The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Relations and Democratic Fervor in the Age of Revolutions (The United States in the World)

The Greek Fire examines the United States' early global influence as the fledgling nation that inserted itself in conflicts that were oceans away. Maureen Connors Santelli focuses on the American fascination with and involvement in the Greek Revolution in the 1820s and 1830s. That nationalist movement incited an American philhellenic movement that pushed the borders of US interests into the eastern Mediterranean and infused a global perspective into domestic conversations concerning freedom and reform. Perceiving strong cultural, intellectual, and racial ties with Greece, American men and women identified Greece as the seedbed of American democracy and a crucial source of American values. From Maryland to Missouri and Maine to Georgia, grassroots organizations sent men, money, and supplies to aid the Greeks. Defending the modern Greeks from Turkish slavery and oppression was an issue on which northerners and southerners agreed. Philhellenes, often led by women, joined efforts with benevolence and missionary groups and together they promoted humanitarianism, education reform, and evangelism. Public pressure on the US Congress, however, did not result in intervention on behalf of the Greeks. Commercial interests convinced US officials, who wished to cultivate commercial ties with the Ottomans, to remain out of the conflict. The Greek Fire analyzes the role of Americans in the Greek Revolution and the aftermath of US involvement. In doing so, Santelli revises understandings of US involvement in foreign affairs, and she shows how diplomacy developed at the same time as Americans were learning what it meant to be a country, and what that country stood for. The Greek Fire Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Spark of the Greek Fire 1. Americans, Greeks, and Ottomans before 1821 2. European Philhellenism Crosses the Atlantic 3. Philhellenism Joins with American Benevolence 4. Philhellenes Clash with American Commerce 5. Abolitionism, Reform, and Philhellenic Rhetoric Conclusion: The Legacy of American Philhellenism Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z Introduction : The Spark of the Greek Fire -- Before the Greek Revolution and Americans in a Larger World -- European Philhellenism Crosses the Atlantic -- Philhellenism joins with American Benevolence -- Philhellenes Clash with American Commerce -- Abolitionism, Reform, and Philhellenic Rhetoric -- Conclusion : The Legacy of American Philhellenism "This book focuses on how international events influenced domestic reform movements and politics of the antebellum era. This approach reveals that early Americans were engaged in a global community and that domestic reform movements and politics were part of a larger conversation"-- Provided by publisher