This discussion question explores how United States imperialism and progressivism were linked with each other in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

United States imperialism and progressivism

Discussion Question How were U.S. imperialism and progressivism linked with each other in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Another way to ask the question: Did U.S. imperialism effect or play a role in the development of progressivism, and/or did progressivism effect or play a role in the development of imperialism during this period? Major Discussion 2 Click the links to below to read and view the sources. Then respond to the discussion question. Your response must be at least 300 words and include specific examples, including quotations and paraphrases from both sources to support your answers.

United States imperialism and progressivism

Remember to include a question for your classmates to respond to in their comments. Source 1 The Conquest of the United States by Spain Below are excerpts from sociologist William Graham Sumner’s famous lecture to the Phi Beta Kappa society at Yale in 1898. Titled The Conquest of the United States by Spain, it offers an unflinching take on the United States’ intended efforts to spread our way of life abroad in the wake of the Spanish American War and describes what Sumner believes will be the result of such efforts. Spain was the first, for a long time the greatest, of the modern imperialistic states.

United States imperialism and progressivism

The United States, by its historical origin, its traditions, and its principles, is the chief representative of the revolt and reaction against that kind of a state. I intend to show that, by the line of action now proposed to us, which we call expansion and imperialism, we are throwing away some of the most important elements of the American symbol and are adopting some of the most important elements of the Spanish symbol. We have beaten Spain in a military conflict, but we are submitting to be conquered by her on the field of ideas and policies. Expansionism and imperialism are nothing but the old philosophies of national prosperity which have brought Spain to where she now is.

United States imperialism and progressivism

Those philosophies appeal to national vanity and national cupidity. They are seductive, especially upon the first view and the most superficial judgment, and therefore it cannot be denied that they are very strong for popular effect. They are delusions, and they will lead us to ruin unless we are hardheaded enough to resist them. The question of imperialism, then, is the question whether we are going to give the lie to the origin of our own national existence by establishing a colonial system of the old Spanish type, even if we have to sacrifice our existing civil and political system to do it. https://youtu.be/QfsfoFqsFk4

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