W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2002 American attitudes toward British imperialism, 1815--1860 Elizabeth Kelly Gray College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Gray, Elizabeth Kelly, "American attitudes toward British imperialism, 1815--1860" (2002). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623404. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-4nwj-7772 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reproduced with with permission permission of ofthe the copyright copyright owner. owner. Further Further reproduction reproduction prohibited prohibited without without permission. permission. AMERICAN ATTITUDES TOWARD BRITISH IMPERIALISM, 1815-1860 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Elizabeth Kelly Gray 2002 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy j Elizabeth Kelly Gray Approved, June 2002 Edward P. Crar5$>1 Chandos M. Brown James N. McCord A Kinley J. Brauer University of Minnesota l i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION In loving memory of my grandmothers, Mae Allen McNeish and May Gray Etlar. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................... v ABSTRACT............................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER I: THE PRINT REVOLUTION, 1815-1860..........................................20 CHAPTER D: THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, 1819-1843........................................ 41 CHAPTER El: THE OPIUM WAR, 1839-1842.......................................................87 CHAPTER IV: THE CAPE COLONY, 1834-1847.............................................. 140 CHAPTER V: THE MOSQUITO COAST, 1848-1860.......................................... 175 CHAPTER VI: THE INDIAN UPRISING, 1857-1858...........................................217 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................... 264 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................... 271 VITA........................................................................................................................288 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Years ago, Edward Crapol’s courses in American foreign relations—and specifically, his interest in American empire—inspired me to explore this field, and I am grateful to have been able to study it under his guidance. His patience, good humor, and unfailing encouragement of me in my research and my career have been invaluable. Chandos Brown’s suggestions and enthusiasm for this study as a contribution to American cultural history have enriched it, as have the suggestions of James McCord, who offered repeated close readings and valuable insights into the British empire. This study was further strengthened by the suggestions of Kinley Brauer, who brought his expertise in American expansion during the Middle Period to this project. Parts of this dissertation also benefited from the comments of the members of William and Maiy’s dissertation discussion group and participants at the annual meetings of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. The staff of William and Mary’s Swem Library—especially Sheila Brown, Don Welsh, and Alan Zoellner—have been quite helpful. I also appreciate the assistance of John Jovanovic at Virginia Commonwealth University and staff at the University of Pennsylvania, the National Archives, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Harvard Business School, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. The support and encouragement of my friends and family have sustained me throughout this project. Special thanks go to Valerie DeBrava, Louise Hutchinson, Miranda Jones, Elsa Nettels, Elizabeth Niemeyer, Ericka Thoms, and Catharyn Turner II. And the most special thanks go to my family. Courtney Gray has been an excellent big sister, encouraging me throughout this project and providing much-needed distractions with phone calls and vacations. And as always, my parents, Bill and Peggy Gray, have encouraged my pursuits with their love, support, care packages, and enthusiasm for my progress. For all these, I am truly grateful. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “American Attitudes toward British Imperialism, 1815-1860” This dissertation explores American attitudes toward British imperialism between 1815 and 1860 to determine what Americans thought of imperialism before the United States became an imperial power. It addresses the debate of whether the United States’s acquisition of an empire in the 1890s was the result of focused determination or was, as many historians have characterized it, an accidental acquisition by a people long opposed to empire. This study also explores the benefits of incorporating American culture and society into the study of American imperialism. The years between the War of 1812 and the Civil War connect the time when Americans re-established their independence from Great Britain to the eve of the Civil War, which solved the sectional crisis and thus put the nation in a position to pursue overseas expansion unimpeded. This was also a time of great change in the United States. New Protestant denominations were challenging the church’s authority. Industrialization was making workplaces more hierarchical and consequently causing greater awareness of class. And a print revolution was bringing many more Americans into the reading public, thus causing the era’s readings to represent a much broader range of opinions than those of a generation before. During the era under review, Americans repeatedly wrote long articles about the British empire, which indicates the great interest that the topic held for them. This study addresses British imperial episodes in Hawaii, China, South Africa, Nicaragua, and India. Quite often, Americans’ domestic concerns—whether they involved, for example, specific religious views, attitudes toward war, or thoughts on slavery— strongly influenced their attitudes toward foreign events. Such leverage was facilitated by the often sketchy nature of accounts from abroad, which enabled writers to accept certain accounts while doubting others. The variety of American experiences partly accounts for the variety of American attitudes toward British imperialism. Many praised the British for spreading Protestant Christianity, a rigorous work ethic, and British governance, and for bringing new populations into international trade as producers and consumers. And they accepted the means to these ends, such as high mortality among natives and British suppression of native insurrections. Often, they accepted native suffering as part of God’s plan. Others, meanwhile, lambasted the British for introducing diseases, weapons, and alcohol that decimated native populations, and for reaping profits by exploiting natives. These Americans dismissed the notion that God approved of all that happened. Almost all Americans agreed that the British imperial system was flawed, but few concluded that imperialism was inherently wrong or unworkable. Although most maintained that the United States did not need to acquire a territorial empire of their own—regarding such expansion as cumbersome and unnecessary—they believed that a commercial American empire could benefit all parties involved. This vision resembles the commercial expansion that the United States had begun to pursue in this era and that would find its greatest realization after the Civil War. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AMERICAN ATTITUDES TOWARD BRITISH IMPERIALISM, 1815-1860 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION This study explores American attitudes toward British imperialism between 1815 and 1860 to determine what Americans’ opinions of imperialism were before the United States became an imperial power, and why they held those beliefs. With such a focus, this study will address the debate of whether the United States’s acquisition of an empire later in that century was the result of focused determination or was, as traditionalist historians have characterized it, a temporary departure by a people that long opposed imperialism. It will also help