The Effect of Carl Sandburg upon History 262

“American Bellicosity”
yellow journalism
Spain did everything in its power to avoid the war
we won the Phillipines
(a Spanish possession) and Cuba, Guam, Hawaii (sort of)
and Puerto Rico.
these are overseas territories, or colonies.
with a minimum expenditure
of life and treasure, in a very short time
(Washington’s address: “entangling alliances with none”)
we are suddenly an empire.

previously, anticolonisation.
arguments justifying internals expansion are same
as those used later to justify external expansion.
“Manifest Destiny” John Sullivan
not the fighter!
Providence. Civilization, Race, Nature
cosmic concepts come together
Monroe Doctrine: God would not have connected them had he not intended
The same Anglo-Saxon race to rule them all together.
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier
he announces the end of the frontier,
and of it as a shaping event,
and of the “go west, young man”
(whether or not that was ever really true)
as soon as this ends, we try to move beyond the continent.
Can the expansion be interpreted
(reviving manhood)
as the push to express the “frontier” idea
(taming)
beyond our country?
What about social Darwinism?

“The struggle is important.”

Mahan and Beveridge: holy mission, we have.
but they disagree over reasons.
“We’re producing more than we can consume: we need foreign markets.” that’s Mahan.
Beveridge
Beveridge was a young idiot
Emphasized our “moral obligation” to save inferior
peoples of the world
from their inferiority.

Mr. Ellis stands pipe in hand, beneath the clock. The clock says
twelve. He gestures with a piece of chalk: “We’re down there saving Cubans!”
“jingoism” as an essential ingredient in any kind of American foreign policy
for expansion. Businessmen opposed involvement in the war of 1898
“suppose we…”
pipe tip clicks on blackboard;
raised voice: “Evidence? What do you do with that?
How do you respond?”
papers rustle
it’s raining out.