Empires, Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons, by Paul Kramer

Teaching the Article

My article explores the dialogue between Americans and Britons on the meanings of race, empire, and exceptionalism at the turn of the twentieth century. In much historical writing, U.S. colonialism stands apart from contemporary European imperialism. My article, however, traces colonial arguments that drew empires together as models, inspirations, and foils. My aim in this installment of "Teaching the JAH" is to suggest how to open up the relationship between empires as a way of teaching about transnational history, racial thought, and imperialism.

At a decisive moment, Americans seeking to justify the annexation of the Philippines turned to racial-exceptionalist claims against the "anti-imperialist's" national-exceptionalist ones. That is, supporters of colonialism argued that as "Anglo-Saxons" connected to the British Empire by blood, culture, and history, Americans were destined to acquire, and competent to rule, an overseas colonial empire. The power of this argument derived in part from the density of Anglo-American social, political, and intellectual contacts in the period; it was demonstrated in comparisons that Americans and Britons made between the Anglo-Boer War and the Philippine-American War. But the argument was countered by "anti-imperialists" who relied on the national exceptionalist claim that the United States' unique republican mission precluded overseas colonialism. Anglo-Saxon identity, they also argued, did not necessarily require the acquisitions of colonies. As a result of this debate, advocates of colonialism increasingly employed national-exceptionalist claims about the uniquely benevolent features of the American colonial government of the Philippines, although they also actively traded policy ideas with neighboring European colonial states.

To frame these issues, ask students to consider certain images of--and questions about--Anglo-Saxonism and empire:

Question 1: Defining an Empire

How do you define an empire? When does a state become one? Is the United States an empire? If so, when did it become one? In what way is the 1897 image of a fictional meeting between Queen Victoria and President McKinley a representation of empire? What else, besides tea, is Queen Victoria inviting McKinley to participate in?

The goal here is to get students thinking critically about what they include and don't include under the rubrics "empire" and "imperialism." They might focus on territorial conquest or other impositions of power by one state on another, industrial or commercial exploitation of a state by another state or a private institution, or cultural dominance via religion, language, or mass media.

Question 2: Racial Ideologies

What kind of contacts between Americans and Britons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contributed to the notion of a shared "Anglo-Saxon" heritage? What exceptional features were Anglo-Saxons said to possess? On what grounds might some Americans object to the notion of the United States as an Anglo-Saxon country?

The aim is to have students think about the racial ideologies of the period as far more than irrational pseudo-science. They were serious arguments, which crystallized in specific settings and around specific political projects.

How does the map represent the boundaries of the Anglo-Saxon world? Why would someone draw and publish such a map? Ask students to consider how the map darkens the territories of the British Empire, the continental United States, and its new overseas colonies, thus envisioning a single Anglo-Saxon region instead of separate national ones.

What does the photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Turk's railway journey in Burma tell us about Anglo-American encounters in the colonial world?

What does Joseph Earle Stevens' adoption of the white duck uniform and his membership in the Manila Club suggest about his self-image as an "Anglo-Saxon"?

Why are the American Dave and the Englishman Will in the novel Between Boer and Briton able to befriend each other so quickly when they first meet? What do their family ties symbolize?

Question 3: Anglo-Saxon Racial Exceptionalism

What political purpose did Anglo-Saxon racial exceptionalism serve during the Spanish-Cuban-American War and Philippine-American War? Whom was the argument directed against? The goal here is to show students how American Anglo-Saxonism promoted solidarity between the United States and Britain in their imperial policies overseas. Consider the solidarity between the two empires represented by the 1898 Uncle Sam image based on the 1892 Cecil Rhodes image. Similarly, consider the juxtaposition of stereopticon sets of the Spanish-Cuban-American War, the Philippine-American War, and the Anglo-Boer War in the 1900 Sears catalog. Recall the opposing "anti-imperialist" argument that presented the United States as exceptional among nations for its republicanism, which precluded overseas colonialism. Then ask students: How did Anglo-Saxon racial exceptionalism and U.S. national exceptionalism overlap? How did they conflict? What does the 1899 cartoon "The White (?) Man's Burden" suggest about American reactions to seeing a supposedly "exceptional" nation--the United States--sharing the colonial "burdens" of the European powers?

Question 4: U.S. Colonialism

How did the legitimation of U.S. colonialism change after the declared end of the Philippine-American War? Now the goal is to have students understand that once American colonialists had a state of their own to point to, they no longer had to turn to Anglo-Saxon rationales or British precedents. Indeed, having a colonial state in the Philippines allowed them to recapture national-exceptionalist terms, arguing that American rule was not only unique but also better than European colonial rule. But how seriously did American colonial officials take national exceptionalism when they were making policy? What does U.S. colonial Agricultural Secretary A. W. Prautch's display of Philippine products at a fair in British Singapore suggest about bonds between the two colonial powers?

- Paul A. Kramer