Americans
and the World in 1898: Race and Empire
at Home and Abroad
It is customary to begin
the study of American expansionism and conquest of Cuba and the Philippines
during the Spanish-American War of 1898.
One should also consider by extension the annexation of Hawaii in 1893
and military intervention in Nicaragua to protect American interests as part of
this overseas expansion. Whether one
agrees to the attribution ‘American Century’ may then depend on one’s
acceptance or criticism of the ethics of intervention and the exceptionalism of
a nationailst American mission or claimed destiny. If one is interested in world history and
comparative perspectives, one is more in inclined to separate from the
exceptionalist model and seek a history that includes non-Western perspectives. How do we resolve the interventionism of
American empire with the inherent moral dilemma of racial judgment and
suppression that underscored the War for the Philippines? An answer may be to research and read primary
documents that reflect the racial nature of the intervention. The documents available online and in the
reader I make available to the class are a beginning. Other texts on the War for the Philippines
that will be of considerable interest to students on the West Coast are, The
Official Records of the Oregon Volunteers in the Spanish War and Philippine
Insurrection (1902) available from the Internet
Archive. Students who review this text and its
documentation quickly will become aware of the connection of Oregon to an
expanding American involvement in the world.
A close reading of these texts will however show the racial assumptions
used to rationalize conquering islands.
What is amiss in these documents is any understanding of the depth of
advanced ideas and political development toward democracy that
had been put forth by contemporary Philippine nationalists like the novelist
and physician, José Rizal,
executed in 1898 just prior to the Ameican invasion. A number of recent works have shed light on
this period incuding, Angel Shaw and Luis Francia, Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath
of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999 (2002). On the other hand we find
conservative historians attempting to rationalize the American intervention, as
in David Silbey’s A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 (2007)
and Bruce Linn, The Philippine War, 1899-1902 (2002). Those with an interest in domestic resistance
may still profit from Daniel Shirmer’s Republic or Empire: American Resistance to the Philippine War (1974).
Americans and the World in
1898: Race and Empire at Home and Abroad
The
first chapter in this reader is “The Debate over Annexing the Philippines,
1898-1900.” It is customary to begin the
study of American expansionism and conquest of Cuba and the Philippines during
the Spanish-American War of 1898 One
should also consider by extension the annexation of Hawaii in 1893 and military
intervention in Nicaragua to protect American interests as part of this
overseas expansion. Whether one agrees
to the attribution of ‘American Century’ may then depend on one’s acceptance or
criticism of the ethics of intervention and the exceptionalism or an American
mission or destiny. If one is interested
in world history and comparative perspectives, one is more inclined to separate
from the exceptionalist model and seek a history that includes non-Western
perspectives. How do we resolve the
interventionism of American empire with the inherent moral dilemnas of racial
judgment and suppression that underscored the War for the Philippines? An answer may be to research and read primary
documents that reflect the racial nature of the intervention. The documents in this reader are a
beginning. Other texts on the War for
the Philippine that will be of considerable interest to students from the West
Coast are The official records of the
Oregon volunteers in the Spanish war and Philippine insurrection (1902),
available from the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/oregonvolunteers00oreg.
Students who review this text and its documentation quickly will become
aware of the connections of Oregon to an expanding American involvement in the
world. A close reading of these texts
will however also show the racial assumptions used to rationalize conquering
the islands. What is amiss in these
documents is any understanding of the depth of advanced ideas and political
developments toward democracy that had been put forth by contemporary
Philippine nationalists like the novelist Jose Rial, executed in 1898 just
prior to the American invasion. A number
of recent works have shed light on this period including, Angel Shaw and Luis
Francia, Vestiges of War: The
Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999,
(2002. On the other hand one may find
conservative historians attempting to rationalize the American intervention, as
in David Silbey’s A War of Frontier and
Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 (2007) and Bruce Linn, The Philippine War, 1899-1902 (2002). Those with an interest in domestic resistance
may still profit from Daniel
Shirmer’s dated but useful, Republic or Empire: American Resistance to
the Philippine War (1974).
The Domestic Scene
1900-1920: Progressivism, Race and
Industrial Reform
The
second chapter deals with Race Relations and essays by W.E.B. Dubois and Booker
T. Washington who take different positions on the political choices of African
Americans. The third chapter includes a
discussion of urban culture and life for the newly arrived immigrants. The fourth chapter treats the problems of
women’s suffrage and the political mobilization that was required to overcome
serious opposition. Together these
essays and other readings from other sources or your independent research will
allow you to write critical essays on the conflicts presented here by these
authors.
The
period 1900 – 1920 is generally seen as a period of progressive reform
movements. There is little consensus on
what progressivism actually meant or entailed.
In this era of intense segregation and open racism, for African
Americans, Native Americans and millions of new immigrants, the notion of
progress in this period is dubious. This
is also a period in which progressives were arguably more effective at local
rather than national reform. In local
and state government, reforms were implemented to install a city-manager form
of government as the predominant form of civic administration. A most useful study of how progressives
instituted a wide array of reforms in health care, municipal administration and
sought better services in education and equal rights for women, is Robert D.
Johnston, The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of
Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, Oregon. (2003).
Numerous scholars, including Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: The
United States, 1877-1919, (1987) have examined the paradox of American
economic expansion and consolidation of industry with the crisis of conditions
confronting minorities and immigrants, and the consequences of the struggle of
women to achieve suffrage. Gabriel
Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism: A
Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916, sees progressivism as
essentially a conservative movement that allowed for corporations to reorganize
themselves, despite the outcry against monopolies and trusts. Students
interested in financial history and economics will benefit from a study of the
Panic of 1907 which Kolko treats in one of his chapters. A
similar approach is taken by James Weinstein in his The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State 1900 – 1918 (1968).
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