Though Hallstein first pursued the goal of economic integration, he stated that this was not an end in itself but was a means of achieving a political union that "pool[ed] all the appropriate functions of the member-states. The Schuman Plan was a way for Europe to become an equal partner of the United States – and as a way for Germany to "rejoin the organized community of free peoples". He envisaged a planned, gradual evolution involving a number of projects, coming together to produce a coherent whole. At first he talked of the "dynamic aspect of the constituent plans" (""), but later of what he – or rather his unenviable translator – called "material logic" (, an "anonymous force [that] only works through human will ... [an] inner logic, which is stronger than the capricious dictates of politics"). This meant setting up a situation in such a way that the desired goal would be achieved because people faced with future problems and choices would naturally choose the desired path – not automatically, but because the inherent logic of the situation would favour the desired choice. For instance, installing common tariffs would naturally lead to the need for a common trade policy; prescribing free movement for people, services, and capital would tend to lead to a common infrastructure, including a common tax policy, a common budgetary policy, and a common currency. The Schuman Plan was the first step, applied to the field of economics; the next step was to be defence; these would then "necessarily" lead to integration in the related fields of industrial relations and social policy, energy policy and foreign policy. Hallstein strove for a Europe based on the rule of law ("law in place of force"). His concept of European union was that of a "community" based on democracy and the rule of law — not a federation (because it was not yet a state), nor a confederation ("because it was endowed with the power of exercising authority directly over every citizen in each of its member states"). A lawyer and an expert in international law, Hallstein saw a strong legal foundation as essential. His model of a federal Europe borrowed from the federal structures of Germany, the United States and Switzerland. Hallstein later wrote that the experience of Nazi Germany led him to distrust not only the idea of absolute and inalienable national sovereignty, but also the British idea of a European balance of power. Partly as a result of the Americans' re-education programme, Hallstein developed an interest in the United States Constitution and American history between independence in 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, when the United States was a confederation of states.