ColonialismImperialismHegemony and the West

7/27/2019 ColonialismImperialismHegemony and the West

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Colonialism, Imperialism,

Hegemony


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1. United States foreign policy between 1815 and 1910was determined less by economic than strategic, moral,or political interests. Assess the validity of thisgeneralization with reference to at least TWO majorepisodes ( for example: treaties, wars, proclamations,annexations, etc.) in the foreign policy of the UnitedStates between 1815 and 1910. (80)

2. How and why did the Monroe Doctrine become thecornerstone of United States foreign policy by the late

nineteenth century? (85) 3. Both the Mexican War and the Spanish American War

were premeditated resulting from deliberately calculatedschemes of robbery on the part of a superior poweragainst weak and defenseless neighbors. (86)

4. Compare the debates that took place over Americanexpansionism in the 1840s with those that took place inthe 1890s, analyzing the similarities and differences inthe debates of the two eras. (92)


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Definitions

Colonialism:

People

Imperialism: Direct power

Hegemony:

Indirect power


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Colonialism

American West Hawaii + Alaska Rationales: Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism,

Frederick Jackson Turner frontier thesis,population pressure, economic pressure

Doc B, Doc C Policies: land grants (Homestead and RxR),

Indian Wars Outcome: extermination of natives or

assimilation; rugged frontier individualsdependent on federal govtA la Third Reich and Imperial Japan, racism +

expansion living space = killing space


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Imperialism

Cuba Philippines Panama Rationales: Social Darwinism, White Mans

Burden, markets (neo-mercantilism) Policies: Roosevelt Corollary

Doc F

Outcome: occupation, military build-up,

subjugation of natives Philippines: occupation + insurgency concentrationcamps, free-fire zones, war crimes

Doc D


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Hegemony

Latin America / Caribbean

China

Africa and Middle East (post-WWII)

Rationales: economic, stability, security

Doc C

Policies: McKinley: Open Door Policy, Taft: Dollar

Diplomacy, Wilson: Moral Diplomacy, FDR: GoodNeighbor Policy

Outcome: banana republics, dictatorships


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Imperialism to create democracy?

Niall Ferguson, Colossus: nations thathave been thoroughly imperialized(India, Singapore, Hawaii, Philippines) do

better (economically, politically) thanthose that have not (Africa, Middle East)

Economic study Pacific islands: Europeancolonization (esp. US) correlated w/higherstandard of living

Iraq?


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Colonial America: How the

West was Lost


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Although the economic development of theTans-Mississippi West is popularly

associated with hardy individualism, it wasin fact largely dependent on the federalgovernment. Assess the validity of thisstatement with specific reference to

Western economic activities in thenineteenth century. (91)

How were the lives of the Plains Indians in

the second half of the nineteenth centuryaffected by technological developmentsand government actions? (99)


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I. Visions of the West

A. Turners Frontier"The Significance of the Frontier in AmericanHistory," 1893:

"The existence of an area of free land, its

continuous recession, and the advance ofAmerican settlement westward explain Americandevelopment."

Frontier "that coarseness and strengthcombined with acuteness and acquisitiveness;that practical inventive turn of mind, quick to findexpedients; that masterful grasp of materialthings... that restless, nervous energy; thatdominant individualism" = Americanism


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Rugged Individualism

Farm life on Plains is very difficult: hard

work, essentials (water, fuel) are scarce

Weather is unpredictable (heat, storms,

blizzards, floods, prairie fires), plus insects

98 Meridian


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Democracy for women (compare earlySouth Carolina + slaves)

Homestead Act (1862) disperses

settlement and creates social isolationAlso lonely because many were bachelors;many abandon farms for cities (late 1800s)

Isolation diminished by mail-ordercompanies and extension of RFD postservice


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B. Cowboys and Indians

William Buffalo Bill CodyBuffalo Bills Wild West (1883) Buffalo hunt w/ real buffalos, Indian

attack on the Deadwood stage with realIndians, Pony Express ride, andpresentation of Custers Last Standw/Lakota who had actually fought

Toured Europe, great acclaim

circus, history lesson

Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull

1,700 dime novels violent, gunfighting, gambling,get-rich-quick, lawless hedonism=Wild West


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II. Realities of the WestA. Rugged Cooperation

Massive govt assistance throughout (and today)

Pacific Railway Acts (1862, 1864): US 180 millionacres to rail companies; States 50 million acres

Morrill Land Grant Act (1862): land grantcolleges

Homestead Act (1862): 160 acres, small fee if:1) 21 / head household, 2) citizen or imm.

seeking, 3) build house, 4) farm 5 years372,000 farms, 80 million acres 50 years post-CW more land than since Jamestown

Cheap land immigrants + blacks (50,000 Exodusters)


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Expansion tension w/ Indians violencecavalry removal + massacre [Sand Creek (500),Wounded Knee (200)]Indian Emancipation Act

Disappearing Indian

Indian monopoly on land stymie competition break-up

Dawes Act (General Allotment Act), 1887

1) 160 acres of land to head of each family; singleover 18: 80 acres; under 18: 40 acres

2) same legal protection as whites

3) Federal government, for 25 years, would hold landin trust: Indians could not sell land for 25 years

4) Full citizenship rights

5) Fed sell all remaining land not allotted


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Unsuitable for farming;

choose land for culture

> economics; refusefarm; not enough

land debt to whites

(sharecropping / debt

peonage) lose 2/3land

(1906: Clapp amendment:

competent to sell)

1934 Indian

Reorganization Act


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Destruction of the

Buffalo

1) Weather

2) Indians

3) Competition

horses/cattle

4) Bill Cody


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Mechanization agriculture + need for

irrigation (environment) + boom/bust

cycle concentration in large, commercial

farms

Also true (diff. particulars) for ranching +

mining


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B. Mild West

1) Not as violent: more died violently in RxRaccidents than gun

2) Violence often socio-economic conflict:competition for land, resources, power

3) Violence usually not personal conflicts butrather conflict between social groups (e.g. panminers vs. capitalists goonssee Pale Rider) 1889, Johnson County War: 50 gunmen Wyoming

Stock Growers Association vs. small ranchers +farmers (posse of 200): Feds save gunmen fromsiege

Cleaned up quickly as big biz moves in


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The Ranching FrontierPopulation growth + RxR (bulk

transportation) cattle ranchingmushrooms after 1860s

Penny press claims 25-40% profit

Drive cattle 1,000+ miles from TX torail link, but soon move to raising herds

near rail link (long drives inefficient)

Mexican + black cowboys

Profitable open-range ranching w/

massive use govt lands; dominated

large ranchers w/ backing (London,

NYC)


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Grazing Wars

Massive cattle ranching conflicts commercial

farms + sheep herds (wooly critters)

West lacks materials for traditional fences:

who owns what? Mass production barbed

wire solves conflict

Wire accelerates farming (protect); ranching

moves toward big business, away from

open-range (large-scale isolate)

Winter 1887-88 Small ranchers out, most

cowboys wage-earners

ColonialismImperialismHegemony and the West

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