To my fellow Bourbon Democrats and interested Mugwumps,
I write to you this day from Salisbury, Maryland, after an extraordinary trip from Manhattan. To view this nation from a floating sky palace is to be filled with awe at the exceptional character of this land and its people. My thanks to Professor Campbell, as well as the volunteers who pedaled us here!
On this peninsula, where the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia converge, I am reminded of the need to preserve our sacred unity across all boundaries. Factionalism must not be our path forward. While I am profoundly committed to a limited federal government, I nonetheless recognize that we in the New World will be nothing without a spirit of common cause.
To this end, I stand with our southern neighbors against imperial hegemony. As surely as multiple states can happily share one American peninsula, so multiple nations can happily share one American hemisphere. The people of Venezuela have a God-given right to democractic self-governance just as much as we ourselves do. For this reason, my administration will stand with Caracas as it seeks to defend herself from English interference. We may have descended from the scone-eaters across the Atlantic, but America shall be for Americans!
It is true that I am opposed to annexation of all kinds -- be it of Hawaii, Cuba, or the Republic of Atlantis. But rest assured that, as president, I will stand with any nation in our hemisphere that seeks the right of self-determination!
Sincerely,
Grover Cleveland
P.S. If you are ever in the area, I urge you to try the Consommé Olga at the Arsenal in New Castle. I heartily endorse it!