UCSD Violence Role in The Imperial Expansion Essay
Part I: Film analysis- everyone answers this one. Write a well-developed short essay in which you analyze one important theme, or one central idea from our very important film “To Conquer or Redeem: Manifest Destiny, Act I and III, Benevolent Assimilation” Describe that issue in detail. Make connections to our lecture materials and readings (and to provide further context).
Clipped below are some of the themes this film deals with (the full, detailed study guide in Canvas right below the film link).
The role of violence; How U.S. policymakers at the time rationalize the contradiction between empire and democracy; US economic collapse, expansion, and subsequent search for new “frontiers”; Alfred Thayer Mahan and the expansion of U.S. political and military power abroad; Cuban Independence movement, the role of the U.S. media and U.S. imperialism in Cuba and Puerto Rico; the Panama canal, expansion of U.S. economic and military power and the Sea Lanes of Communication and Transportation (SLOCTs); U.S. Domestic politics and imperialism; “Benevolent Assimilation”, Ideology, Race, Christianity and U.S. colonization of the Philippines (and consequences on Filipinos)
Length of Part I: two well developed paragraphs with specific examples.
Part II: Primary Source Analysis Or Podcast discussion- you have two choices for this part. Choose ONE of the following to write about for your Part II:
Choice 1 for Pt II) Podcast discussion. Write a well-developed essay in which you discuss all of the ways that ONEof these historical podcasts are important to our understanding of U.S. History and/or the History of U.S.-Latin America Relations. Choose EITHER choice A (“Ancestry”) OR choice B (“There Will be Bananas”) to write about- you’re writing about one podcast if you choose this option.
a) Podcast “Constitutional”, episode “AncestryLinks to an external site.,” (on the seminal 1879 Court Case involving Chief Standing Bear and the status of Native Peoples under the U.S. Constitution). Tell us about all of the ways this podcast is important for our understanding of U.S.-Native Relations in the late 19th Tell us all about the story of Chief Standing Bear and his people. Tell us all about the ways that the U.S. Constitution dealt with Native peoples. Tell us all about this court case, its deliberations, its outcome, and tell us all of the ways this case continues to be important today. OR:
b) Podcast “There Will be BananasLinks to an external site.,” by NPR’s Throughline (US Railroad & Banana companies and Empire). Tell us about how U.S. railroad companies come to dominate the Central American and Caribbean landscape. Tell us all about how bananas, which were unknown to Americans, became big business; and about the ways U.S. multinationals like these came to be and the power they came to wield in Latin America. Tell us all about the ways this podcast is important to U.S.-Latin America Relations.
Choice 2 for Pt II: Primary source analysis/discussion: Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze ONE of the following primary sources (eyewitness accounts, first-hand accounts). You’ve read them all- we’ll discuss them all, but you’re writing about one. All materials are in Canvas
* Chief Joseph on Indian AffairsLinks to an external site. (1877, 1879-this is the primary source). You need important historical context from our lectures, our film “500 Nations: Attack on Culture” and: “American YawpLinks to an external site.
* Tom Torlino (1882, 1885Links to an external site.- visual primary sources) Navajo native entered Carlisle Indian School (U.S. Boarding school to “de-Indianize” and “Americanize” native youth as part of Federal Indian Policy) AND Richard Pratt, director of Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879, who explains rationale behind the Boarding Schools(both are primary sources- you’re analyzing both). Both Primary Sources are in the class Powerpoint, side by side. You need important historical context from lectures, from our films “500 Nations: Wounded Knee and Attack on Cultures” and : “American Yawp, ch. 17Links to an external site.
*Frederick Jackson Turner “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893, Primary Source in Canvas). You need important historical context from lectures, film “To Conquer or Redeem: Manifest Destiny” Acts I and III AND “American Yawp, ch. 17Links to an external site.
*The Platt Amendment, 1901 (Primary source in Canvas- U.S. & Cuba); You need historical context from our lectures, our film, my articles, and Chasteen’s ch. 7.
*Visual Primary Sources: “School BeginsLinks to an external site.,” by Puck, 1/25/1899 and one other political cartoon from my Powerpoint on Imperial Expansion Part III. See my articles, our lectures, Chasteen’s ch. 7.
*Statements of U.S. Foreign Policy: “The Monroe Doctrine,” and “The Roosevelt Corollary” (both, these are short primary sources in Wood & Alexander pp. 239-241; see my articles for context)
*“Plan for the Realization of Bolívar's Supreme Dream” by Augusto César Sandino (Primary Source, Nationalism era. See my “US and Latin America” article, my Nationalism notes and Chasteen ch. 8 for historical context
* “The Poetry of Anti-Imperialism”(United Fruit & Standard Oil) by Pablo Neruda (Nationalism era primary sources; see Chasteen ch. 8 and my Nationalism lecture notes for historical context)
* “The First Lady’s Peronist Feminism” by Eva Perón (Primary Source) &Eva Peron’s Final SpeechLinks to an external site., 1951, (primary source-video). Nationalism, Populism and Women & Social Change primary sources- see those readings in Chasteen and Wood and Alexander for historical context.
Address the following for the primary source you’re analyzing:
a) tell us all about the primary source - who wrote or produced it? to whom? when? why? what was its purpose?
b) provide historical context: tell us what’s going on at the time this document is created, what is the history behind your document? (bring in material from lectures, our text, our articles, our films)- this is very important for our understanding of the document. Tell us about U.S. Policies towards Native peoples in the late 19th century and the history of the Reservation system for Natives when discussing Chief Joseph’s, for example. Tell us about the history of U.S. policies towards Natives, including efforts at forced assimilation like the “Indian Boarding Schools” if writing about Torlino and the founding director of the Carlisle Boarding School Richard Pratt. Tell us about the History of U.S.-Latin America relations when discussing the Latin America documents (my lectures, my articles, our films and Chasteen ch. 7)
c) Analyze the primary source- tell us about the message, the language, the imagery, assumptions, and all of the ways this (or these, if you have two) primary source(s) is/are important to our understanding of U.S. Expansion, U.S. Latin-America relations, in the late 19th century and early twentieth centuries and Nationalism if yours is a Nationalism era document