Chester Alan Arthur: The forgotten American President who Changed the World through two Conferences (the International Meridian Conference of 1884 and the Berlin Africa Conference of 1884–1885)
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Chester Alan Arthur: The forgotten American President who Changed the World through two Conferences (the International Meridian Conference of 1884 and the Berlin Africa Conference of 1884–1885) ABSTRACT Chester Alan Arthur was the twentieth-first president of the United States. His presidency, from 1881–1885, was unplanned and monumental, yet he is an often overlooked figure of history. When he is remembered, it is for domestic reform. Here his part on the international stage, through the events of the International Prime Meridian Conference in 1884 in Washington DC, an early success for international relations, and his part in the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884–1885, through recognizing the Congo flag, are explored. How his character influenced his role, how it contrasted with Belgian King Leopold II, and Arthur’s place in civil rights history is also examined, as well as the developing imperialism and Anglo-American order of the world. KEYWORDS International Prime Meridian Conference; Berlin West Africa Conference; American leadership; imperialism; international relations history; American Civil War and Reconstruction INTRODUCTION When asked to name an American president, the historical heavyweights George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), or the more recent Barack Obama, Donald Trump, or Joe Biden may come to mind. Ask someone to name any president, and even within the United States, the chances that they will name Chester Alan Arthur are remarkably low. In fact, Time Magazine listed him in an article entitled, “Top 10 Forgettable Presidents”.2 President Arthur, despite his lack of memorability, made consequential changes within the United States and the world at large. Chief among these was his invitation to the nations of the world in 1884 for the International Meridian Conference, which formalized international agreement of Greenwich as the zero or prime meridian for cartography and established univer1 2 “Top 10 Forgettable Presidents.” Time. Time Inc., March 10, 2009. http://content.time. com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1879648_1879646_1879694,00.html. OPEN ACCESS Megan Easley�Walsh� Megan Easley-Walsh, Independent Researcher; PhD Histor y, ORCiD: 0003-1767-256X, [email protected].
37 sal time. In addition, it was an early success for diplomatic conference and international relations, foreshadowing President Woodrow Wilson’s involvement with the League of Nations after World War One and the founding of the United Nations in New York City following World War Two. President Arthur also had interesting ties to civil rights. These ties included acase that he took as alawyer and then later in ajudge that he appointed as president. When Arthur is remembered, it is for his work in combatting cronyism. He changed the ethics behind governmental actions through the Pendleton Act. The Statue of Liberty, the centenary of the end of the American Revolution, and more occurred during Arthur’s presidency. At the end of his presidency, the Berlin West Africa Conference took place. The American ambassador to Belgium provided interesting links between Leopold II of Belgium and Chester Arthur himself. The Berlin Conference, on the heels of the International Meridian Conference, forever changed Africa and the wider world. Curiously, nowhere on the official White House Historical Association website are these two monumental conferences listed on Chester Arthur’s biography page.3 The United States broadly, and Arthur specifically, impacted the history of the African continent via two prominent conferences in the years 1884 and 1885. While the Berlin Conference is the most direct influence over the African continent, the Meridian Conference is an important precedent in establishing Anglo-American influence on the world. This article attempts to trace the role of President Arthur on the international stage, particularly through two pivotal conferences: the Meridian Conference and the Berlin Conference. Peaceful international consensus and ease and fairness of trade were important underpinnings of these Conferences, particularly from the viewpoint of President Arthur, and American ideals often contrasted with European imperialism during this time. This article constructs ahistorical narrative and provides analysis by consulting both primary and secondary sources. It is divided into several key areas: The Prime Meridian Conference of 1884; The Man Behind the Presidency; The Legacy of the International Meridian Conference; The United States, Anglo-Saxon Ideals, and Nineteenth-Century Imperialism; The Berlin Conference; Opposition at Home and Abroad; and Conclusion THE PRIME MERIDIAN CONFERENCE OF 1884 In 1884, two major map systems were in place: the British system with zero longitude placed at Greenwich and the French system with zero longitude running through Paris. As steel tracks were laid across the lands and telegraph wires connected towns, asystem of lines, aunified system for the world, was recognized as being important. At the invitation of American President Chester A.Arthur, the countries of the world were invited to assemble and determine where that meridian would be placed. Never elected as president, President Arthur came to power when President Garfield was assassinated in atrain station and now trains were paving the way for apresidential decree. For centuries, sailors had looked to the sky to navigate by the stars. In 1884, 3 Information on the conferences’ exclusion on the website is accurate as of April 13, 2022. OPEN ACCESS M EGAN EASLEY�WALSH
38 PRAGUE PAPERS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 2/2022 the titans of industry and of science, the stars of their age, were turning the eyes of the navigators toward anew North Star; it was to be zero degrees running through Greenwich: the single and unified Prime Meridian. European expansion and conquest, which came to such height during the Renaissance, required that new lands be mapped. Cartography became afoundation stone of the Renaissance and the “Age of Exploration”. In the nineteenth century, maps were still needed to recognize new lands and new boundaries as European empires and the spreading countries of the United States of America and Canada extended their territories. 1884 stood at the height of the emergent expanding capitalism of Great Britain and the less-modernized systems of the other nations. Land ownership had been clear, but now maritime power and greater global connectivity required an examination of this maritime sovereignty. By the 1880s, the expanding world was also shrinking thanks to the rise of telegraph wires and railroads. Confusion grew as aworld that had once functioned with differing systems was brought closer together. Sanford Fleming, arepresentative at the International Meridian Conference of 1884, wrote, “The mode of notation followed by common usage for time immemorial, whatever its applicability to limited areas, when extended to avast continent, with anetwork of lines of railway and telegraph, has led to confusion and created many difficulties. Further, it is insufficient for the purposes of scientific investigation, so marked afeature of modern inquiry.”4 The maps of the world had become aTower of Babel and with progress advancing, it was decided that there should be only one language of longitude spoken. That is, it was recognized thattheremust be one single and undisputed origin: one Prime Meridian. THE MAN BEHIND THE PRESIDENCY Chester A.Arthur, the twenty-first president of the United States, who served from 1881–1885, never campaigned to be president and yet emerged as asteady hand for American democracy and apowerful force for change on the international front. It was at President Arthur’s invitation that the nations of the world gathered in Washington to attend the International Meridian Conference beginning on October 1, 1884. The issue was on his mind long before the nations assembled. In various speeches to the House of Representatives and to the Senate, he urged them to address the safety of the seas and informed them of his intention to engage the other countries in correspondence to determine if they were interested in assembling for aConference. Here are his words from his second State of the Union Address, on December 4, 1882. Irenew my recommendation of such legislation as will place the United States in harmony with other maritime powers with respect to the international rules for the prevention of collisions at sea. In conformity with your joint resolution of the 3rd of August last, Ihave directed the Secretary of State to address foreign Governments in respect to aproposed conference for considering the subject of 4 Recommendations Suggested by Sanford Fleming, October 1884, Microfiche reproduced in online archives available at https://archive.org/details/cihm_03131. OPEN ACCESS
39 the universal adoption of acommon prime meridian to be used in the reckoning of longitude and in the regulation of time throughout the civilized world.5 This address was delivered to the Senate and House of Representatives nearly two years before the nations assembled. To better understand the first American president who initiated the assembling of the nations on American soil, sixty-one years before the establishment of the United Nations, it is interesting to look at the biographical details of the man. President Arthur, unlike his more contemporary counterparts of recent years, was shy and private in his dealings. Unfortunately, for the sake of history and research, many of his papers were burned. What does remain are his official dealings and sketchesofhischaracter from his days on the campaign trail, not for president but vice-president. He was the running mate in the 1880 election of James A.Garfield. Despite both candidates in the 1880 election, Winfield Hancock for the Democrats and James Garfield for the Republicans, carrying nineteen states, the Republican ticket won the election with an electoral vote of 214 to 155. After only six months in office, an assassin’s bullet cut through Garfield’s presidency and Arthur became president. There are two ironic coincidences connected to the assassination. Firstly, the last president to be assassinated before Garfield (also, the first) was Abraham Lincoln, sixteen years earlier. All three men, Lincoln, Garfield, and Arthur were connected with the Union Army during the Civil War. Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was with Garfield during the assassination. Their assassins had nothing to do with each other, though, aside from being disgruntled. John Wilkes Booth was asoutherner, upset with Lincoln over the Civil War, while Garfield’s assassin, Charles J.Guiteau, was upset over not being rewarded afederal job. The second coincidence is somewhat more abstract, but it is interesting to the circumstances surrounding the International Meridian Conference. Garfield was at the train station when he was assassinated, making Arthur president, and trains were adriving force in the Meridian Conference. The official White House website states that, “Publisher Alexander K.McClure recalled, ‘No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired … more generally respected.’ “6 His tenuous beginning in the public eyes was not afault or grievance of Arthur’s past or own doing, but rather was aresult of the public opinion of his party at the times. The Gilded Age, especially in New York, was marked by scandal and corruption. That Arthur came from New York at such atime was reason for the public to be wary of his presidency, but Arthur was his own man and became his own president. In the words of his eulogy in 1886, amere two years after the Meridian Conference, he was remembered for his presidential leadership: “General Arthur took up the reins of public authority. From the hour that he felt the obligations of the high duties thus forced upon him he seemed by asudden and natural aptitude to be filled with power to execute them. From that moment he made it evident to all that 5 Second Annual Message (State of the Union Address) by President Arthur, 4December 1882, Provided by Miller Center of University of Virginia. 6 White House. Gov Chester A.Arthur Biography, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ about/presidents/chesterarthur. OPEN ACCESS M EGAN EASLEY�WALSH
40 PRAGUE PAPERS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 2/2022 he knew what he ought to do, what he wanted to do, and how to do it. He was every inch aPresident.”7 In another of those quirks of history, Arthur’s father was aminister for the state of New York. One of the towns that he preached for was aptly named, for the role that his son would play in the future Meridian Conference: Greenwich. Arthur’s presidency was grounded in realism, rather than coincidence though. Deeply influenced by the disgruntled assassin, Charles J.Guiteau, who was upset at having been denied afederal job when he shot Garfield, Arthur turned his attention to adecades-long problem. Documents.Gov explains this problem well, “Although President George Washington made most of his Federal appointments based on merit, subsequent Presidents began to deviate from this policy. By the time Andrew Jackson was elected President in 1828, the ‘spoils system,’ in which political friends and supporters were rewarded with Government positions, was in full force.”8 The effect of this for Arthur was signing into legislation the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 that determined that federal jobs would be merit-based only and free of the corruption that had encircled them. The Pendleton Act placed President Arthur in the spotlight. During the campaign in 1880, though, Arthur was characterized as shy and reluctant when there was the suggestion that he would be hoisted onto the backs of supporters, “His face took on alook of perplexity; then he blushed, and, turning to afriend, begged that they might do no such thing, and they desisted.”9 This then, quiet, shy, reluctant, is the man who made the bold move to assemble the nations of the world. Perhaps, it also explained why many of his personal papers were destroyed. It is also important to note that Arthur was not the erstwhile, young candidate hoping to gain personal favor. Indeed, in the Biographical Sketches campaign pamphlet of 1880, he was characterized as following the will of the people, but in anoble and fitting way, “He is an intelligent, penetrating, judicious leader, and he would make his party the strong right arm of the popular will” and “He has been justly described as an illustration of the gentleman in politics. Alawyer of high standard, student of broad and varied culture, his wide reading instant at his command, of fine presence, with rare social gifts and possessing the aptitude which meets any demand, without an enemy in the world, equally ready in astory or aquotation, and as much at home in the library as in the committee-room, genial, chivalrous, and popular.” 10 Without an enemy in the world seems an only all too appropriate designation for aman who invited the world to assemble. He was also religiously scrupulous and morally upright. By the time he was president, he had already stood in the powerful position of Union general and, in 7 Proceedings of the Senate and Assembly of State of New York in relation to the death of Chester A.Arthur held at the Capitol, April 20, 1887, available at https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofsen00newy/page/n9/mode/2up. 8 Our Documents.Gov The Pendleton Act, available at http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc. php?flash=true&doc=48. 9 Biographical Sketches of General James A.Garfield and General Chester A.Arthur, available at https://archive.org/details/biographicalsket00nevi/page/n5/mode/2up. 10 Biographical Sketches. OPEN ACCESS
41 relation to the bankroll that he might have accumulated had he wished to from contracts, this telling information is recorded in the Biographical Sketches, “Speaking of him at this period, afriend says: ‘So jealous was he of his integrity that Ihave known instances where he could have made thousands of dollars legitimately, and yet refused to do it on the ground that he was apublic officer and meant to be like Caesar’s wife,’ above suspicion.’”11 Such strong conviction must have been refreshing for afederal government, and aNew York politician in particular, where scandal and payoffs had become commonplace. No wonder the Pendleton Civil Service Act was of such importance to Arthur. Lest it is suggested that Arthur was entirely innocent, it is worth noting that although Arthur himself did not financially profit from political insider dealings, he did reward political help with government positions that funneled into more financial support for the Republican party, while he was customs collector for the Port of New York, under Ulysses S.Grant’s presidency in the 1870s. Rutherford Hayes ejected Arthur from the job in 1878, in an effort to stop the system.12 As apublic servant, he zealously protected the holdings of the United States’ citizens, allowing them to bloom into profitable ventures. Already awidower, as of 1880, President Arthur was an older, more contemplative type of president. That is in no way to suggest that he was not progressive, though, and the same morally upright lawyer, chronicled in the Biographical Sketches, and the same successful general, was also acommanding presence at the helm of the financial enterprise of the United States. Some were disappointed that he did not address the debt accumulated during the Civil War, but it is true that he was wholeheartedly committed to the protection of capital through transportation. Much of the financial status, championed by the Republican party, was tied to the railways and in the build-up to the 1880 campaign it is recorded that, “Under its administration railways have increased from 31,000 miles in 1860 to more than 82,000 miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased from $700,000,000 to $1,150,000,000 in the same time, and our exports, which were $20,000,000 less than our imports in 1860, were $264,000,000 more than our imports in 1879.”13 It is therefore justifiably argued then that Arthur was not taking aradical step in inviting the nations to assemble. Rather, he was protecting the interests of his country and by belief and extension, those of the betterment of the world. As an impromptu president, he was carrying on the business of his party, recognizing the challenges of the time, and seeking to advance the cause of the meridian. Murdin stated that, “In the United States in 1883, there were 49 separate railway operating time systems. Additionally, submarine telegraph cables made coordination necessary across oceans.”14 It was no longer acceptable or convenient for different systems to be used. Standardization was coupled with mechanization in this epoch. 11 Biographical Sketches. 12 Chester A.Arthur, History.com available at https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/chester-a-arthur. 13 Biographical Sketches. 14 P.MURDIN, Full Meridian of Glory Perilous Adventures in the Competition to Measure the Earth, New York 2009, p.135. OPEN ACCESS M EGAN EASLEY�WALSH
42 PRAGUE PAPERS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 2/2022 In mid-October 1884, while the delegates were in Washington for the Conference, they met with President Arthur at areception and these were his remarks to those gathered, Iam pleased to meet here so many delegates, coming from so many and such important countries. The almost unanimous response of the nations of Europe, Asia and America to the invitation extended to them by this Government, and the high character of the delegates, shows that the present conference is arecognition of awidely felt need and an attempt to reach a solution acceptable to all. You have already made such great progress toward this desired end by adopting acommon meridian zero from which all peoples may reckon longitude eastward and westward, and by agreeing that auniversal day should be chosen for the convenience of the world… The opportunity which this conference has afforded to bring together for one friendly purpose representatives of widely separated peoples cannot but increase the spirit of good-will and cooperation which should exist between them. 15 Clearly, the international character of the Meridian Conference and the emphasis that it was for the betterment of the world were foremost in President Arthur’s mind. Certainly, that he was aRepublican president in the aftermath of the American Civil War, when reconciliation with the returned southern separatists of the Confederacy, colored his political efforts at cooperation. It may even illustrate why Arthur’s critics were disappointed in him not going further to federalize civil rights issues in the United States. Despite that, the character of the man, devoted to the wellbeing of others, even when they were minorities, or disparate nations was an important underpinning of his presidency. This dovetailed with his experience in trade and finance, from quartermaster in the Union Army during the Civil War for the state of New York to Republican politician, and thereby industrialized business champion. Conferences that highlighted trade were thus of interest to him. Seeing the humanity in his opposition was also no alien concept to Arthur. His wife, Ellen Herndon, whom he married in 1859, was from Virginia, astate that became part of the Confederacy. Also, some former Confederates had fought because of their geographic location rather than ideas about people. Emory Speer had been aformal Confederate soldier and was appointed first as an attorney in Georgia in 1883 by President Arthur and then in 1885, President Arthur appointed him as afederal judge in Georgia where he served until 1918. In both positions, Speer fought for civil rights, upholding voting rights, and fighting against oppressive labor policies. Speer’s rulings did not always prove popular with white voters, but Speer’s appointments were another cornerstone in Chester Arthur’s plight in the civil rights arena.16 15 October 17, 1884 The New York Times, available at https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/ browser. 16 T.HUEBNER, “Emory Speer,” New Georgia Encyclopedia, July 15, 2021, https://nge-staging-wp.galileo.usg.edu/articles/government-politics/emory-speer-1848-1918/. OPEN ACCESS
43 THE LEGACY OF THE INTERNATIONAL MERIDIAN CONFERENCE Amonth after the Conference ended, it was clear that those driving ideas of progress that had warranted it were still very much on the president’s mind. In his speech on December 16, 1884, at The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, Arthur said, “Railroads, telegraph lines, and submarine cables have drawn much nearer the nations of the earth, and an assembly like this of the representatives of different nations is promotive of good-will and peace, while it advances the material welfare of all. The United States extend, to those from foreign countries who visit us on this occasion, acordial welcome.”17 The United States government, although separate from the Meridian Conference, was at all times involved in the proceedings. That is to say, it was by Congressional authority that President Arthur invited the nations to assemble. The invitation was authorized by the Secretary of State, the same office that asks for the safe passage of American citizens in their passports today. That is, in atime when there were many immigrants, but few American travelers abroad, American diplomacy was asked to have safe passage into the nations of the world, particularly Europe. Moreover, the United States invited the nations to come onto the American shore. At the end of the Conference, the Congress and Senate were kept abreast of the results. The Meridian Conference’s success was thus not merely their own, but also the triumph of the American government. For multiple years, President Arthur spoke of the idea of the Conference and then the authorization of the Conference in his State of the Union address. It was an achievement of President Arthur in foreign policy, that the United States brought together the nations in peaceful means and diplomatic success. It also anticipated, in historical foreshadowing, the United Nations headquarters in New York City, when the United Nations began in 1945. The land in New York City where the headquarters are is, however, international land rather than American. It is interesting to note that the United States did not join the League of Nations after World War One in 1920, which had significantly less success. This is not to imply that American leadership is required for international success, but it is worth noting that the Washington Conference of 1884 and the United Nations both relied on democratic principles, delegates assembled from many nations, and they each took place in the United States. In his State of the Union address, addressing the House of Representatives and the Senate, on December 1, 1884, President Arthur gave asuccinct summary of the events of the preceding months of the Conference: “The International Meridian Conference lately convened in Washington upon the invitation of the Government of the United States… concluded its labors on the 1st of November, having with substantial unanimity agreed upon the meridian of Greenwich as the starting point whence longitude is to be computed through 180 degrees eastward and westward, and upon the adoption, for all purposes for which it may be found convenient, of auniversal 17 December 16, 1884 at The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, ACompilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Chester A.Arthur September 19, 1881 to March 4, 1885, Provided by Project Gutenberg. OPEN ACCESS M EGAN EASLEY�WALSH
44 PRAGUE PAPERS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 2/2022 day which shall begin at midnight on the initial meridian and whose hours shall be counted from zero up to twenty-four.”18 The lasting legacy of the International Meridian Conference was the formal establishment of the zero meridian through Greenwich as the Prime Meridian, as well as universal time. It would take the nations of the world until 1914 in order to fully adopt Greenwich as the meridian. In addition to these resolutions, the International Meridian Conference offered early success in peaceful diplomatic conference paving the way for International Relations, it elevated the international and formal importance of cartography and its powers, and it signaled the growing Anglo-American power in the world. The unification of cartography elevated maps to astatus of international importance and thereby strengthened the power of those who used them, particularly in political expansion. Geopolitics was revolutionized by the unity of cartography. What followed from the Meridian Conference was not only British power but an assumed superiority of all nations that had staked ownership on global domination through their delegations at the Conference. Finding acommon international language in maps, rallying together, paradoxically paved the way for Africa to be divided and Europe itself, when African ambitions were at odds among colonial rulers. That is, more than Greenwich was endorsed in 1884. British imperialism was as well. Cartography is not responsible for the decisions of historical and political actors, but neither does it exercise neutrality. Conceptions about space and relating to others were codified into the cartographic system and continue to shape the world. The International Meridian Conference of 1884 codified the ideal of global territory as necessitating an international consensus, exemplified by the Prime Meridian through Greenwich. Therefore, territorial conceptions were elevated to international status because of the Conference. Through the elevation of geography and the enshrining of space and time in Greenwich, an Anglo understanding of how the world was ordered, how it operated, and how it ought to be governed, in their eyes, became the operating system for the entire world. THE UNITED STATES, ANGLO-SAXON IDEALS, AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY IMPERIALISM The United States was invited to the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. Europe clearly now viewed its standing of “international importance”. South African History’s article on The Berlin Conference states: “However, the United States did not actually participate in the conference both because it had an inability to take part in territorial expeditions as well as asense of not giving the conference further legitimacy.”19 This is telling. The United States not only participated in the Meridian Conference but hosted it, because its aims were to regulate navigation through asingle merid18 Fourth Annual Message (State of the Union Address) by President Arthur, 1December 1884, Provided by Miller Center of University of Virginia. 19 South African History Online: The Berlin Conference. Accessed April 2021. https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/berlin-conference. OPEN ACCESS
51 ing reexamined is The Netherlands who have reframed talking about their “Golden Age”, recognizing that for those within their colonies during this era in the seventeenth century, the times were far from golden.33 Although Chester Arthur had areputation as an abolitionist, later he was criticized because he did not enact federal law to enshrine civil rights. This was particularly important as the Southern Democrats and ex-Confederates took over power from Republicans.34 Despite these criticisms, he did attempt to offer his influence over the Civil Rights Cases, decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1883, which ruled that racial discrimination by private individuals was not under the jurisdiction of the Thirteenth or Fourteenth amendments which outlawed slavery and gave equal protection under the law and voting rights. President Arthur, thus, did attempt to bolster the power of federal law, but he was confined to the parameters of his office, and the balance of powers enacted by the United States Constitution meant that he was limited by the Legislative branch, as was the case with his veto being overturned, or by the Judicial branch, as was the case with the Supreme Court legislation ruling against civil rights issues. President Arthur stood in leadership during monumental occasions for the United States and the wider world, and he stood up for civil rights issues. Why then has he largely been forgotten by history? In his book, Chester Alan Arthur: The American Presidents Series: The 21st President, 1881–1885, Zachary Karabell offered an explanation that the titans of industry, such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt captured the attention and imaginations of the public at the end of nineteenth century, where previously the government had, particularly in the 1860s during the Civil War.35 Additionally, Chester Arthur failed to receive the support of his party for reelection. In 1885, Grover Cleveland became president and was the first Democrat president after the American Civil War, which had ended twenty years earlier. One year later, in 1886, President Arthur passed away. CONCLUSION As President of the United States, when it was anewly rising star and during both the International Meridian Conference and the Berlin Conference, Chester Arthur’s influence on history continues to reverberate. The forgotten man’s shadow looms large and at times his actions were far from the consequences that he intended. Tragically, this was the case in recognizing the flag for Belgium’s interests in the Congo. However, President Arthur was asuccessful host to the nations of the world at the Inter33 End of Golden Age: Dutch Museum Bans Term from Exhibits, The Guardian (Guardian News and Media, September 13, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/13/endof-golden-age-amsterdam-museum-bans-term-from-exhibits. 34 K.PERROTTA— C.BOHAN, Nineteenth Century Rosa Parks? Assessing Elizabeth Jennings’ Legacy as aTeacher and Civil Rights Pioneer in Antebellum America, Georgia State University, 2013. 35 Z.KARABELL, Chester Alan Arthur: The American Presidents Series: The 21st President, 1881–1885, Macmillan 2004, p.4. OPEN ACCESS M EGAN EASLEY�WALSH
52 PRAGUE PAPERS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 2/2022 national Prime Meridian Conference, where democracy, cooperation, and abetter world for all, ideals that Arthur was devoted to, were esteemed. The United States, as an emblem of freedom and free of imperialist aims that countries such as Great Britain had, was ideally suited to the hosting of the 1884 Meridian Conference. Furthermore, the United States was aphilosophical extension of Europe that had developed with its own unique ambitions, aims, and freedoms. The United States was viewed as anew horizon, ripe with possibility. Turning away from its earlier philosophy of isolation in the Monroe Doctrine and expounding upon its vision of “Manifest Destiny”, the United States stepped into amore global role. President Arthur, himself, was well-liked and capable of getting results from decades-old problems, as exemplified in the Pendleton Act that reformed government corruption. Interaction of the world, through International Relations, and through spatial relations was elevated to international importance at the Meridian Conference of 1884. Theirs is alegacy that continues to shape today. The line the delegates drew through Greenwich continues to echo through history and the present, because of all the implications and understanding behind it: historically, politically, economically, and in terms of representation of reality. Often overlooked, even among Americans, President Arthur deserves asecond look. He contextualizes the American understanding of the nineteenth century world, at times in opposition to European imperialism. Yet, despite that, the reality of international consensus and the knowledge and power derived from maps created an environment that eased colonization. Forces at work in history are often not as black and white as they may first appear. President Arthur and the role of the United States in Africa during the nineteenth century is aprime example. At this juncture in history, where the world’s interconnectivity, in light of aglobal pandemic, is more evident than ever, and at atime when fair treatment for minorities and the continuing of work in the civil rights arena is reverberating from court rooms to the streets of cities around the world, perhaps it is time to look more closely at President Arthur. OPEN ACCESS