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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Unit 11: American Imperialism

Examining the progression, goals, and concepts behind American Imperialism helps understand the transition to the 20th century..  Please use the following resources to augment your understanding of the topics discussed on the syllabus.




An interesting example of historical bias when applied to American Imperialism throughout its history...


    2 comments:

    Sarah said...

    I like this video. Though it was his opinion of why we fought some of these wars, not on behalf of justice but for expansion of power, I do like the way he put 20th century America into his own perspective. For example, the part about the secret memo at 4:22 showed that imperialism brought the US to SE Asia, not for intervention, but for the motive of tin, rubber, and oil. This interested me because maybe it isn't just his personal thought and that America got caught up in all of these wars for more power. Maybe America isn’t the helping hand it was made out to be, as suggested in TR’s corollary in the Monroe Doctrine shown in the book. He wanted to financially support South America, but really he wanted to get Europe out of our business and capitalize on it for ourselves. This is like what the speakers preached about America seeming helpful, but with its own motives in mind.
    Another part of the video that was interesting was the picture at 1:15. It portrays a transition of baby America to its broad adulthood in regard to its hand in imperialism. I like the picture because whoever made it creatively exemplified the growing interest that America took on imperialism and become a greater power.

    C said...

    That's great insight. Essentially, this is the problem with historical bias. Essentially, both sides are right, because the United States' expressed intentions versus its underlying motives can cause controversy. Zinn is an idealist, who does a great job of presenting the alternative view of history. Neither is wrong, but the support has to be provided to express the view one has.