Page:Anglo-American relations during the Spanish-American war (IA abz5883.0001.001.umich.edu).pdf/32

16 popular government against the great military monarchies of continental Europe."

Other characteristics much more intangible than those thus far mentioned but which contributed greatly to draw the British and Americans together include common moral and social ideals, and a profound respect for the family and the home based largely on the influence of the mother. These led to free inter-marriage with little or no question of social differences. Thus it was that, in spite of frequent and bitter differences, a number of fundamental forces were operating to bring the two countries together. Common theories of law, government, and social order were being rapidly revealed. Great Britain was accepting American theories of democracy. The United States, having successfully passed through the formative period of democratic political organization, was accepting British theories of ordered administrative development. New ties of kinship, mutual regard, and national interest were displacing old ideas of suspicion and selfish competition.