Imperialism Abroad and at Home

A. Rise of Imperialist Sentiment – advocates of imperialism in the US were not large in number, but because many of them held government office, their influence was much greater than their numbers should have indicated.

B. Extending the benefits of Western Civilization--or "The White Man's Burden." White power elites--both in the United States and in Europe--felt justified in seizing control of foreign lands because the felt their countries, and their race, were the products of the most advanced civilization in the history of man, and this achievement legitimized their stewardship of the rest of the world.

1. Hawaii – coup of the native ruling government engineered by white sugar and fruit growers on the islands, including one Sanford Dole.

a. Role of Marines in overthrowing government – US minister to Hawaii brought in Marines to assist with armed takeover of the legally constituted government; this will become the overarching theme of US foreign policy for the next century—the use of US military might to protect the interests of and benefit US business interests. Analogy to the most recent attacks on the US

2. Spanish-American War – the concept of Manifest Destiny writ large

a. The “Yellow” Press – was this war sparked over the circulation war between two NYC newspapers?  The fight between William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World to out scoop one another added pressure on high government officials to enter a war with Spain. (Hearst quote – “You supply the stories, I’ll supply the war

a. “Liberating” Cuba – Cuban nationals had long been attempting to liberate themselves from Spanish domination; in 1895 this attempt gains widespread notice in the US press; accusations of atrocities by “Butcher” Weyler of the Spanish army

b. “Remember the Maine” – recent evidence concludes that one of two things happened; either coal dust ignited, or a boiler exploded—in either case, it was not blown up by Spanish forces



c. “Liberating” the Philippines – Admiral Dewey was ordered by Naval Undersecretary Theodore Roosevelt (in his last act before resigning from government to volunteer to fight in Cuba) to attack Spanish forces in Manila Bay for strategic purposes. This attack was successful beyond anyone’s wildest dreams; while Filipinos hoped this would quickly mean independence for their country, its perceived importance for the dreamed of empire of the United States meant something else.

B. TR and the Rough Riders – the Rough Riders were TR’s dream of a new America, and what the new American society should be. He recruited members from a variety of white ethnic groups (pointedly excluding African Americans and Orientals), who were led by a coterie of Anglo-Saxon officers, with him at the helm.

1. The Legend of San Juan Hill – TR and RR never charged up San Juan Hill, which they were long credited with doing (and for which he was recently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor); instead, the foolhardy charge of the RR was up Kettle Hill, which was less strategically important and which they did not take alone, but in conjunction with the all-black 24^th Cavalry, which after taking Kettle Hill had to then take the more important, and more heavily fortified, San Juan Hill after an all-white regiment from New York refused orders to do so.

2. TR’s behavior after the war – in his published reminiscences after the war, TR gave slight credit to the 24^th, although he alleged that he had to fire upon a soldier because of cowardice; the further he was removed from the events, however, the less the 24^th received any credit for this battle. In fact, TR did little to correct the perception that he led his men up San Juan Hill, rather than Kettle Hill.

C. The Tightening Grip of Jim Crow--Jim Crow did not instantly come into being at the end of Reconstruction in 1877; rather, it was instituted by the gradual erosion of African American rights and increased levels of state-sanctioned, white-on-black violence.

1. Lynch law--as the United States was beginning to assert itself abroad, whites were asserting their racial dominance with the use of murder and terror--often with the assistance of local law enforcement, or at the very least their looking the other way.

a. Wilmington Race Riot (1898)--Wilmington, North Carolina was a prime example of this. In 1896, a "Fusion" party of local Populists and Republicans (the latter with a sizeable African American membership). Lacking support from North Carolina's governor to address local issues, the Fusion party came apart, and the local Democratic Party, made up of white business owners, turned to white racism and terror in an attempt to cower the African American population in town. During the 1898 campaign for state offices, Democrats used white supremiscist groups like the White Union and the Red Shirts; with the Democratic victory in November, whites took license to see that Wilmington African Americans "were put in their place."

D. The “White Man’s Burden” – the belief that it was the role of the Anglo-Saxon “race” to enlighten all of the masses, whether the wanted enlightenment or not

1. Manifest Destiny and Race Destiny – Southern politicians, who largely opposed the war with Spain, immediately saw the parallels between the drive for imperialist conquest and racism, and the convoluted reasoning for the denial of voting rights for a conquered people

Conclusion

Theodore Roosevelt and the Imperial Impetus

 

I)     Early life

A)   Childhood – Roosevelt was near-sighted, a sickly child who was kept home much of the time because of a series of illnesses; he was a child in a very rich family; in his teenage years, he convinced his father that he should spend time on a ranch in the West, where he dedicated himself to hard physical labor and robust living—the 98 lbs weakling of the Charles Atlas ads.

1)   Father – Roosevelt’s father was a well-to-do merchant in the city of New York—so well-to-do, in fact, that he was able to buy his way out of serving in the Civil War, a fact that TR was ashamed of and was one of the psychological reasons that he so wanted to prove himself on the field of battle

B)   Education – graduated as a Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard, participated in a number of vigorous sports; after graduation he wrote history, as well as various essays on morality and whatever else struck his fancy.

C)   Early career as a politician

1)   Elected to legislature

2)   Served as police commissioner in NYC

3)   Civil service commissioner in Washington, D.C.

4)   People who became progressives – the people who became associated with the Progressive Movement were members of the intelligentsia, people who would have been ministers (or ministers wives), except that they felt that they had no religious calling in a society that was becoming increasingly secular; ministers were no longer leaders of American society, that role was being filled by politicians and businessmen.

(a) Middle class – these sorts of people usually came from comfortably well-off families, who had also received a college education; they were repelled by the crass, money-grubbing lifestyle of businessmen (which they had often had the opportunity to observe first-hand), and were often at a loss to come up with a reputable career.

(b) New careers

(i)   Journalists (the “muckrakers”)

(ii) Social workers – settlement houses begin to proliferate, most famously Hull House, run by Jane Addams and associated in Chicago.

(iii)         Educators – especially in the growing role of college professors, from whose ranks emerged “experts” offering solutions to the "social problems" that emerged along side the new industrial society.

(iv)         Politics – previously, few middle class people involved themselves with politics, because it appeared unseemly; however, as the control of society spun more and more out of their hands, many began to turn to politics to regain that control.

5) Roosevelt and the Masculinity Crisis--in part because of his sheltered childhood, when his asthma condition left him in the care of his mother (herself suffering from mysterious illnesses, and often at spas to "take the cure"), and in part due to the contrast between his father (who dodged the draft during the Civil War) and his maternal uncle (a famous Confederate blockade runner), Roosevelt was very concerned about his own masculinity.

a) Personal crisis--Roosevelt's wife, after giving birth to their daughter, immediately became ill and died (tragically, Roosevelt's mother died the same evening). In response, Roosevelt did not stay to raise his daughter in his wife's absence, but left her in the care of his eldest sister and moved to his ranch in the West, where he felt he had to prove himself as a man.

II)   Roosevelt's mature political career

A)   Secretary of the Navy

1)   Influenced by Alfred J. Mahan – wrote The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783, published in 1890, in which he argued that national greatness and prosperity flowed from a powerful navy, prosperous merchant marine, foreign colonies, and naval bases. Mahan advocated the continuation of “Manifest Destiny” to control the Western Hemisphere, build a canal to connect the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and spread the benefits of Western Civilization to Asia.

2)   Roosevelt advocacy of Mahan's ideas –Mahan's advocacy of a large potent Navy appealed to Roosevelt's own martial inclinations, and gave him the intellectual underpinning to become a vocal advocate of exporting "manifest destiny" outside the continental United States.

B)   Rise of Imperialist Sentiment – advocates of imperialism in the US were not large in number, but because many of them held government office, their influence was much greater than their numbers should have indicated.

1)   Extending the benefits of Western Civilization

(a) Hawaii – coup of the native ruling government engineered by white sugar and fruit growers on the islands.

(i)   Role of Marines in overthrowing government – US minister to Hawaii brought in Marines to assist with armed takeover of the legally constituted government; this will become the overarching theme of US foreign policy for the next century—the use of US military might to protect the interests of and benefit US business interests. Analogy to the most recent attacks on the US?

(b) Spanish-American War – the concept of Manifest Destiny writ large

(i)   The “Yellow” Press – was this war sparked over the circulation war between two NYC newspapers?  The fight between William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World to out scoop one another added pressure on high government officials to enter a war with Spain. (Hearst quote – “You supply the stories, I’ll supply the war.”)

(ii) “Liberating” Cuba – Cuban nationals had long been attempting to liberate themselves from Spanish domination; in 1895 this attempt gains widespread notice in the US press; accusations of atrocities by “Butcher” Weyler of the Spanish army.

(i)   “Remember the Maine” – recent evidence concludes that one of two things happened; either coal dust ignited, or a boiler exploded—in either case, it was not blown up by Spanish forces.

(iii)         “Liberating” the Philippines – Admiral Dewey was ordered by Naval Undersecretary Theodore Roosevelt (in his last act before resigning from government to volunteer to fight in Cuba) to attack Spanish forces in Manila Bay for strategic purposes.  This attack was successful beyond anyone’s wildest dreams; while Filipinos hoped this would quickly mean independence for their country, its perceived importance for the dreamed of empire of the United States meant something else.

(iv)         TR and the Rough Riders – the Rough Riders were TR’s dream of a new America, and what the new American society should be.  He recruited members from a variety of white ethnic groups (pointedly excluding African Americans and Orientals), who were led by a coterie of Anglo-Saxon officers, with him at the helm.

(i)   The Legend of San Juan Hill – TR and RR never charged up San Juan Hill, which they were long credited with doing (and for which he was recently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor); instead, the foolhardy charge of the RR was up Kettle Hill, which was less strategically important and which they did not take alone, but in conjunction with the all-black 24^th Cavalry, which after taking Kettle Hill had to then take the more important, and more heavily fortified, San Juan Hill after an all-white regiment from New York refused orders to do so.

1.    TR’s behavior after the war – in his published reminiscences after the war, TR gave slight credit to the 24^th, although he alleged that he had to fire upon a soldier because of cowardice; the further he was removed from the events, however, the less the 24^th received any credit for this battle.  In fact, TR did little to correct the perception that he led his men up San Juan Hill, rather than Kettle Hill.

(c) The “White Man’s Burden” – the belief that it was the role of the Anglo-Saxon “race” to enlighten all of the masses, whether the wanted enlightenment or not.

(i)   Manifest Destiny and Race Destiny – Southern politicians, who largely opposed the war with Spain, immediately saw the parallels between the drive for imperialist conquest and racism, and the convoluted reasoning for the denial of voting rights for a conquered people.

(i)   Rise of Jim Crow – during the Spanish-American War, the hold of Jim Crow laws in the South tightened, as did racial violence (literally)—there were a dozen lynchings in the south between February and November of 1898, as well as a white riot upon African American citizens in Wilmington, North Carolina (a major naval installation).

III) Conclusion

Quotes to Ponder about Immigration and Work

"The manager's brains are under the workman's cap"--William D. "Big Bill" Haywood

"Men work for two reasons. One is for wages, the other is for fear of losing his job."--Henry Ford

"This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the  manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community."--Andrew Carnegie, from The Gospel of Wealth

"Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Sleep, and Eight Hours for What We Will"--placard seen during the "Bread and Roses" Strike, Lawrence, Mass. 1912

Old Immigration, New Immigration

I. Old immigration – historians in the past have used the designations “old immigration” and “new immigration” to distinguish between those people who came from northern and western Europe (the old immigrants) and southern and eastern Europe (the new immigrants). I purpose to use these old terms in new ways: to designate the old immigration as those immigrants who came before 1870; and those who came after. Technological innovations in travel, both sea and land, make this distinction viable because then we can highlight the real difference between immigrants, those who came to establish new homes, and those who came to earn enough money to improve their old homes.

A. Irish as old immigrants – the Irish were a highly visible old immigration group, because they tended to be mainly Roman Catholic (and perceived as a threat to the freedoms of a profoundly Protestant—if avowedly secular—country), and because they immigrated in huge numbers.

1. Changes in landholding – although we traditionally think of the number one cause for Irish immigration as the Great Famine, Black ’47, Irish immigration in large numbers actually began years before the Famine. In fact, changes in landholding patterns throughout Europe were the primary cause for the immigration of peasants to the western hemisphere.

a. Termination of serfdom – serfdom (a classification of station, of social order, similar to slavery) existed throughout Europe at the beginning of the modern era (for our purposes, 1600). Serfs were peasants who were tied to the land they worked for their lord (the owner of a manor). Serfs usually owed their lord a portion of the crop that they raised, and usually had to perform a fixed amount of labor for the lord on the manor, as well. Serfs were not completely property-less, however; they usually owned a crude house, the adjoining land, and a small portion of plot that was worked in common. Serfdom was ended in England and the British Isles (including at this stage Ireland), in the 1600s; there were few serfs in France by the French Revolution in 1789. Serfdom did not completely disappear in Europe at this earlier time period, however; it existed in Prussian well into the 1800s, and Russian did not abolish serfdom until 1861. The termination of serfdom meant, however, that a large portion of the population in Europe was now free to roam around, and many peasants did so, seeking employment to supplement their subsistence from the land.

b. Termination of the commons – a portion of a manor was common land, or the commons—land which all members of the community had rights to use. Use of the commons continued to exists in western Europe after serfdom ended, which allowed the practice of subdividing land among all of the male heirs in a family, since they could use the commons to hunt, gather peat for fires (there were very few trees left in Europe, particularly in England and Ireland, by this time, and most of the trees that were left the monarch claimed for military use), and graze livestock. With the growing importance of raising commercial livestock, the former lords of the manor (who remained the largest landholders), began seizing the commons; to keep the livestock of villagers from using the former commons area, large hedges were grown around the perimeter to keep other livestock out. These hedges can still be seen in England and Ireland, even though free range (similar to the commons idea) has returned in Ireland.

c. Rise of primogeniture landholding – the amount of land to be divided became smaller, because of the practice of division among all male family members, and because much of the land was held be gentry class. This meant that individual landholdings got smaller, and had to be farmed more intensively—which became disastrous when the famine hit Europe.

2. Rise of manufacturing – as landholding was changing in Europe (particularly in England and Ireland), manufacturing and industrialization were beginning to take off in England and the United States.

a. Manufacturing in England – the manufacturing of textiles in England—particularly in Liverpool and Manchester—as well as the manufacturing of iron and steel in Birmingham attracted workers from around the British Isles, who searched for ways to increase their incomes. Many agricultural workers and displaced farmers began to migrate to these developing industrial areas during lulls in the agricultural year to supplement their incomes; some stayed on permanently.

b. Manufacturing in the United States – opportunities in manufacturing in the United States—as well as jobs constructing a transportation infrastructure (canals and railroads) attracted a great number of these displaced peasants and agricultural workers, particularly during the 1820s and 1830s.

c. Because of the increased cost of migrating to the United States (as opposed, say, to Liverpool or Birmingham) meant that only immigrants with some means came to the United States—that is, they had some prior savings, or some skill that they hoped would transfer (many Irish immigrants had been cottagers in Ireland—that is, they worked as independent textile manufacturers. Most had to leave their looms behind, and upon arrival in the States found that most textile manufacturing was done in factories, anyway)

3. Black ’47 – the potato blight affected much of Europe, and was part of the cause of the increased migration from Germany, as well as Ireland.

a. Reliance on the potato – because of the small amount of arable land available to most European (and especially Irish) farmers, they sought a crop that provided the greatest amount of calories per acre, which happened to be potatoes.

b. The potato blight – the first year of the blight was 1845, devastating much of the crop that year; 1846 the blight was less worse, and seemed less threatening; 1847 it devastated most of the potato crop, as well as much of the population.

c. Blight and immigration – the blight increased the urgency of immigration from Ireland, which was already occurring.

i. Immigration to England – the poorest immigrants immigrated across the Irish Sea to England; because of their dire condition, many did not complete even this short journey.

ii. Immigration to the United States – many Irish immigrants to the United States, while they arrived in the country destitute and often in ill health, were those who began the journey with the best chance of survival. Even so, about 10% died on the journey, a rate roughly comparable to slave ships.

B. Transportation technology

1. Sailing ships – the trip across the Atlantic took anywhere from three to six weeks, depending upon the weather and the port of departure. This length of time, and the conditions of travel in steerage, where most immigrants spent the trip, contributed to the mortality rate. The change of technology to screw-driven, steam-powered ships in the 1870s and 1880s had the double effect of decreasing the length of time the journey took, as well as dropping the price of the trip

II. New Immigration

A. Transportation technology -- the change in technology allowed peasants and workers to move back and forth between Europe and the United States, which both the eastern and southern European immigrant, as well as those from northern and western Europe, took advantage of.

1. Screw-propeller steamships – the invention of the screw-propeller steamship cut down the length of travel from three to six weeks to one to three weeks, again dependent upon the port of departure (and arrival). This increase in speed allowed ships to make more trips; this led to the development of ships devoted to carrying passengers (to this point, the main income for a ship was cargo, rather than passengers), which allowed better accommodations for steerage passengers as well as cutting the cost of the trip to less than $10 one way.

2. Sojourners/Remigrants – there had always been sojourners (people who intended only to be temporary residents of a country—also referred to as remigrants), but the price drop for the trip, and the growing assurance that one would survive the trip in relative comfort, made the trip to the United States increasingly attractive to large numbers of working-class Europeans.

a. Signaled a change in the nature of US immigration, because many of the people entering the country after 1870 did not intend to become permanent residents of the country, let alone become citizens.

i. Increased resentment and angry reaction on the part of native Americans, which contributed to the renewed nativist sentiment in the country (leading eventually to legislation being passed in 1924 to restrict the numbers of immigrants allowed in the country each year.

b. Attracted by high wages in US – the wages that a sojourner could obtain in US industry outpaced by far the wage they could command for agricultural work in Europe, and resulted in huge numbers of these workers, largely male, making their way to the United States.

i. The labor movement, which should have worked to organize these new immigrants to keep them from lowering the wage rates for all workers, instead attempted to restrict the number of immigrants allowed into the country each year

ii. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – at the instigation of labor in the West, particularly in California, but the entire labor movement eventually fell in line on this matter, including the Knights of Labor, which had practiced bi-racial unionism.

iii. Because of immigrant interest in earning as much money as quickly as possible, most were uninterested in striking, or joining unions which often demanded union dues.

iv. Few immigrants in the 1870-1920 time period came with skills, so were unattractive to unions within the AFL (the dominate organization for labor during this time period.

B. Immigrant institutions

1. Church – many immigrants came from countries were Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion; the Church in Europe was dominated generally by the ethnic group that dominated within the country; in the United States, the RC Church was dominated by Irish and German clergy.

a. Polish National Catholic Church – the response of a small part of the Polish population in the US was to establish their own church, which retained the practices of the RC Church except for recognition of the ecclesiastical authority.

b. Conversion to Protestant sects – some immigrants converted to a Protestant sect, which caused consternation when they returned home to establish new churches.

2. Fraternal organizations – because of the high-risk jobs that immigrants tended to take (in return for what they thought were high wages), insurance became increasingly important (for burial, etc.)

3. Saloons – one of the avenues for upward mobility for immigrants was to open a saloon. This became a social gathering place for members of ethnic groups, a place where they could read newspapers, carry on conversations in their native tongues, receive and send mail, and bank. The saloon also served as a center from which to gather information about job openings, because the saloon owner was usually well connected.

C. 20th Century changes in immigration

1. Democratization of Europe – with the defeat of the Axis Powers in World War I, most monarchies on the Continent were done away with, and ethnic groups found themselves able to create their own governments; this not only tended to keep peasants home, but also drew back (initially) migrants already in the United States.

a. Poland – had been a part of three different countries since the late 1700s, and was able to establish its own government (until 1939, that is)

b. Czechoslovakia

c. Yugoslavia

d. Austria

e. Hungary

2. Immigration restrictions – by 1924, when the euphoria for the new governments was wearing off, restrictions on immigration in the US became law, and took effect by 1927.

3. Economic depression – by the beginning of the 1930s, the worldwide economic depression ended employment opportunities in the United States.

III. Conclusion

Chinese on the Western Frontier

I. The Push Factors of Chinese Immigration

A. Political Inertia in China--the national government in the country was largely ineffectual during most of the 19th century, unable to address problems in the country, nor to resist foreign aggression.

1. First Opium War (1839-1842)--British merchants found the opium trade they had established in British India (including today's India, Pakistan, and  Afghanistan) to be highly profitable, but that countries were becoming increasingly reluctant to allow the importation of the drug, which they saw as debilitating on their populations. When the Chinese government tried to prevent the East India Company from importing opium into  the country, British naval ships showed up to force the issue.

B. Rural poverty--Chinese peasants, after several years of bad harvests, became increasingly desperate to find a way to change their condition of life. By the late 1850s, peasants that left to country after news of the California Gold Rush began returning to the countryside with the means to accomplish this, and this encouraged other peasants to pursue this path.

C. Entrepeneurial labor agencies--Chinese merchants quickly realized that there was money to be made providing passage and lining up employment for Chinese peasants willing to sign away most of their earning of their early years abroad in return for passage out of China.

1. Chinese Six Companies--six such firms in San Francisco banded together when the influx of Chinese workers created a huge backlash in an attempt to prevent this reaction from completely killing off their business. They agreed to advocate for voluntary reductions in Chinese immigration, prohibition of the immigration of women (some of whom worked as prostitutes for these companies, servicing the Chinese male population that found their money unwelcome in other San Francisco brothels).

II. Chinese "Otherness"

A. Physical differences--early Chinese immigrants tended to come from Guangdong Province in southern China, where for generations they had subsisted on a diet richer in carbohydrates (largely from rice), but lower in protein; the result was that the average Chinese immigrant was shorter than the average native white American, who demanded beefsteak as a birthright. The practice of wearing one's hair in a braided que was seen as provocative to some Americans, as well.

B. Strange food--the consumption of rice was unheard of in the United States at this time, while the huge consumption of beef in the United States was not possible in China. Linking these two phenomena  together, many in the United States began to argue that Chinese workers accepted lower wages because they could live on a diet that a white man found inadequate, and they must therefore be a lower order of human being.

C. Chinese Labor Contracts

1. "Coolie"  labor--in order to immigrate from China, most peasants had to sign labor contracts to book passage out of the country--not only to the United States, but also to places like the Caribbean Islands, and Central and South America.

2. Foreign enforcement--Chinese companies were able to convince foreign courts--particularly in the United States--that, no matter how odious the conditions of the labor contract, it was binding on the worker and should be enforced.

III.  Exclusion of the Chinese

A. The Workingman's Party--became the political vehicle for white workers in California to begin agitating for halting Chinese immigration

1. Denis Kearney--Irish-American carpenter in San Francisco who became recognized as the local leader of the Party.

2. Stopping Chinese immigration became a major political issue in California, particularly in San Francisco, where one out of every four workers was Chinese--even though they only made up about twelve percent of the population of the city.

B. 1877 Great Uprising--the spread of labor unrest in 1877, largely due to the continued hardships brought on by an economic depression that began in 1873, made political leaders around the country amendable to an act such as Chinese exclusion, since it affected only a small portion of the population and was extremely popular with most white workers.

C. 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act--banned Chinese workers from immigrating to the United States for ten years; in  1892 it was extended for ten more years, and in 1902 it was made permanent. The ban was not airtight, and "sons of nobles" were allowed to immigrate (which kept Chinese business and institutions like the Chinese Six Companies in business), but it did greatly slow Chinese immigration.  The ban remained in effect until 1943, when it was finally lifted in recognition of the fact that China was an ally in the war against Japan.