ABSTRACT
As evidence for the American opposition to preventive wars, one can cite the "Caroline Doctrine" drafted by Secretary of States Daniel Webster, after British forces had launched a more minor form of preventive naval action along the Niagara River. The United States, in the days of British naval hegemony, would have preferred that the understandings of international relations deny the British any such options of attacking American territory. James K. Polk deployed American troops down to the Rio Grande, troops which speedily became involved in armed conflict with the Mexicans, with Polk claiming that the United States had been attacked, and the Mexican War then ensuing, leading to the conquest of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, etc. Marxist and other radical critics of American foreign policy tend to dismiss the preemptive arguments, citing instead the influence of American capitalists in getting the US to send the Marines into Western Hemisphere countries to protect investments.
