Week 2 Becoming a global Power
A cartoon on the US assumption of a new imperial role
Sept 21: How did the US become a global power in the 19th century?
Sept 23: From Republic to Empire – The McKinley Years
READING:
Louis Perez: The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography, all
First Short Paper: Due Thursday (in class if your first precept is the following Tuesday, or in precept if your first precept is Thursday, Sept. 23); 500 words or so. This exercise should help you refine your historical thinking and analysis in ways that good historians are supposed to. *
Reconstruct any major argument that Louis Perez makes in his book The War of 1898. CHOOSE ONLY ONE * Summarize the conclusion and the major pieces of evidence that he offers to support that conclusion. Do you find this argument persuasive? Why or why not?
Additional Resources:
Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy - pre-1898
Paul Kramer, “Empires, Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons: Race and Rule between the British and U.S. Empires, 1880-1910,” Journal of American History 88, 4 (2002). http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/88.4/kramer.html
The Spanish American (and Cuban and Philippine) War New York Public Library On-line Exhibition
The World of 1898: the Spanish-American War - a multimedia exhibit from the Library of Congress Hispanic Division
Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War Website from the 1999 PBS documentary with interviews, a timeline and other useful material
The Philippine-American War - A fascinating narrative of the war, with hundreds of photos, narrated by a Philippino historian.
Documents Relating to U.S. Foreign Policy, 1898-1918
The Spanish American War in Motion Pictures This presentation features 68 motion pictures produced between 1898 and 1901 of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine Revolution. The Spanish-American War was the first U.S. war in which the motion picture camera played a role.
Using Sources: political cartoons
Foreign Relations Historians use a variety of sources, from declassified documents to media coverage to popular books to music. Part of our job is to figure out how to effectively utilize a variety of sources to advance particular arguments. Look at the cartoons below. Try and answer the following questions:
1. What is the subject of the cartoon?
2. What is its intent?
3. How does it help us understand debates taking place at the time about America's possible emergence as an imperial power?
 |
 |
Scanned from The Verdict 21 August 1899 THE WAY WE GET THE WAR NEWS |
The Verdict July 3, 1899 The Second Issue: The Advance of Imperialism An inflammatory cartoon from 1898 arguing for the benevolent impact of American empire on "uncivilized" peoples in Central America and the Philippines |
 |
 |
The Verdict July 24, 1899 A Study--Imperialism |
Scanned from Fifty Great Cartoons (Chicago: The Ram's Horn Press, 1899) unpaginated This cartoon is part of the collections of the Cartoon and Graphic Arts Library of Ohio State University.
|
Caption from cartoon: The Light of the World
It is claimed by many observers that a two-horse wagon has never gone where the Bible did not go first. It is certainly a significant fact that international commerce has everywhere followed in the wake of the gospel. The intrepid missionary invaded the wilds of China, India, Madagascar and the islands of the southern sea long before the trading ships of the merchants dared to enter their ports. Everywhere the foul and ravenous beasts of tyranny, ignorance and superstition have retired at the introduction of the glorious light of the cross. Christianity has blazed the pathway and civilization has followed. Now the rainbow arch of the gospel spans the continents and seas, from Greenland's icy mountains to India's coral strands, and we seem to hear the glad should of ten million ransomed souls who sing with the ancient Psalmist, "The entrance of thy word giveth Eight."
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Isaiah 4:2