American Anti-Imperialist League

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The American Anti-Imperialist League was established in the United States on June 15, 1898 to battle the American annexation of the Philippines, officially called insular areas. The Anti-Imperialist League opposed annexation on economic, legal, and moral grounds. The original organization was founded in New England and was absorbed by a new national Anti-Imperialist League. Prominent statesman George S. Boutwell served as president from the League's inception in 1898 to his death in 1905. Mark Twain was vice president of the league from 1901 until his death in 1910.Lawyer and civil rights activist Moorfield Storey was president from 1905 until the League dissolved in 1921.


Political Background

In 1895, an anti-Spanish uprising began in Cuba, one of several Spanish colonies that had not gained independence. Initially, the US gave moral and financial support. In January 1898, the US sent a warship to Cuba, the USS Maine, to protect American interests. This ship exploded and sank on February 15, killing 266 men. Although the Spanish denied responsibility, public opinion in the US blamed the colonial power and began to see war in support not only of Cuba's independence but of all remaining Spanish colonies as the most appropriate response. These colonies were those of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and the Caroline Islands. War started in April 1898 and ended with the Treaty of Paris, December 10, 1898. The US military had defeated the Spanish in several theaters during 109 days of war, and, as a result of the Treaty, gained control of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam among other territories. Spain relinquished its claim of sovereignty over Cuba, which became self-governing. However, under the treaty, the US had the right to intervene in Cuban affairs when it considered this to be necessary, and also to supervise its finances and foreign relations.

The War was ostensibly in support of the freedom of the people of these Spanish colonies, to bring colonial rule to an end. The war represented a change in US policy, which until this war had been to avoid entanglement in overseas wars, sometimes described as "Isolationism", the "theory that America's national interest is best served by a minimum of involvement in foreign affairs and alliances."[1] This policy stemmed from the founding fathers' vision that they were beginning a new society and a new political polity that would not repeat the mistakes of the Europeans who had spent centuries fighting each other as each nation tried to dominate. The US was to be a society that cherished liberty, human rights and government of, by and for the people. Since the basis of the US's war of independence had been lack of participation in the colonial government under the British and the unjustness of that rule, to engage in the business of conquering other people's territory, and to rule over them as a colonial power, would be hypocritical. The idea that the US was a special type of state is called American exceptionalism. In this view, America is "in a class by itself."<ref<Safire, page 360.</ref> This concept, though, could also inform the idea that if the US was "special", it also had a unique role to play in the world. The concept of manifest destiny had informed expansion of the original thirteen states across the American continent as an extension of freedom, democracy and of the rule of law. Some suggested that this process should not stop at the coastline but continue beyond, establishing liberty wherever people lived under governments that denied them democratic rights. When Hawaii was annexed in July, 1898, President William McKinley declared:

"We need Hawaii as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny.[2]

Others, however, did not hesitate to suggest that the US's special qualities fitted her for the task of ruling other nations. As early as 1865, James Gordon Bennett wrote in the New York Herald, "It is our manifest destiny to lead and rule all other nations."[3] By the end of the Spanish-American war, the United States, whether it used the term "empire" or not, possessed overseas territories which it administered as "protectorates" or external territories that resembled what other countries called their "empires". The founders of the Anti-Imperialist League suspected that the US did not intend to hand over governance immediately to the people of the former Spanish territories and unambiguously said that America was becoming an imperial power.


The League

Many of the League's leaders were classical liberals and |Democrats who believed in free trade, a gold standard, and limited government; they opposed William Jennings Bryan's candidacy in the 1896 presidential election. Instead of voting for protectionist Republican William McKinley, however, many, including Edward Atkinson, Moorfield Storey, and Grover Cleveland, cast their ballots for the National Democratic Party presidential ticket of John M. Palmer John M. Palmer and Simon Bolivar Buckner.

The 1900 presidential election caused internal squabbles in the League. Particularly controversial was the League's endorsement of William Jennings Bryan, a renowned anti-imperialist but also the leading critic of the gold standard. A few League members, including Storey and Villard, organized a third party to both uphold the gold standard and oppose imperialism. This effort led to the formation of the National Party, which nominated Senator Donelson Caffery of Louisiana. The party quickly collapsed, however, when Caffery dropped out, leaving Bryan as the only anti-imperialist candidate.

Mark Twain, a founding member of the League, famously who defended its views in the following manner:

|I have read carefully the treaty of Paris, and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Mark Twain was vice president of the league from 1901 until his death in 1910. An editorial in the Springfield Republican, the leading anti-imperialist daily newspaper in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, declared, "Mark Twain has suddenly become the most influential anti-imperialist and the most dreaded critic of the sacrosanct person in the White House that the country contains."[4] By the second decade of the twentieth century, the League was only a shadow of its former strength. Despite its anti-war record, it did not object to U.S. entry into World War I (though several individual members did oppose intervention). The Anti-Imperialist League disbanded in 1921.

Selected list of members

Well-known members of the League included:


Legacy

Notes

  1. ↑ Safire, page 360.
  2. ↑ Safire, page 412.
  3. ↑ Safire, page 412. Bennett was publisher of the Herald, founded by his father.
  4. ↑ Fishkin, pqage 241.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Beito, David T. and Beito, Linda Royster . 2000. "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900." 555-75, Independent Review 4 (Spring). Retrieved October 9, 2008.
  • Cosmas, Graham A. 1971. An army for empire; the United States Army in the Spanish-American War. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 9780826201072
  • Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. 2002. A historical guide to Mark Twain. Historical guides to American authors. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195132922
  • Morgan, H. Wayne. 1965. America's road to empire; the war with Spain and overseas expansion. America in crisis. New York: Wiley. ISBN 9780394341989
  • Safire, William. 2008. Safire's political dictionary. NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195343342
  • Twain, Mark, and Jim Zwick. 1992. Mark Twain's weapons of satire: anti-imperialist writings on the Philippine-American War. Syracuse studies on peace and conflict resolution. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815602682
  • Zinn, Howard. 2004. The people speak: American voices, some famous, some little known : dramatic readings celebrating the enduring spirit of dissent. New York: Perennial. ISBN 9780060578268
  • Zwick, Jim. 2007. Confronting imperialism: essays on Mark Twain and the Anti-Imperialist League. Coshohocken, Pa: Infinity Pub. ISBN 9780741444103


External links and sources

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