The Republican victory in 1896 gave heart to proponents of prosperity through foreign trade. McKinley sought neither war nor colonies, but many in his party wanted both. Called "jingos," they included Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt; John Hay, the ambassador to London, and senators Albert Beveridge and Henry Cabot Lodge. Britain, France, and Germany were seizing territory around the world, and jingos believed the United States needed to do the same for strategic, religious, and economic reasons.
- In your opinion, do Lodge's arguments support the need for the United States to acquire an imperial empire? Explain your position.
- Directly and completely answer at least ONE question. Please make sure that you clearly indicate which question you have chosen to discuss. Clearly and accurately explain your answer based on factual information contained in the assigned readings. (80 points)
Henry Cabot Lodge
In the interests of our commerce and of our fullest development, we
should build the Nicaragua Canal, and for the protection of that canal
and for the sake of our commercial supremacy in the Pacific we should
control the Hawaiian Islands and maintain our influence in Samoa.
England has studded the West Indies with strong places which are a
standing menace to our Atlantic seaboard. We should have among those
islands at least one strong naval station, and when the Nicaragua Canal
is built, the island of Cuba, still sparsely settled and of almost
unbounded fertility, will become to us a necessity. Commerce follows
the flag, and we should build up a navy strong enough to give protection
to Americans in every quarter of the globe and sufficiently powerful to
put our coasts beyond the possibility of successful attack.
The tendency of modern times is toward consolidation. It is apparent
in capital and labor alike, and it is also true of nations. Small states are
of the past and have no future. The modern movement is all toward the
concentration of people and territory into great nations and large
dominions. The great nations are rapidly absorbing for their future
expansion and their present defense all the waste places of the earth. It is
a movement which makes for civilization and the advancement of the
race. As one of the great nations of the world, the United States must not
fall out of the line of march.
For more than thirty years we have been so much absorbed with
grave domestic questions that we have lost sight of these vast interests
which lie just outside our borders. They ought to be neglected no longer.
They are not only of material importance but they are matters which
concern our greatness as a nation and our future as a great example.
They appeal to our national honor and dignity and to the pride of country
and of race.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Forum, March 1895.