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Stalemate To Crisis The Imperial Republic Term Paper

¶ … Stalemate to Crisis" and "The Imperial Republic." Questions From "From Stalemate to Crisis" and "The Imperial Republic"

Brinkley, Alan. (2004) The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American people. Volume II. 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

What were the great social issues creating deep divisions in American life in the 1880s and 1890s? Discuss unionization of workers and the discontent felt by the farmers?

Political corruption, America's increasingly marked shift from an agrarian to an industrialist society, and the tariff questions surrounding the sale of American goods abroad, were all the important issues that served to tear the American nation apart during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The rise of agrarian discontent was manifested in the vocal Granger Movement, the formulation Farmers' Alliances, and the Populist movement that swept the American Midwest. Although agrarian discontent declined, after 1898, the origins, purposes, and effectiveness of the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act became manifestations of the need for urban workers to enact legislation that empowered them against powerful corporate entities, despite hostility to their unionization.

How did economic issues play a roll in the political scene of America?

The silver question also known as the "Crime of '73" as well as the Gold Standard Act of 1900 both had major impacts upon the political as well as the economic life of ordinary Americas. The political pitting of the banking vs. The farming industries specifically highlighted the divisions between farming America and the increasingly politically powerful and population dense urban...

Imperialism and the rallying cry of instigations abroad would provide unity to the divisions of populist and capitalist powers in the American political discourse and fabric of the land.
How would you define imperialism? Why would a nation object to having the label "imperialistic"?

Imperialism is the assumption that one's own nation has superior needs and superior ways of life and political ideologies to those of other nations, often nations one wishes to conquer. Because imperialism is seen as a justifying ideology that uses xenophobia to excuse military interests nations often object to the use of the term to describe actions within and without of the national borders.

Based on your reading, was the United States imperialistic during the late 1800s? Cite specific examples for your answer.

During the late 1800s, the U.S. clearly used the old continental concept of Manifest Destiny across the American West to justify a new form of American expansionism across the seas, from Hawaii to Sama, the Philippines, and China. A strong stress on Social Darwinism within American intellectual circles that pitted White vs. non-White peoples, combined with the inevitable closing of the American frontier contributed to the self-justifying aspect of American imperialist ideology for politically unifying and economic reasons.

How did the media contribute to the start of the Spanish American War? Why did they refer to this war as "a splendid little war"? What do you believe was their motive and how do you compare the media today in its handling of reporting world events?

The term 'yellow journalism'…

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The taking of territories by the United States was hardly justified according to standards of either moral or formal international law, then or now. But the annexation "fever" of the late 1800s clearly benefited politicians wishing to create a greater sense of cohesive unity in an increasingly divided America, an America characterized by warring political and geographic interests and greater levels of economic stratification.

As you look at how the media dealt with the Spanish American War reflect on how the media today deals with both domestic and foreign affairs stories. What is their agenda in 2005 when reporting? Have they handled Afghanistan and Iraq in a similar fashion to the way the press reported the sinking of the battleship Maine? Is the media trustworthy in 2005? Please be more specific on this question.

The media's agenda in 2005, as during the Spanish-American War, is always to generate interest in the news and to sell consumption of papers, cable subscriptions, and advertising. However, the public has more media outlets it can use, and is more 'savvy' as to media bias and misrepresentation. Also, the media itself is more self-critical, after realizing that politicians are able to misrepresent the events of today for personal ends. The media seemed to show a sense of 'betrayal' of the truth and trust in the relationship between press and professional politicians, in the way that the threat of weapons of mass destruction was used to justify war in Iraq, as the ways that the White House vacillated on its knowledge of the terrorist threat level before 2001. This sense was not evident in the glorious trumpeting of U.S. justice during the sinking of the Maine. Still, domestic news coverage often has the same sensationalistic tone, specifically in crime reporting, as was common to ages past.
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