American Imperialism
27
The Path of Empire,
1890–1899
CHAPTER THEME
Theme: In the 1890s new economic, political, and ideological developments sparked a spectacular burst of imperialistic expansionism by the United States. This movement culminated in the Spanish-American War, a conflict that began over freeing Cuba and ended with the highly controversial acquisition of the Philippines and other territories. The war signaled the arrival of the United States as a great power on the global scene.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Various developments provoked the previously isolated United States to turn its attention overseas in the 1890s. Among the stimuli for the new imperialism were the desire for new economic markets, the sensa-tionalistic appeals of the “yellow press,” Protestant …show more content…
We have now reached that time.…The guns of our warships in the tropic seas of the West and the remote East have awakened us to the knowledge of new duties.”
REFERENCES: Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979); John M. Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest (1983).
GREAT DEBATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
GREAT DEBATE (1899): American imperialism. Should the United States become an imperialist power by keeping the Philippine Islands?
For: The “proimperialists”—led by expan-sionists like Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Albert Beveridge; some business publications like the Review of Reviews and business spokespersons like Mark Hanna; and some religious leaders like the Rev. J. H. Bar-rows and the Rev. Josiah Strong. Against: The “anti-imperialists”—led by writ-ers like William James and Mark Twain; some business spokespersons like Andrew Carnegie; some labor leaders like Samuel Gompers; and some clergymen like the Rev. Charles Ames and the Rev. Henry Van Dyke.
ISSUE #1: Manifest Destiny. Is overseas expansion, and therefore control of the Philippines, part of the inevitable manifest destiny of the United …show more content…
But can such markets be opened only by an-nexing to the United States the countries in which they are situated?”
ISSUE #4: Race. Should the dark-skinned Filipinos be brought under the rule of white-skinned Ameri-cans?
For: Proimperialist The Textile Record: “Su-premacy in the world appears to be the destiny of the race to which we belong, the most com-petent governor of inferior races.…The clear path of duty for us appears to be to bring to the people of the Spanish islands in the Pacific and the Atlantic an opportunity to rise from misery and hopelessness to a promise of just govern-ment and commercial success.” Against: Anti-imperialist Henry Labouchère: [A parody of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden.” See text]
“Pile on the brown man’s burden Nor do not deem it hard
If you should earn the
The Path of Empire,
1890–1899
CHAPTER THEME
Theme: In the 1890s new economic, political, and ideological developments sparked a spectacular burst of imperialistic expansionism by the United States. This movement culminated in the Spanish-American War, a conflict that began over freeing Cuba and ended with the highly controversial acquisition of the Philippines and other territories. The war signaled the arrival of the United States as a great power on the global scene.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Various developments provoked the previously isolated United States to turn its attention overseas in the 1890s. Among the stimuli for the new imperialism were the desire for new economic markets, the sensa-tionalistic appeals of the “yellow press,” Protestant …show more content…
We have now reached that time.…The guns of our warships in the tropic seas of the West and the remote East have awakened us to the knowledge of new duties.”
REFERENCES: Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979); John M. Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest (1983).
GREAT DEBATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
GREAT DEBATE (1899): American imperialism. Should the United States become an imperialist power by keeping the Philippine Islands?
For: The “proimperialists”—led by expan-sionists like Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Albert Beveridge; some business publications like the Review of Reviews and business spokespersons like Mark Hanna; and some religious leaders like the Rev. J. H. Bar-rows and the Rev. Josiah Strong. Against: The “anti-imperialists”—led by writ-ers like William James and Mark Twain; some business spokespersons like Andrew Carnegie; some labor leaders like Samuel Gompers; and some clergymen like the Rev. Charles Ames and the Rev. Henry Van Dyke.
ISSUE #1: Manifest Destiny. Is overseas expansion, and therefore control of the Philippines, part of the inevitable manifest destiny of the United …show more content…
But can such markets be opened only by an-nexing to the United States the countries in which they are situated?”
ISSUE #4: Race. Should the dark-skinned Filipinos be brought under the rule of white-skinned Ameri-cans?
For: Proimperialist The Textile Record: “Su-premacy in the world appears to be the destiny of the race to which we belong, the most com-petent governor of inferior races.…The clear path of duty for us appears to be to bring to the people of the Spanish islands in the Pacific and the Atlantic an opportunity to rise from misery and hopelessness to a promise of just govern-ment and commercial success.” Against: Anti-imperialist Henry Labouchère: [A parody of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden.” See text]
“Pile on the brown man’s burden Nor do not deem it hard
If you should earn the