7.2 Imperialism

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child

Take up the White Man’s burden

In patience to abide

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple

An hundred times made plain

To seek another’s profit

And work another’s gain

Take up the White Man’s burden—

And reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better

The hate of those ye guard—

The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah slowly) to the light:

"Why brought ye us from bondage,

“Our loved Egyptian night?”

Take up the White Man’s burden-

Have done with childish days-

The lightly proffered laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise.

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years,

Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!

Document B:

Literary Digest, “Civilization Begins at Home”, 1898

Document C:

“The Black Man’s Burden”: H.T. Johnson (an African-American clergyman), April 1899

Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.

'Tis nearest at your door;

Why heed long bleeding Cuba, or dark Hawaii’s shore?

Hail ye your fearless armies,

Which menace feeble folks

Who fight with clubs and arrows and brook your rifle’s smoke.

Pile on the Black Man’s Burden

His wail with laughter drown

You’ve sealed the Red Man’s problem, And will take up the Brown,

In vain ye seek to end it,

With bullets, blood or death

Better by far defend it

With honor’s holy breath.

1. What message do Document B and C have in common?

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Document D:

“Poor Man’s Burden,”: George McNeill, March, 1899.

Pile on the Poor Man’s Burden—

Drive out the beastly breed;

Go bind his sons in exile

To serve your pride and greed;

To wait in heavy harness,

Upon your rich and grand;

The common working peoples,

The serfs of every land.

Pile on the Poor Man’s Burden—

His patience will abide;

He’ll veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride.

By pious cant and humbug

You’ll show his pathway plain,

To work for another’s profit

And suffer on in pain.

Pile on the Poor Man’s Burden—

Your savage wars increase,

Give him his full of Famine,

Nor bid his sickness cease.

And when your goal is nearest

Your glory’s dearly bought,

For the Poor Man in his fury,

May bring your pride to naught.

Pile on the Poor Man’s Burden—

Your Monopolistic rings

Shall crush the serf and sweeper

Like iron rule of kings.

Your joys he shall not enter,

Nor pleasant roads shall tread;

He’ll make them with his living,

And mar them with his dead.

Pile on the Poor Man’s Burden—

The day of reckoning’s near—

He will call aloud on Freedom,

And Freedom’s God shall hear.

He will try you in the balance;

He will deal out justice true:

 For the Poor Man with his burden Weighs more with God than you.

Lift off the Poor Man’s Burden—

My Country, grand and great—

The Orient has no treasures

To buy a Christian state,

Our souls brook not oppression;

Our needs—if read aright—

Call not for wide possession.

But Freedom’s sacred light.

Document E: “What the United States Has Fought For”, 1914

In the chart below, select three different phrases from the poem (Document D) that contradicts (or promotes a different perspective) from images from the cartoon (Document E). Then explain why the phrases and images contradict.

1. Phrases from Poem

2. Image from cartoon

3. Explain how they contradict

Document F:

Puck Magazine, “School Begins”, 1898

The caption below reads: “School Begins. Now children, you’ve got to learn these lessons whether you want to or not! But just take a look at the class ahead of you and remember that in little while, you will be as glad to be here as they are.”

1. Do you think this cartoon promotes or discourages American imperialism?

2. What images from the cartoon support your claim from Question #1? List at least three.

   1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   2. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   3. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Write a thesis statement for the following prompt:

Compare the American attitudes on the necessity of imperialism from 1898 to 1919.

Thesis statement:

Write 2-3 sentences that provide contextualization for the prompt and your thesis statement.

Create a list of at least 4 specific pieces of evidence that you can use to support your thesis statement. You may draw on evidence from the documents or on outside evidence.