American imperialism: a controversial historical assessment

Imperialism

The notion that whiteness was a superior state to blackness and all shades between, the notion of cultural superiority was already firmly entrenched by the time of the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893. Barely cloaked under seemingly benevolent messages of cultural diversity were clear messages related to the American intention to imperialize and colonize. The establishment of a European cultural hegemony was already under way with the rapid expansion of Britain's colonies as well as those of Spain and France. For Americans, imperialism was linked even tighter to national identity. The concept of manifest destiny had been applied to westward expansion. By 1893, the Pacific Ocean was the final frontier. America needed a "new frontier," as Frederick Jackson Turner put it (cited on page 542).

America's brand of imperialism was a curious and powerful mix of economic, political, and social hegemony built on the deep-rooted belief in white cultural superiority. Women, who were excluded from formal roles in politics and self-determination, spearheaded the international colonization campaign under the guise of religion. Religion became the realm that women could have a political voice and make effective change in the world around them; women would do this type of political maneuvering decades later with the temperance movement. Emboldened by their status as the purveyors of moral truth, women fomented an era of aggressive missionary activity. The targets of missionaries were all cultures deemed inferior, including but not limited to East Asia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

The argument for imperialism was therefore rooted in dysfunction and erroneous thinking. One of the only logical arguments in favor of imperialism was that it would help the United States achieve economic growth and prosperity. Indeed, imperialism helped the United States achieve economic power that it would later wield over the entire globe. Arguments in favor of imperialism have some logic; and they are not all based in racism as were the methods of the missionaries. The missionary moralism was that Christianity benefits societies, lifting them out of their savage states into one of salvation and civilized sanity. Those who believed the premise (that white was superior to black and brown) could believe the conclusion that imperialism was a force of good -- even a favor that Americans were doing for others. Imperialism was American in the sense that manifest destiny was American.

Although the missionaries would not have agreed, arguments against imperialism are stronger from a moral perspective than the arguments in favor of imperialism. Imperialism can be framed as logically unsound given the great resentment it has created among subjugated peoples. Resentment breeds hatred, hatred breeds militant opposition, and militant opposition leads to mass anti-Americanism. Structural inequities become built into the institutions of the oppressed societies, leaving lingering scars still evident more than a century later.

The United States was in part built because of a belief in cultural superiority and racism, which is why imperialism is fundamentally American. Imperialism was a good idea from a political perspective, in the sense that the greater America's dominion over geography, the greater its dominion over all global affairs. America could regulate trade, have military outposts in strategic areas, create economic interests and protect those interests. It made perfect sense from the American's point-of-view.