The American Empire
1890s-1910s
Contents
The American Empire, 1890s-1910s:
Muckrakers
Illustration shows a “Standard Oil” storage tank as an octopus with many tentacles wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for the White House. The only building not yet within reach of the octopus is the White House—President Teddy Roosevelt had won a reputation as a trust buster. Udo Keppler, “Next!” 1904. Library of Congress (LC-USZCN4-122).
American socialist leader Eugene Victor Debs, 1912. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-hec-01584.
Muckrakers
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Muckrakers Quizlet
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Review:
- What areas did Progressives think were in need of the greatest reform?
- How did women of the Progressive Era make progress and win the right to vote?
The Progressive Movement
Women protested silently in front of the White House for over two years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Here, women represent their colleges as they picket the White House in support of women’s suffrage. 1917. Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-31799).
Suffragists campaigned tirelessly for the vote in the first two decades of the twentieth century, taking to the streets in public displays like this 1915 pre-election parade in New York City. During this one event, 20,000 women defied the gender norms that tried to relegate them to the private sphere and deny them the vote. 1915. Wikimedia.
Review:
- What did Theodore Roosevelt think government should do for citizens?
- What steps did Wilson take to increase the government's role in the economy?
Becoming a Pacific Power
Article: Why Russia Sold Alaska to the U.S.
Liliuokalani, the last queen of Hawaii, was overthrown by American sugar planters in 1893. The short-lived Republic of Hawaii was formally annexed into the United States in 1898.
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Review:
- How and why did the United States take a more active role in world affairs?
The Spanish-American War
Teddy Roosevelt, a politician turned soldier, gained fame after he and his Rough Riders took San Juan Hill. Images like this poster praised Roosevelt and the battle as Americans celebrated a “splendid little war.” 1899. Wikimedia.
In this 1900 political cartoon, tailor President McKinley measures an obese Uncle Sam for larger clothing, while Anti-Expansionists like Joseph Pulitzer unsuccessfully offer Sam a weight-loss elixir. As the nation increased its imperialistic presence and mission, many like Pulitzer worried that America would grow too big for its own good.
The destruction of the battleship USS Maine in Havana, Cuba was falsely blamed on Spain and became a major cause of the Spanish-American War.
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In this political cartoon, Uncle Sam, loaded with the implements of modern civilization, uses the Philippines as a stepping-stone to cross the Pacific to China, which excitedly awaits Sam’s arrival. Such cartoons captured Americans’ growing infatuation with imperialist and expansionist policies. C. 1900–1902. Wikimedia.
"School Begins", Puck magazine, January 25, 1899. Click here for a high resolution version of the cartoon.
Caption: "School Begins. Uncle Sam (to his new class in Civilization): Now, children, you've got to learn these lessons whether you want to or not! But just take a look at the class ahead of you, and remember that, in a little while, you will feel as glad to be here as they are!"
Blackboard: The consent of the governed is a good thing in theory, but very rare in fact. — England has governed her colonies whether they consented or not. By not waiting for their consent she has greatly advanced the world's civilization. — The U.S. must govern its new territories with or without their consent until they can govern themselves.
Poster on Wall: The Confederated States refused their consent to be governed, but the Union was preserved without their consent.
Book: U.S. — First Lessons in Self Government
Caption: "School Begins. Uncle Sam (to his new class in Civilization): Now, children, you've got to learn these lessons whether you want to or not! But just take a look at the class ahead of you, and remember that, in a little while, you will feel as glad to be here as they are!"
Blackboard: The consent of the governed is a good thing in theory, but very rare in fact. — England has governed her colonies whether they consented or not. By not waiting for their consent she has greatly advanced the world's civilization. — The U.S. must govern its new territories with or without their consent until they can govern themselves.
Poster on Wall: The Confederated States refused their consent to be governed, but the Union was preserved without their consent.
Book: U.S. — First Lessons in Self Government
Review:
- What were the causes and effects of the Spanish-American War?
Big Stick Diplomacy
President Theodore Roosevelt, wielding a big stick, asserts American power in Latin America.
President Theodore Roosevelt, pictured with his family, practiced Big Stick Diplomacy.
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Big Stick Diplomacy Quizlet
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President Theodore Roosevelt, depicted digging through Panama in the cartoon and photographed seated in a steam shovel at the construction site, was the driving force behind construction of the Panama Canal.
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Review:
- How did the United States extend its influence in Asia?
- What actions did the United States take to achieve its goals in Latin America?
The Great War Before U.S. Entry
Soldiers wore gas masks to protect themselves from deadly chemical attacks.
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British Mark I tank during the battle of the Somme, September 1916
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The Great War Before U.S. Entry
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The Great War Before U.S. Entry Quizlet
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Review:
- What caused the First World War, and why did the US enter the war?
America in the Great War
James Montgomery Flagg, “I Want You.” c. 1917
officers of the American 366th Infantry
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member of the 369th Infantry, the "Harlem Hellfighters"
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The Boy Scouts of America charge up Fifth Avenue in New York City in a “Wake Up, America” parade to support recruitment efforts. Nearly sixty thousand people attended this single parade. Wikimedia.
With America still at war in World War I, President Wilson sent American troops to Siberia during the Russian civil war to oppose the Bolsheviks. This August 1918 photograph shows American soldiers in Vladivostok parading before the building occupied by the staff of the Czecho-Slovaks. To the left, Japanese marines stand to attention as the American troops march. Wikimedia.
Review:
- What caused the First World War, and why did the US enter the war?
- How did the war affect Americans at home?
The Treaty of Versailles
"The Big Four" - David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. - made all the major decisions at the Paris Peace Conference.
Striking steel mill workers holding bulletins in Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1919. ExplorePAhistory.com
Review:
- How did Americans affect the end of World War I and its peace settlements?
- What political, economic, and social effects did World War I have on the US?
Readings
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Strong and Kipling
| imperialism_readings.pdf |
| imperialism_reading_questions.pdf |
Primary Sources
- Jane Addams, “The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements” (1892) - Hull House, Chicago’s famed “settlement house,” was designed to uplift urban populations. Here, Addams explains why she believes reformers must “add the social function to democracy.” As Addams explained, Hull House “was opened on the theory that the dependence of classes on each other is reciprocal.”
- Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903) - Booker T. Washington, born a slave in Virginia in 1856, founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881 and became a leading advocate of African American progress. Introduced as “a representative of Negro enterprise and Negro civilization,” Washington delivered the following remarks, sometimes called the “Atlanta Compromise” speech, at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta in 1895.
- Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (1899) - As the United States waged war against Filipino insurgents, the British writer and poet Rudyard Kipling urged the Americans to take up “the white man’s burden.”
- James D. Phelan, “Why the Chinese Should Be Excluded” (1901) - James D. Phelan, the mayor of San Francisco, penned the following article to drum up support for the extension of laws prohibiting Chinese immigration.
- Eugene Debs, “How I Became a Socialist” (April, 1902) - A native of Terre Haute, Indiana, Eugene V. Debs began working as a locomotive fireman (tending the fires of a train’s steam engine) as a youth in the 1870s. His experience in the American labor movement later led him to socialism. In the early-twentieth century, as the Socialist Party of America’s candidate, he ran for the presidency five times and twice earned nearly one-million votes. He was America’s most prominent socialist. In 1902, a New York paper asked Debs how he became a socialist. This is his answer.
- William McKinley on American Expanionism (1903) - After the surrender of the Spanish in the Spanish-American War, the United States assumed control of the Philippines and struggled to contain an anti-American insurgency.
- William James on “The Philippine Question” (1903) - Many Americans opposed imperialist actions. Here, the philosopher William James explains his opposition in the light of history.
- Mark Twain, “The War Prayer” (ca.1904-5) - The American writer Mark Twain wrote the following satire in the glow of America’s imperial interventions.
- Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907) - Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister and theologian, advocated for a “social gospel.” Here, he explains why he believes Christianity must address social questions.
- Woodrow Wilson on the “New Freedom,” 1912 - Woodrow Wilson campaigned for the presidency in 1912 as a progressive democrat. Wilson argued that changing economic conditions demanded new and aggressive government policies–he called his political program “the New Freedom”– to preserve traditional American liberties.
- Alice Stone Blackwell, Answering Objections to Women’s Suffrage (1917) - Alice Stone Blackwell was a feminist activist and writer. In an edited volume published in 1917, Blackwell responded to popular anti-women’s-suffrage arguments.
- Alan Seeger on World War I (1914; 1916) - The poet Alan Seeger, born in New York and educated at Harvard University, lived among artists and poets in Greenwich Village, New York and Paris, France. When the Great War engulfed Europe, and before the United State entered the fighting, Seeger joined the French Foreign Legion. He would be killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. His wartime experiences would anticipate those of his countrymen, a million of whom would be deployed to France. Seeger’s writings were published posthumously. The first selection is excerpted from a letter Seeger wrote to the New York Sun in 1914; the second is from his collection of poems, published in 1916.
- Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917) - In this speech before Congress, President Woodrow Wilson made the case for America’s entry into World War I.
- Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917) - The Anarchist Emma Goldman was tried for conspiring to violate the Selective Service Act. The following is an excerpt from her speech to the court, in which she explains her views on patriotism.
- The Sedition Act of 1918 (1918) - Passed by Congress in May 1918 and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, the Sedition Act of 1918 amended the Espionage Act of 1917 to include greater limitations on war-time dissent.
- W.E.B DuBois, “Returning Soldiers” (May, 1919) - In the aftermath of World War I, W.E.B. DuBois urged returning soldiers to continue fighting for democracy at home.
Slideshows
Videos
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Biography of America "Episode 14: Industrial Supremacy" - https://www.learner.org/series/biographyofamerica/prog14/transcript/index.html
Biography of America "Episode 15: The New City" - https://www.learner.org/series/biographyofamerica/prog15/transcript/index.html