Paper4-Imperialism

History 17B De Anza College

Paper #4: American Imperialism

A great debate raged in the United States in the last decades of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century regarding imperialism, and whether the United States should become an imperial power. Read your textbook about the development of an imperialist impulse in the United States, and then read the following two documents by Josiah Strong and William Jennings Bryan. Why does Strong argue in favor of imperialism? Why is Bryan opposed? What role did racism play in ideas of expansion? How were science and religion used to argue for or against imperialism? Did America become an imperial power?

Josiah Strong, Our Country

William Jennings Bryan, On Imperialism

Use examples from the documents to explain your answer.

You must cite your sources, and list them at the end of your paper as a List of References. Please do not “borrow” material from the web without providing proper citations and enclosing direct quotations in quotation marks. Otherwise, it will be considered plagiarism, and the penalties will be severe.

Typed, double-spaced, 12-point type, 800-1000 words, formatted according to MLA standards, and to be submitted to Turnitin.com. (For aid on formatting, see the Purdue Owl Website.) Note: before sending the assignment, please rename the file in the following format: LastnameFirstname-paper1.doc. Example: JacksonChristopher-paper1.doc. That allows me to better keep track of the many papers that I received during the quarter.