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The Empire Strikes Back

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The Empire Strikes Back
APUSH-4
2/13/13

The Empire Strikes Back

The story of America is the story of white imperialism. After the Civil War Radical Republicans set out to punish and colonize southern states. The North wished to create a satellite region, isolated politically but raped for its Negro votes and economic value. Steamrolling through southern politics with the help of Negros, scallywags and carpetbaggers, Radical Republicans instigated drastic economic change, as well as a political revolution caused by northern occupation in the south. Economic change was the most subtly imperial policy enacted by the Republican government. Rutherford Hayes the republican candidate for President during the end of Reconstruction, offered southern democrat heads numerous and expensive railroad subsidies in exchange for their votes. The forthcoming railroad monopoly further imperialized northern economic values by enriching northeastern investors and elite southern democrats. Gerald N. Grob called the Radical Republicans “…a group of vindictive politicians who were utterly amoral in their quest for power” (Interpretations of American History, The Free Press, Collier-Macmillian Limited London). Additionally Reconstruction represented the first phase of America’s transformation into a monopolist country. Radical Republicans “…used Negro votes to prevent the formation of a coalition of Western and Southern agrarian interests against the industrial capitalism of the Northeast” (Interpretations of American History, The Free Press, Collier-Macmillian Limited London). Republican manipulation of Negros was used to solidify the economic interest of monopolies and northeastern investors. Successfully isolating the southern economy from investing into its own infrastructure. Further ensuring that profits from southern railroads and land grants went directly to the North in the form of dividends. Negros and Republicans especially valued the political revolution brought on by

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