The Spanish-American War/
Imperialism v. Anti-Imperialism
Reading Questions
"The United States and the Spanish-American War"
1. What was the doctrine of Manifest Destiny (146)?
2. How did the US as an "Empire for Liberty" as envisioned by Jefferson differ from European empires being established at the same time (146)?
3. What were the most important arguments for US imperialism at the turn of the century (146)?
4. What was the Teutonic germ theory (147)?
5. What sparked the Spanish-American War (147)?
6. What were the terms of the Treaty of Paris (148)?
7. What were the issues facing the Supreme Court in the Insular Cases (148)?
8. What were the practical results of the Insular Cases (150)?
9. What two points does Justice Harlan make in the passages quoted from his dissent (149, 150)?
"True Patriotism"
1. What, according to Norton, do the true US patriots/good citizens love? What do they hate (153)?
2. Why, according to Norton, was the Spanish-American War "a turning back from the path of civilization to that of barbarism" (153)?
3. Why, according to Norton, is "it the duty of the good citizen not to be silent" (154)?
"The March of the Flag"
1. Why are the American people "imperial?" Who are God's "chosen people" (156)?
2. How does Beveridge use the ideal of liberty to justify US imperialism (156 and last paragraph on 160)? Who is not covered by the "rule of liberty that all just government derives its authority from the consent of the governed" (157)?
3. How does Beveridge use the opposition between civilization and savagery (157)?
4. How does Beveridge appeal to US history to justify US imperialism (157-8)?
5. What does Beveridge mean by "Distance and oceans are no argument" (158)?
6. Why does the US need new markets (158)?
7. What does Beveridge mean by "For the conflicts of the future are to be conflicts of trade" (159)?
8. Why does the US need naval bases in the Pacific (159)?
"The Colonial Expansion of the United States"
1. How does Lowell define a "colony" (161)? Why is this definition important for his argument?
2. What are the different ways in which the US has extended its boundaries (162)?
3. What simile does Lowell use to structure his argument in the long paragraph on 163? What is his point?
4. What, according to Lowell, is "the question" facing the US (163)?
5. How does Lowell characterize the Anglo-Saxon race (164)?
6. What are the two primary causes of the US's "past success in expansion or colonization" (165)? Which policy should we continue (169)? Which one should we discontinue (165-9)?
7. What is Lowell's analysis of the "theory that all men are created equal" (165)?
8. What is the difference between civil rights and political rights (165)? Which should the US guarantee to the inhabitants of the insular possessions? Which one shouldn't it guarantee? Why?
9. What analogy does Lowell use in the first full paragraph of 166? What is his point?
10. When did the theory of political equality reach "its highest point of development" (166)? What led to its decline (167)?
11. What does Lowell have to say about the Chinese (167)?
12. What, according to Lowell, is the difference between Rome's failure as an imperial power and England's success (170)?
"The White Man's Burden"
In trying to understand Kipling's sense of "the white man's burden" pay special attention to the following lines:
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
The savage wars of peace--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
And reap this old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
Have done with childish days--
"Platform of the Anti-Imperialist League"
1. Why, according to the platform, is imperialism "hostile to liberty" (173)?
2. Explain the following two sentences. "The real firing line is not in the suburbs of Manila. The foe is of our own household" (174).
3. What appeal does the platform make to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Washington, and Lincoln (173-4)?
4. Why is the present situation an exception to "the obligation of all citizens to support their Government in times of grave National peril" (174).
"The Philippine Islands"
1. How does Lodge use the "frank acceptance of existing facts" over a "theory of what they might or ought to be" to support his claim that we should retain the Philippines (175)?
2. Why will bestowing self-government on the Philippines "require time, patience, honesty, and ability" (176)?
3. What is Lodge's answer to the charge that the US has "robbed these people of their liberty" (176)?
4. What is Lodge's answer to the charge that the US has denied Filipinos the "consent of the governed" (176)?
5. What is Lodge's answer to the charge that the US has denied Filipinos "self-government" (177)?
6. What form of government, according to Lodge, is "natural to the Asiatic?" What is Lodge's attitude toward the Japanese (177)?
7. How will "acquisition and retention of the Philippine Islands" benefit "the people of the United States" (177)?
8. What is Lodge's answer to the complaint that the military occupation of the Philippines is too costly (177-8)?
9. Why is "Manila, with its magnificent bay," the "prize and the pearl of the East" (180)?
10. Why do "duty and interest alike . . . impose upon us the retention of the Philippines, the development of the islands, and the expansion of our Eastern commerce" (181)?
"To the Person Sitting in Darkness"
In this piece Twain uses the techniques of satire. Satire diminishes a subject by making it ridiculous. It can use irony, wit, and even sarcasm to evoke an attitude of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation. Whereas it can elicit laughter, its goal is not simply to amuse or to abuse, but to provoke a response, usually a moral reform.
1. What are the objects of Twain's satire?
2. How does he make them look ridiculous?
Below are some glosses on terms, people, or events that may not be familiar to you.
184: Boxers were Chinese (members of the Righteous Harmony Bands or Fists) who participated in an uprising against Europeans in China in 1900.
185: Filibustering expeditions were unauthorized, armed interventions led by private
adventurers into Latin American countries which were at peace with the US.
186: Maxim Guns were machine guns invented by Hiram Maxim.
187: William McKinley was US President 1897-1901; Joseph Chamberlain was in charge of
British imperial policy at the time; Kaiser William II was the emperor of Germany; Czar
Nicholas II was emperor of Russia.
187: The war referred to is the Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa. It pitted the British versus the Boer Republics, established by those of Dutch descent.
187: The Transvaal is in South Africa.
187: Lord Methuen was a British general who lost to the Boers in the Battle of Magersfontein.
189: George Dewey was Commander of the US Asiatic Fleet, which defeated the Spanish in the battle of Manilla May 1898.
192: Lord Kitchner was British commander during the Boer War. By his orders, the families of Boer soldiers were gathered into concentration camps where more than 200,000 died.
192: General Arthur MacArthur was an American general in the Spanish-American War and later military governor of the Philippines from 1900-1.
193: Richard Croker was a corrupt political boss in New York City.
Discussion Questions
1. Commenting on the Insular Cases Justice White wrote, "Why, if we hadn't decided [the cases] that way, this country would not have been a nation" (150). How does US imperialism at this time confirm Professor Haynes's argument about the dialectic between nation and empire?
2. How do different participants in the debate between imperialists and anti-imperialists use the opposition between savagery and civilization?
3. How do they use appeals to liberty and to American ideals?
4. How do they use appeals to US history?
5. What are the different models of good citizenship presented?
6. How important were economic concerns for the US policy of imperialism?
7. Which of the pieces you have read is the most effective in making its point? Why?