Brainstorm: In what ways might industrialization have contributed to U.S. empire-building abroad?
Background:
Partner activity: The U.S. State Department published record of U.S. involvement abroad showing 103 interventions between the years 1798 and 1895. Consider the follow sampling of record from 1852-1894 and identify any patterns you see.
Next, consider the following two quotes from the period immediately afterward. Answer the discussion questions that follow. Selection A: Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (Republican, Massachusetts), “The Business World vs. the Politicians” (1895): In the interests of our commerce . . . we should build the Nicaragua canal, and for the protection of that canal and for the sake of our commercial supremacy in the Pacific we should control the Hawaiian islands and maintain our influence in Samoa . . . and when the Nicaraguan canal is built, the island of Cuba . . . will become a necessity. . . . The great nations are rapidly absorbing for their future expansion and their present defense all the waste places of the earth. It is a movement which makes for civilization and the advancement of the race. As one of the great nations of the world the United States must not fall out of the line of march. Selection B: The Washington Post editorial on the eve of the Spanish-American War (1898): A new consciousness seems to have come upon us--the consciousness of strength--and with it a new appetite, the yearning to show our strength. . . . Ambition, interest, land hunger, pride, the mere joy of fighting, whatever it may be, we are animated by a new sensation. We are face to face with a strange destiny. The taste of Empire is in the mouth of the people even as the taste of blood in the jungle. . . . Discussion questions:
Homework: Assignment #506. Comments are closed.
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