The Republican victory in 1896 gave heart to proponents of prosperity through foreign trade. McKinley sought neither war nor colonies, but many in his party wanted both. Called “jingos,” they included Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt; John Hay, the ambassador to London, and senators Albert Beveridge and Henry Cabot Lodge. Britain, France, and Germany were seizing territory around the world, and jingos believed the United States needed to do the same for strategic, religious, and economic reasons.
In order to prepare for this discussion forum::
Review and identify the relevant sections of Chapter 17 that support your discussion.
Read the linked document, taken from an article by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MASS), in the 1895 issue of Forum Download Forummagazine. What motives for imperialism are reflected in Lodge’s article?
After you have completed your readings post your response the following question.
Several reasons are proposed explaining why the United States decided to join the “Imperialist Club”. Which argument was the strongest, and which argument was the weakest? Explain your position.
Directly and completely answer the question. Clearly and accurately explain your answer based on factual information contained in the assigned readings.
Make sure that all statements are supported with facts from the reading selections.
Reminder: Please make sure to comply with all Netiquette Guidelines listed in the Getting Started module.
chapter 17 information
Chapter Overview | Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad (1890–1900)
This chapter concentrates on the limitations of freedom, including those affecting farmers, immigrants, Blacks, women, and colonial subjects. The chapter opens with the Homestead Strike, which demonstrated that neither a powerful union nor public opinion could influence the conduct of the largest corporations. Farmers also illustrated that not everyone benefited from the prosperity of the industrial revolution. The chapter examines how farmers mobilized into a political force culminating in the 1892 organization of the Populist Party. Attempting to build a broad base, the Populists courted labor, women, and Black farmers, but their party dissolved after the defeat of William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Also discussed is the rise of the American Federation of Labor and the trend away from inclusiveness within the labor movement. The chapter then explores the New South. After Reconstruction, Blacks faced disenfranchisement, threat from the lynch rope, and Jim Crow laws sanctioned by the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. Booker T. Washington took a different approach in dealing with the limitations of freedom put on Blacks, preaching a policy of accommodation and vocational education.
The new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe faced growing restrictions on their freedom in the face of nativism. The Chinese were singled out and permanently excluded from immigrating to America in 1882, and they had to fight through the court system to gain a few liberties. Women, barred from suffrage, were nonetheless politically active in clubs and national organizations like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. All these groups, then, found ways to compensate for the limitations placed on them. The chapter ends by examining America’s rise to world power. In the course of expanding abroad in search of markets and new frontiers, America fought Spain in 1898 and won for itself several territorial possessions. With the annexation of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico, the United States took on an imperial role. With imperialism came the formation of the Anti-Imperialist League, and many were fearful of the consequences of a new overseas empire for the republic. Voices of Freedom (Primary Source document feature) includes a portion of “Lynch Law in All Its Phases” (1893), a speech by Ida B. Wells on the evils of lynching. Another Voices of Freedom section comes from W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk (1903), in which he calls for the recognition of Blacks as full members of American society. Who Is an American? (Primary Source document feature) provides a portion of Charles G. Ames’s 1898 address to anti-imperialists in Boston.
