independent with deep ties to the U.S. In 1946, in the wake of WWII and before NATO, the Truman Administration quietly asked Denmark about possibly selling Greenland, which was declined. The U.S. could have pressured weakened Denmark, recently liberated from Nazi Germany, to relinquish Greenland but did not. Generally, America avoids the appearance of a coercive empire.

Sometimes the U.S. is called an “empire” but only in the sense that its economic and military have global influence. There were in the 19th century American Christians who embraced American “empire,” however defined, as a providential opportunity to expand Protestant democracy and Protestant missions. There were also late 19th and early 20th century voices, often more Darwinian than Christian, that glorified wars of expansion as a form of pseudo-Christian masculinity. That perspective largely died with World War I.

It would be a mistake for American Christians to embrace territorial expansion as intrinsic to American greatness. Nations are great based on prosperity, political stability and military might, mediated by justice, not by their geographic size. The Dutch and the British rose to greatness in the 16th and 17th centuries, even though small nations, based on their economic prowess, global commercial trade, naval prowess, and stable political institutions. They ultimately acquired vast overseas colonies, which arguably drained their wealth, and which they lost in the 20th century. Of course, the original great nation, Israel, never was geographically large but its influence bestrides human history.

The U.S. is the world’s third largest nation geographically. It is much greater than the larger nations, Russia, and Canada. Russia, the world’s largest nation, is “great” only in a depraved sense. It can kill millions in nuclear war, and it can invade or threaten neighboring small nations. Canada of course is not a great power, but it is a stable and prosperous democracy while also a longtime U.S. ally.

Part of America’s greatness is that it has long argued against territorial acquisitions and empire building in preference for democracy and self-autonomy. Browbeating Denmark through threats and boycotts into releasing Greenland would not evince American greatness and would contravene American principles and interests. With Denmark’s permission, the U.S. has operated militarily in Greenland since World War II and rightly will continue.

Perhaps someday Greenland’s small population will abandon their lavish subsidies from Denmark and choose full independence. They might seek closer ties to the U.S. although their choosing to territorially join the U.S. seems unlikely.

American Christians should desire an economically and militarily strong United States rooted in justice, democracy, and the rule of law. Supporting an American “empire” is correct if the “empire” is a just order of independent nations that resist aggression, protect basic freedoms, and collaborate through trade. An empire of liberty is different from an empire of coercion.

Coercive empires and territorial conquests were the accepted global norm from the beginning of time, when might made right, and tribes evinced their virility by exterminating other tribes. Christian influence across millennia has offered a more just and stable vision, which human nature ensures will always be threatened by malevolent actors. If faithful to itself, the U.S. will espouse a Christian-inspired approximate benevolent order against the more traditional pattern of conquest. In the annals of eternity, and before the divine throne of judgment, America will be recalled as great to the extent it aligned with God’s purposes.