Choose a quote from below. In a paragraph (150 words) determine whether the author presents a pro-imperialist or anti-imperialist stance. What is their argument for or against imperialism? Elaborate.
1) Albert J. Beveridge
“But to hold [the Philippines] will be no mistake. Our largest trade henceforth must be with Asia. The Pacific is our ocean. More and more Europe will manufacture the most it needs, secure from its colonies the most it con-sumes. Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer. She is nearer to us than to England, Germany, or Russia, the commercial powers of the present and the future. They have moved nearer to China by securing permanent bases on her borders. The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East.”
“Lincoln said that the safety of this nation was not in its fleets, its armies, or its forts, but in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere, and he warned his countrymen that they could not destroy this spirit without planting the seeds of despotism at their own doors.
Even now we are beginning to see the paralyzing influence of imperialism. Heretofore this nation has been prompt to express its sympathy with those who were fighting for civil liberty. While our sphere of activity has been limited to the western hemisphere, our sympathies have not been bounded by the seas. We have felt it due to ourselves and to the world, as well as to those who were struggling for the right to govern themselves, to proclaim the interest which our people have, from the date of their own independence, felt in every contest between human rights and arbitrary power.”
3) Rudyard Kipling
“Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child”
4) Anna Manning Comfort
“‘Take up the white man’s burden,’–
Yes, Uncle Sam, oh do!
But why seek other countries
Your burdens to renew?
Great questions here confront you.
Then, too, we have a past–
Don’t pose as a reformer!
Why, nations look aghast!
“Take up the white man’s burden,”–
But try to lift more true.
Recall the poor wild Indian
Whom ruthlessly you slew.
Ignoble was our treatment,
Ungenerous we dealt
With him and his hard burden,
‘Tis known from belt to belt.”
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