THE AMERICAN EMPIRE Written and Performatively Enacted by

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE Written and Performatively Enacted by: Kimberly Burroughs Christian Chessman Jack Hahne Harrison Powell Andy Underkofler

America’s Beginnings 1763 -1789

1763: End of the French and Indian War 1763 Proclamation Line Heavy war debt Increased Sets enforcement of taxes stage for revolution

Heading to War The End of Salutary Neglect Taxes and Acts • • Stamp Acts Sugar Acts Townshend Acts Intolerable Acts Boston Tea Party Boston Massacre

Continental Congress First • Enacts boycott Second • Declaration of Independence • Articles of Confederation • Revolutionary War

Articles of Confederation Emphasis on Confederation instead of Nation Issues with taxation • Cannot maintain army/navy Land Ordinance of 1785 Northwest Ordinance Weak Central Government Shay’s Rebellion

Constitutional Convention New Constitution • Virginia and New Jersey Plans • Three-Fifths Compromise • Strong National Government Ratification • Federalists and Antifederalists • Only ratified with the agreement for a Bill of Rights

George Washington’s Presidency(1789 -1797) French Revolution Whiskey Rebellion Precedent • Two Terms • Cabinet Alexander Hamilton Thomas Jefferson

Into the 19 th Century John Adams • Alien and Sedition Acts • Father of the Navy Thomas Jefferson • Revolution of 1800

Jefferson and Expansion Louisiana Purchase • Strict Interpretation vs. Loose Interpretation of the Constitution. Precursor to the Monroe Doctrine • Justifies expansion and defensive. Louisiana Purchase and Westward Expansion • Lewis and Clark (1804 -1806).

War of 1812 Causes: • Naval Impressments, • Trade Restrictions, • Desire to Expand into Canada, • disputes over the Oregon Territory and Northern borders of Oregon and Maine "I believe that in four weeks from the time a declaration of war is heard on our frontier, the whole of Upper Canada and a part of Lower Canada will be in our power. " –John C. Calhoun

Acquiring Florida Jackson invades Florida • Justifies with the Monroe Doctrine Adams-Onis Treaty cedes all of Florida to U. S. in exchange for a promise that the U. S. would no longer hold any aspirations for Texas.

Andrew Jackson Abandons Enlightenment Principles The Election of Andrew Jackson Marks (1829 -1837) marks a dramatic shift in American-Native American relations. Indian Trail Removal Act of Tears

The Oregon Dispute “ 54’ 40” Or Fight!” Treaty of 1818 established joint occupation of Oregon Territory Monroe Doctrine and Louisiana Purchase used to rationalize claim up to 49 th parallel. Hudson Bay Company Compromise

Texas and the Mexican-American War Multiple requests for annexation by Texans are turned down for fear of War with Mexico and dispute of spread of slavery. Tyler passes Texas Annexation in Executive Action which creates outrage in government Dispute of Nueces Region boundary used as an excuse to incite war with Mexico because Adams. Onis Treaty did not clearly define boundary. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war - the US extends claims to CA, NM, OK, AZ, NV, and CA. • Again justified by Monroe Doctrine (proactive defense).

1860 -1900 - Overview The Gilded Age

Ideology

People • Abraham Lincoln – 1861 -1865 – Slavery – Preservation of the Union • Rutherford B. Hayes – 1877 -1881 – Great Railroad Strike

People • Chester A. Arthur – 1881 -1885 – “Father of the Steel • – 1897 -1901 – Economic expansion – Territorial expansion – Spanish-American War – Civil Rights Navy” • Grover Cleveland – 1885 -1889, 1893 - 1897 – Opposed to US imperialism – Supported big business William Mc. Kinley • • William Henry Seward Henry Cabot Lodge

Documents • Emancipation Proclamation – 1862 – Freed the majority of the slaves • Amendments 13, 14, and 15 – 13 - abolished slavery – 14 - blacks can be citizens – 15 - race, color, and previous servitude cannot prevent voting rights • Wade-Davis Bill – 1864 • A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson – 1881 – Injustice towards Native Americans

Documents • • 1890 census: “Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc. , it can not, therefore, any longer have a place in the census reports. ” • How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis – 1890 – Urban poverty

Events • New York Draft Riots – 1863 – Men who could pay were exempt • Plessy v. Ferguson – 1896 – “Separate but equal” • American Anti-Imperialist League Founded – 1898

Movement • Government Acts – Homestead Act & Morrill Act of 1862 • Both encouraged westward settlement – Alaska in 1867 – Bancroft treaties begin in 1868 – Immigrants from the North German Confederation – Burlingame Treaty with China of 1868 • China attains Most Favored Nation status

Movement – First transcontinental United States railroad completed • 1869 – Chinese Exclusion Act • 1882 – Interstate Commerce Commission • 1887 – Dawes Act • 1887 – Divided reservation land into private plots – Extra land made available to non-Native Americans • Private Acts – Pony Express (1860) – Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone (1875)

Power

Wars & Massacres • Civil War – 1861 -1865 • • Dakota War of 1862 Sand Creek Massacre – 1864 • Red River Indian War – 1874 • Battle of Little Bighorn – 1876 • Nez Perce War – 1877 • The Battle of Wounded Knee – 1890

Wars & Massacres • Hawaii – Queen Liliuokalani overthrown in 1893 • Newlands Resolution in 1898, Territory of Hawaii

Wars and Massacres • Spanish-American War – 1898 – USS Maine sinks – Fought in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam – Treaty of Paris • American Samoa – 1899 • Philippine-American War – 1899 -1902

Diplomacy • Alabama Claims – 1871 -1872 – Treaty of Washington • Virginius Affair – 1873 -1875 • Baltimore Crisis – 1891 • Teller Amendment – 1898 • Open Door Notes – 1899

Other • Panic of 1873 – Domestic factors • Boom after the Civil War • Railroad industry • Speculators • Jay Cooke & Company fails – International factors • Germany abandon’s silver standard • European economic depression • Centennial Exposition – 1876 • Reconstruction ends – 1877

Other • Fence Cutting War – 1883 -1888 – Open range v. fenced-in property • Sherman Antitrust Act – 1890 – First federal act to limit trusts • Panic of 1893 – Railroad speculation – Monetary standards

1900 -1945 Entering the 21 st Century

Cuba • Acquired in Spanish-American War • “Independent” in 1902 • Platt Amendment • Business and Colonization – Sugar, Railroads, and more!

Philippines • Acquired in Spanish-American War for $20, 000 • Filipino Nationalism • Greater autonomy in 1916

Philippines • Filipino migration in the 1920 s • Seen by FDR as a drain on resources – Given commonwealth status and path to independence • Invaded by Japan

Panama • Panama gets independence from Colombia • Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty establishes Canal Zone • Canal completed in 1914 • Becomes center of commerce and conflict between US and Panama

WWI and Post-War • Woodrow Wilson and World War One – 14 Points • Seen as threat by Great Britain – Wanted to create world market for US goods – Sees US motives as pure and selfless Treaty of Versailles • Results •

World War II • One of the last powers to officially join – Gave support to Allies Yalta • Potsdam • The UN, IMF and World Bank •

1945 – Present Imperialism Today

Movement and Interaction The United States had many foreign interventions of questionable nature during the past 75 years. A pattern tends to emerge; the US dislikes a leader, and that leader is deposed by CIA blackoperatives, or US-led military intervention. In essence….

Korean War June 25 1950 – 1953 USSR was perceived as expanding sphere of influence What is sphere of influence? Why did the USSR matter? Countering Russian expansion: war in Korea.

Guatemala Operations PBFORTUNE and PBSUCCESS • Initiated to depose Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz was a Commie. CIA succeded in deposing Arbenz, replaced with Fuentes “But was a violent autocrat he’s OUR son of a bitch” mentality.

Iran US feared Iran would turn to Communism Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh’s interest in nationalizing oil didn’t help CIA operatives: • stir up rebellion, • assassinate Mossadegh, • implant a puppet government – the Shah – favorable to the US

Cuba Castro takes power • Its called the Communist Revolution • 90 miles from US shores • “Beachhead” of Communism CIA pays and trains Cuban exiles to retake Cuba “Bay of Pigs” invasion – fails miserably

Brazil 1964: President Joao Goulart considers income redistribution and nationalization of agriculture CIA covertly assists a coup d’etat in Brazil Surprise! • The new President loves the US, free market capitalism, and debt payment to the IMF. • Everybody* wins! *named the United States federal government

Vietnam North Vietnam is Communist South Vietnam is not • We support them Ghosts of Tonkin: Military “Engagement”? Gulf of Tonkin Legislation Permits US to respond to Vietnamese “Aggression”. • Except, the US had been attacking – Vietnam’s (non-existent) response

Israel Israel was controversial – warring with Egypt, Syria and Jordan Egypt was uniquely valuable of Israel’s enemies. Israel served as a foothold in the Mid. East for the US – important to maintain. Thus, Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Accords

Grenades for Grenada People’s Revolutionary Government – Communists – seize power in 1979. US responds with Operation Urgent Fury • (note the name tone change) Explicit Paul military action! Scoon

Panama Miguel Noriega refuses to conform to US dominance • Threatens independence on the Canal • Kills a US military official Operation…. Just Cause? • Noriega is deposed • Guillermo Endara Caved to US influence Lassez-Faire banking control Reduced unemployment

Just you-wait for Kuwait Iraq begins drilling in Kuwaiti oil fields – Rumailah Oil Instability? Not on our watch. • Operation Desert Storm is a go. PERMITTED Sadaam Hussein to stay in power.

September 11, 2001.

Pause for Reflection. Responses were outraged and shocked – but should they have been? Was 9/11 a form of imperial “blowback” for almost a century of foreign intervention and reckless militarism? Should we have seen this coming? Certainly the loss of life is wrong. But is it unexpected?

Afghanistan Operation Enduring Freedom authorizes the US military to enter Afghanistan We depose the Taliban in under a month We install the puppet Hamid Karzai as president. Except…

Oops. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is quoted as saying: “Hard to get good case. Need to move swiftly. Near term target needs - go massive - sweep it all up, things related and not’ ” The attack was neither organized nor directed from Afghanistan by the Taliban. In fact, the attack was planned and carried out from Falls Church, Virginia; Paris, France; Sarasota, Florida; Hamburg, Germany; — and funded and manned from Saudi Arabia

Iraq On the justifications that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, the War on Terrorism expands to Iraq Two years later, The Iraq Study Group concludes that Iraq not only does not have WMD, but it hasn’t had an active WMD program since 1991. Sadaam Hussein was deposed, but never formally linked to Al Qaeda.

Methods of Establishing Empire The US does not have explicitly named colonies that it exploits for material wealth. How then does it establish itself as an empire?

Installing Governments That entire previous section about crushing dissenting leaders.

Economic Empire

World War II leaves almost every economy – except the US – devastated. 1943 - US Dept. of Commerce issues a now-declassified report whose title is revealing: • “Markets After the War”

Aid as Imperialism June 5, 1947 – 1951 • Marshall plan. Bulwark against communism European Dependency 3 rd World Markets September 1960 • Act of Bogota – makes social reform favorable to American Trade a requisite to aid

Bretton Woods July 1944 – Bretton Woods Agreements Signed • Currency Regulation “Beggar Thy Neighbor” is so 1930 s… • Gave US immense leverage – the dollar was the standard

The IMF December 27, 1945 • The IMF is created formally codifying the Bretton Woods system of economic engagement • The IMF is the enforcement mechanism for the system and is dominated by US control

Even now. The status quo uses a pegged system of currency For example, in 1998, one dollar was worth 115 yen. Even without gold standard, the US remains at the core.

Military Empire

That was crazy, right?

Bases as Empire Psychological dominance Domestic Power-projection Nuclear bombs at Okinawa TNWs in Turkey Often harmful to locals – September 4, 1995 – Okinawan based soldiers gang rape a Japanese girl Destroys local environments –Guantanamo

Identity and Ideology Same old threat construction: America v Communism • Must protect American capitalism from Communist threats abroad or else they’ll spill over to our home shores and engulf us! America v Terrorism • Must protect American liberalism from Terrorist threats abroad or else they’ll spill over to our home shores and engulf us!

American Exceptionalism July 17, 1998 – US says no to an ICC No one else has bases on foreign soil. No one has bases on US soil.

Stealth Imperialism defined: Imperial actions performed behind closed doors, while openly denying being an empire.

Empire in Denial Pre-Iraq and Afghanistan Dick Nixon: “US is only great power without a history of imperialistic claims on neighboring countries”. Echoed by Samuel Berger, Advisor to Clinton on National Security – “We are the first global power in history that is not an imperial power. ” In 2000, Bush campaigned on the platform, “America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the change and refused”.

Empire in Denial II After invading Iraq, Bush said “the US has no intention of determining the precise form of Iraq’s new government” and “we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary and not a day more”. Bush in 2004 – “Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans want nothing more than to return home. Rumsfeld: “we’re not a colonial power. We’ve never been a colonial power”. Powell – “The US does not seek a territorial empire. We have never been imperialists. We seek a world in which liberty, prosperity and peace can become the heritage of all peoples, and not just the exclusive privilege of the few. ”

But behind closed doors… • Wolfowitz: US foreign policy should be to maintain primacy. • Naval War College study “explores strategic approaches” to sustain “US predominance for the long term” and makes explicit parallels with Roman, Chinese, Ottoman and British Empires. • Also, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Conclusion. American actions can be interpreted as imperialist, or non-imperial; they can be questioned as good or bad, or perhaps even necessary in an increasingly globalized world. At the end of the day we, as deliberative democratic citizens, must decide if the United States is an empire, and if it is – is that good?

Fin.