HIUS 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Class Conflict, Panic Of 1893, Social Darwinism
HIUS 131 – Lecture 11 – U.S. Imperialism, 1890s
Itroductio: Cotietalis
• Washigtos Fareell Address
o Natios luk i eig far reoed phsiall ad ideologiall fro Europe
o America needs to do everything to maintain isolation
o Beware of etaglig alliaes
o US would flourish if it kept to itself
• 19th century expansion confined to North American continent, continued through 1880s
o Overwhelming motive behind expansion settlement of new territories, expansion of mining
interests in West
• During 1870s and 1880s, continentalism
o US should remain confined to North American continent
o If e oe to e areas of the orld, at gie these people the ote, ad this ill go
against governing with consent of governed
o Uneasiness of absorbing people of alie raes ad alie ultures
• During 1890s anti-colonial position being challenged
o Senator Platt: Anti-colonialism worked when our nation was small, but now we have 65
million people
Sources of Imperialist Fervor
Markets
• Businessmen interested in winning new markets for American industry, gaining access to raw
materials
o Sugar for expanding candy industry 1890s
o Facilitated by 1893 depression
• Foreign markets seemed like only solution to problem of over-production, only way to keep
economy moving
o Worry that American economy was becoming saturated
• European nations had colonies all over the world, and promoted their own economic interests in
their colonies while excluding other countries
o US shut out of world market?
• Theodore Roosevelt thought expansion would solve class warfare
Solution to Class War
• Theodore Roosevelt thought expansion would solve class warfare
o New markets would create more wealth, and this would benefit everyone
• Increase profits, create jobs, increase wages
Racial Ideology
• Social Darwinism helped to justify expansion
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Nations evolve in struggle where fittest acquire the most wealth
o Celebration of Anglo-Saxonism
• English-speaking race superior to others
▪ English-speaking people true inheritors of civilization of Ancient Greece
• Ancient Greece truly took off when Nordic people moved in
▪ Richest and most industrialized, so most superior
• Missionaries attempted to convert non-Western people to Christianity
o Christianization the first step toward remaking the world on the Anglo-Saxon model
• God has marked American people to regenerate the world
• Helped justify expanding markets
o Part of civilizing process is to get people to buy American products
• Buy soap and become clean
• Upo iilizatio, he ats the Christia dress, the Christia house…
Manhood
• Jingos/jingoists: men who were obsessed with honor of the US, and insisted that overseas
expansion was an expression of manliness and honor
• Obsession with showing that US was manly nation and not weak nation, and to prove it US has to
grow military (especially navy) and take its place in the competition for territories overseas
• Frederik Jakso Talors paper Aeria Historial Assoiatio AHA 13
o Frontier is closed, NA wars are over, we have settled the continent
o Frontier/West has been safety valve
• Saved us from terrible class conflict in the east
▪ Untrue
• Poorest people ouldt afford to oe est
o Frontier gave US distinctive energy, manhood
• Saved nation from becoming Europe-type
• American men fought NA, had to be brave, had to set up farms in unsettled regions of
the country
• West mostly civilized, so essence of the US in jeopardy
• Gender anxiety at home
o More American women going to work, college
o Suffrage movement
o More American men working in white-collar jobs, factories
o What does it really mean to be a man if women are going to work/college, if the work I am
doing is indoors?
• 1894 obsession/interest in going to war
The Navy
• Those who wanted overseas expansion turned attention to Navy
• 1890s acts allowing modernization and expansion of Navy
• US gained reputation for Navy
• Adiral Alfred T. Mahas ook The Interest of America in Seapower
o US did not need to pursue overtly colonial strategy
o Owning and settling colonies too expensive and impractical
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Markets: businessmen interested in winning new markets for american industry, gaining access to raw materials, sugar for expanding candy industry 1890s, facilitated by 1893 depression. Solution to class war: theodore roosevelt thought expansion would solve class warfare, new markets would create more wealth, and this would benefit everyone. Frederi(cid:272)k ja(cid:272)kso(cid:374) ta(cid:455)lor(cid:859)s paper a(cid:373)eri(cid:272)a(cid:374) histori(cid:272)al asso(cid:272)iatio(cid:374) (cid:894)aha(cid:895) 1(cid:1012)(cid:1013)3: frontier is closed, na wars are over, we have settled the continent, frontier/west has been safety valve. Saved us from terrible class conflict in the east: untrue, poorest people (cid:272)ould(cid:374)(cid:859)t afford to (cid:373)o(cid:448)e (cid:449)est, frontier gave us distinctive energy, manhood. International police force to protect international trade, foreign markets, its own interests. If ruled the seas, us would be able to get benefits of colonization abroad without paying costs: advocated canal in central america, panama canal, annexation of hawaii 1898, big sugar producer, wanted refueling stations in pacific for ships.
