New Media Classroom

Whose Burden? Representing American Imperialism in the late 19th Century

By Bill Friedheim and Donna Thompson

Overview

In 1898-99, the U.S. dispatched its armed forces to Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines with the stated goal of liberating these island nations from Spanish rule. But instead of independence, the intervention became the occasion for U.S. expansion and imperialist domination. As a result of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the U.S. absorbed the Spanish-governed territory of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam as outright colonies. Cuba became nominally independent. But with congressional passage of the Platt Amendment in 1901, the U.S. asserted its right to exercise veto power over Cuban government policy.

Elites supported the policy of expansion overseas in order to stimulate markets for american goods and investments outside the U.S. They utilized newspaper editorials, steroscopic images, speeches, cartoon illustrations and film to gain public support for the continued U.S. military presence and governing policies for these countries.

These elites succeeded in mobilizing large segments of U.S. public opinion. They justified U.S. expansion with arguments focusing on racial and cultural superiority, asserting the right of a "superior" race to "civilize" an inferior one. According to this view, the peoples conquered by the U.S. were unfit for self rule.

But U.S. expansionist policies, while prevailing, excited fierce debate and substantial opposition. Over the next decade, the debate sharply divided the country.

The attached cartoon reflects this debate about the Philippines and its expansionist policies in general. Using search engines found on the World Wide Web (WWW), we want you to find documents which help you to understand some of the issues raised in this cartoon.

Objectives

Learning to use the World Wide Web as a research tool. Interpreting images. Building a narrative.

Skills

Research. Reading. Visual literacy. Critical thinking.

Resource(s)

The White (?) Man's Burden. Life 33 (March 16, 1899)

Activity

With your partner, examine the cartoon "The White (?) Man's Burden" from the publication Life 33 (March 16, 1899). Take down some notes on what you see. What is the focus of the cartoon? How is the U.S. government portrayed? Who are the other figures in the cartoon? How is the cartoon's title reflected in the illustration? What does the image tell you about the Spanish-American War and American expansionist policy in the late 19th century?

Use the following WWW search engines to find out more about the issues raised in this cartoon. Try to find at least three more documents (text, images, audio files) that you could link to the cartoon. Take notes on what you find.

Please use the following WWW search engines -

Keywords: anti-imperialism; Spanish American War; Rudyard Kipling; US colonialism; "White Man's Burden"; David Fagan; William Jennings Bryant; Mark Twain; "yellow journalism"; Treaty of Paris; Emilio Aguinaldo; Monroe Doctrine; U.S. battleship Maine; Platt amendment; Theodore Roosevelt; Henry Cabot Lodge

Discuss your findings with your group. Explain how you found the documents and why you chose them. Discuss how these documents help you to understand the cartoon, the debate about imperialism and the time period and issues it reflects. Brainstorm what you still need to find out to get a fuller understanding of the issues raised by the cartoon.

As a group, write down 3 to 4 of your unanswered questions on newsprint and prepare to share with the rest of the class.

Tips for searching on the Web:
A Search Engine is a particular software which allows you to search for sites on the Web using keywords. Understanding Boolean logic is the key to effective searching on the [Web] Internet or in a library database. The most important Boolean operators are AND, OR, and NOT.

AND - ALL specified terms must appear in the document.
The search cats AND dogs retrieve documents with BOTH terms cats and dogs.

OR - One of both of your terms may appear in the document.
The search cats OR dogs retrieves documents with EITHER the term cats or dogs.

NOT - The first term must appear but not the second term.
The search cats NOT dogs will only find documents with the term cats.

All of the search engines have a different method of combining terms. Make sure to read the help screens to perform the most efficient search. (Lauinger Library-Reference Dept., Georgetown University, May 1998)