The American Consul General and those under his protection in Egypt: 1848- 1879

In this study, we are not facing a foreign (American) community in the realistic sense in which it existed in Egypt, and the conditions of other foreign communities were like the Greeks, Italians, French, and others, for example. Rather, we were facing people - who do not hold American citizenship in general - but who are covered by the protection of the American consul in Egypt, It is true that there were Americans who came to the country for various reasons, but in general they were not residents, but rather visitors, transients, or tourists. They did not constitute a resident community with clear characteristics like other foreign communities.
For many combined reasons related to the interests and goals of the United States, as well as the great geographical distance between the United States and the Eastern Mediterranean region, Washington favored the idea of ​​supporting the establishment of diplomatic footholds in the Eastern Mediterranean, like the rest of the major European countries, benefiting from the system of Western protections prevailing throughout the Ottoman Empire.
This American desire to be present in the region was not for a clear purpose like other European countries that had been present for earlier periods, since it had a well-established political reality in its country, in addition to the geographical proximity of its continent. Rather, it was, in general, linked to the aspirations of the American state to be present on the global scene in a diplomatic manner. Despite what it claimed to be isolated from the affairs of this ancient world in accordance with the famous Monroe Doctrine of 1823, even the economic aspect that is the mainstay of American life and personality in all its formations and details was not clearly present in Egypt for various reasons. Despite all this, this American consul and those under his protection had many practices in Egypt, taking advantage of the fact that they were living in the “golden period for consuls,” in which many foreigners from this country attacked without deterrence or rebuke. This is what the study discusses in detail through the records kept at the National Archives.