Essay Writing
Writing Assignment #1: Imperialism versus Anti-Imperialism
Directions: This assignment requires you think critically and answer the questions thoughtfully. Students will type a 2 page (top to bottom) minimum response answering the questions. Use 10-12 Times New Roman Font. Double Space your Work. Your grade on this assignment is determined on how well you incorporate specific evidence from the documents and how well you analyze thoughtfully. You must cite properly. Any words that are not your own should be in quotations. No Outside Sources are Allowed. Points will be taken off for papers that are shorter than the 2 page (top to bottom) minimum requirement. Do Not Write the Question Out.
Document #1 Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden (1899)
Answer the following questions:
1. What is so repugnant (offensive, unacceptable) about Kipling’s poem?
2. If you were a citizen of a colonized territory, how would you respond to Kipling? Why?
Document #2 R.C. Bowman, Cartoon on the Philippines and Cuba (1901)
Answer the following question:
3. How does the cartoonist portray Cuba and the Philippines? What are the similarities and differences?
Document #3. Josiah Strong, Our Country (1885)
Answer one of the following questions:
4a. How does Strong justify the idea of world domination by Anglo-Saxons?
4b. What does he believe “inferior” races need to do to avoid extinction?
Document #4. “It’s ‘Up to’ Them.” Puck Cartoon, (1901)
Answer the following question:
5. What is the message that is being conveyed in the cartoon? What is the point of view?
Document # 5 Lewis Douglass, On Black Opposition to McKinley (1899)
Answer the following questions.
6. Is Douglass convinced that McKinley will live up to his promise to the Filipinos under American sovereignty? Why or Why not?
7. What did expansion mean to Douglass?
Document Assessment
8. Answer the Following: Should the United States have been involved in overseas expansion? Why or why not?