The Redefined Anti-Imperialist Movement of 1898-1900 Brian Hurd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II Volume 10 Article 11 2005 Delayed Success: The Redefined Anti-Imperialist Movement of 1898-1900 Brian Hurd Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Hurd, Brian (2005) "Delayed Success: The Redefined Anti-Imperialist Movement of 1898-1900," Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II: Vol. 10 , Article 11. Available at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives/vol10/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hurd: Delayed Success Delayed Success 113 114 Historical Perspectives March 2005 Delayed Success: humanitarian reasons, but rather because such a policy was inconsistent with the self-determination set The Redefined Anti-Imperialist Movement forth in the Declaration of Independence and the of 1898-1900 Gettysburg Address.1 American imperialism violated the tradition of republican expansion whereby new Brian Hurd territories were added with the expectation of eventual On 1 May 1898, the United States Navy, under the admission into the union as a state. As Henry Van command of Commodore George Dewey, engaged and Dyke stated in his Thanksgiving Sermon in 1898, an nearly destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay. This “imperialistic democracy is an impossible hybrid.”2 battle not only provided the United States with a Old World expansion ran counter to American ideals, decisive victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and it would weaken America’s moral position as an but it also inaugurated a new era in American expan- example of freedom, democracy, and self-determina- sion. No longer confined within its borders, United tion in the world. States growth would now continue abroad in the Some historians, such as Harrington, overlook the Pacific Ocean. At first, the American public and press issue of race in the imperialist debate of 1898. While welcomed the news of military advances during the those who favored expansion into Asia cited paternalis- Spanish-American War. However, the ratification of the tic reasons of spreading civilization to “dark corners of Treaty of Paris in February 1899 and the annexation the world,” the anti-imperialists also used race to of the Philippines sparked a new protest movement in justify their arguments. As radical historian Christo- the United States that opposed this American expan- pher Lasch asserts, many politicians condemned sion into Asia. imperialism on the grounds that Filipinos, like African- Those who favored economic expansion into Asia Americans, were innately inferior to white people and saw the Philippines as a new market for American therefore could not be assimilated into American life.3 industry and a possible gateway to the more lucrative Anti-imperialist arguments focused on these racial and Chinese markets. They also saw this expansion as an opportunity to spread civilization into the dark places 1Fred H. Harrington, “The Anti-Imperialist Movement in the of the world. Historian Fred Harvey Harrington argues United States, 1898-1900.” The Mississippi Valley Historical that in opposition, the anti-imperialist movement, Review 22 (Feb. 1935): 211. which began in 1898, objected to imperialism for 2Henry Van Dyke, “The American Birthright and the political reasons. Many of the arguments found in the Philippine Pottage, a Thanksgiving Sermon Preached in the anti-imperialist movement were motivated by the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York City, 24 Nov. 1898,” in Imperialists Versus Anti-Imperialists, ed. Richard E. Welch, Jr. political principle that a republic such as the United (Itasca: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 1972), 78. States should not possess colonies. The anti-imperial- 3Christopher Lasch, “The Anti-Imperialists, the Philippines, ists did not oppose colonial expansion for economic or and the Inequality of Man,” Journal of Southern History 24 (August 1958): 319-31. Published by Scholar Commons, 2005 1 Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II, Vol. 10 [2005], Art. 11 Delayed Success 113 114 Historical Perspectives March 2005 Delayed Success: humanitarian reasons, but rather because such a policy was inconsistent with the self-determination set The Redefined Anti-Imperialist Movement forth in the Declaration of Independence and the of 1898-1900 Gettysburg Address.1 American imperialism violated the tradition of republican expansion whereby new Brian Hurd territories were added with the expectation of eventual On 1 May 1898, the United States Navy, under the admission into the union as a state. As Henry Van command of Commodore George Dewey, engaged and Dyke stated in his Thanksgiving Sermon in 1898, an nearly destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay. This “imperialistic democracy is an impossible hybrid.”2 battle not only provided the United States with a Old World expansion ran counter to American ideals, decisive victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and it would weaken America’s moral position as an but it also inaugurated a new era in American expan- example of freedom, democracy, and self-determina- sion. No longer confined within its borders, United tion in the world. States growth would now continue abroad in the Some historians, such as Harrington, overlook the Pacific Ocean. At first, the American public and press issue of race in the imperialist debate of 1898. While welcomed the news of military advances during the those who favored expansion into Asia cited paternalis- Spanish-American War. However, the ratification of the tic reasons of spreading civilization to “dark corners of Treaty of Paris in February 1899 and the annexation the world,” the anti-imperialists also used race to of the Philippines sparked a new protest movement in justify their arguments. As radical historian Christo- the United States that opposed this American expan- pher Lasch asserts, many politicians condemned sion into Asia. imperialism on the grounds that Filipinos, like African- Those who favored economic expansion into Asia Americans, were innately inferior to white people and saw the Philippines as a new market for American therefore could not be assimilated into American life.3 industry and a possible gateway to the more lucrative Anti-imperialist arguments focused on these racial and Chinese markets. They also saw this expansion as an opportunity to spread civilization into the dark places 1Fred H. Harrington, “The Anti-Imperialist Movement in the of the world. Historian Fred Harvey Harrington argues United States, 1898-1900.” The Mississippi Valley Historical that in opposition, the anti-imperialist movement, Review 22 (Feb. 1935): 211. which began in 1898, objected to imperialism for 2Henry Van Dyke, “The American Birthright and the political reasons. Many of the arguments found in the Philippine Pottage, a Thanksgiving Sermon Preached in the anti-imperialist movement were motivated by the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York City, 24 Nov. 1898,” in Imperialists Versus Anti-Imperialists, ed. Richard E. Welch, Jr. political principle that a republic such as the United (Itasca: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 1972), 78. States should not possess colonies. The anti-imperial- 3Christopher Lasch, “The Anti-Imperialists, the Philippines, ists did not oppose colonial expansion for economic or and the Inequality of Man,” Journal of Southern History 24 (August 1958): 319-31. http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives/vol10/iss1/11 2 Hurd: Delayed Success Delayed Success 115 116 Historical Perspectives March 2005 political consequences of imperialism, not the eco- development.”5 The history of the United States to this nomic benefits that expansion into the Philippines time had been the expansion, acquisition, settlement, would have on American industry. and growth of the lands west of the Appalachians to Harrington also believes that the anti-imperialist the Pacific Ocean. The United States, for the first time movement failed because it was unable to elect William in its brief history, no longer found itself facing the Jennings Bryan to the presidency in 1900. However, challenge of taming the frontier. the movement initially stated that its objectives were With the absence of the American frontier in the to redefine the notion of American foreign policy 1890s, Americans began to look beyond their borders following the Spanish-American War. The anti-imperi- for new places to spread their economic and cultural alists did not oppose the ensuing conflict with Filipinos ideals. Foreign commercial expansion and national for control of the Philippine Islands. Even though the prosperity seemed intertwined, and many felt that it Philippine-American War lasted longer, cost more was the duty of the national government to acquire money, and took more American lives than the new markets for economic opportunity. In April 1897, Spanish-American War, the new protest movement Senator Albert J. Beveridge stated that American was anti-imperialist, not anti-war. An examination of factories are “making more than the American people the lasting effects of the movement reveals that the can use, and American soil