American Anti-Imperialist League
Encyclopedia
The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization established in the United States
on June 15, 1898 to battle the American annexation of the Philippines
as an insular area
. The anti-imperialists opposed the expansion because they believed imperialism violated the credo of republicanism, especially the need for "consent of the governed
." They did not oppose expansion on commercial, constitutional, religious, or humanitarian grounds; rather they believed that annexation and administration of backward tropical areas would mean the abandonment of American ideals of self-government and isolation - ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence
, Washington's Farewell Address
and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
. The Anti-Imperialist League represented an older generation and were rooted in an earlier era; they were defeated in terms of public opinion, the 1900 election, and the actions of Congress and the President because most of the younger Progressives who were just coming to power supported imperialism.
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 until his death in 1905. Lawyer and civil rights activist Moorfield Storey
was president from 1905 until the League dissolved in 1921.
Many of the League's leaders were classical liberals
and "Bourbon Democrat
s" (Grover Cleveland 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
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 Oswald Garrison 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.
(though several individual members did oppose intervention). The Anti-Imperialist League disbanded in 1921.
david
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on June 15, 1898 to battle the American annexation of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
as an insular area
Insular area
An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the fifty U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the United States...
. The anti-imperialists opposed the expansion because they believed imperialism violated the credo of republicanism, especially the need for "consent of the governed
Consent of the governed
"Consent of the governed" is a phrase synonymous with a political theory wherein a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and legal when derived from the people or society over which that political power is exercised...
." They did not oppose expansion on commercial, constitutional, religious, or humanitarian grounds; rather they believed that annexation and administration of backward tropical areas would mean the abandonment of American ideals of self-government and isolation - ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
, Washington's Farewell Address
George Washington's Farewell Address
George Washington's Farewell Address was written to "The People of the United States" near the end of his second term as President of the United States and before his retirement to his home at Mount Vernon....
and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...
. The Anti-Imperialist League represented an older generation and were rooted in an earlier era; they were defeated in terms of public opinion, the 1900 election, and the actions of Congress and the President because most of the younger Progressives who were just coming to power supported imperialism.
Origins
The original organization was founded in New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and was absorbed by a new national Anti-Imperialist League. Prominent statesman George S. Boutwell
George S. Boutwell
George Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S...
served as president from the League's inception in 1898 until his death in 1905. Lawyer and civil rights activist Moorfield Storey
Moorfield Storey
Moorfield Storey was an American lawyer, publicist, and civil rights leader. According to Storey's biographer, William B...
was president from 1905 until the League dissolved in 1921.
Many of the League's leaders were classical liberals
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
and "Bourbon Democrat
Bourbon Democrat
Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States from 1876 to 1904 to refer to a member of the Democratic Party, conservative or classical liberal, especially one who supported President Grover Cleveland in 1884–1888/1892–1896 and Alton B. Parker in 1904. After 1904, the Bourbons faded away...
s" (Grover Cleveland Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
) who believed in free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
, a gold standard
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
, and limited government
Limited government
Limited government is a government which anything more than minimal governmental intervention in personal liberties and the economy is generally disallowed by law, usually in a written constitution. It is written in the United States Constitution in Article 1, Section 8...
; they opposed William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
's candidacy in the 1896 presidential election. Instead of voting for protectionist
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
Republican William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
, however, many, including Edward Atkinson, Moorfield Storey
Moorfield Storey
Moorfield Storey was an American lawyer, publicist, and civil rights leader. According to Storey's biographer, William B...
, and Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, cast their ballots for the National Democratic Party
National Democratic Party (United States)
The National Democratic Party or Gold Democrats was a short-lived political party of Bourbon Democrats, who opposed the regular party nominee William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Most members were admirers of Grover Cleveland. They considered Bryan a dangerous man and charged that his "free silver"...
presidential ticket of John M. Palmer
John M. Palmer (politician)
John McAuley Palmer , was an Illinois resident, an American Civil War General who fought for the Union, the 15th Governor of Illinois, and presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party in the 1896 election on a platform to defend the gold standard, free trade, and limited...
and Simon Bolivar Buckner
Simon Bolivar Buckner
Simon Bolivar Buckner fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War and in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He later served as the 30th Governor of Kentucky....
.
Election of 1900
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, a renowned anti-imperialist but also the leading critic of the gold standard. A few League members, including Storey and Oswald Garrison Villard
Oswald Garrison Villard
Oswald Garrison Villard was an American journalist. He provided a rare direct link between the anti-imperialism of the late 19th century and the conservative Old Right of the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...
, organized a third party to both uphold the gold standard and oppose imperialism. This effort led to the formation of the National Party
National Party (United States)
The National Party was an early-20th-century national political organization in the United States founded by pro-war defectors from the Socialist Party of America in 1917. Rather than filing into the Democratic Party, these adherents of the SPA Right first formed a non-partisan national society to...
, which nominated Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Donelson Caffery
Donelson Caffery
Donelson Caffery was an American politician from the state of Louisiana, a distinguished soldier in the American Civil War, and a sugar plantation owner.- Biography :...
of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. The party quickly collapsed, however, when Caffery dropped out, leaving Bryan as the only anti-imperialist candidate.
End of the League
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 IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
(though several individual members did oppose intervention). The Anti-Imperialist League disbanded in 1921.
Prominent members
- Charles Francis Adams, Jr.Charles Francis Adams, Jr.Charles Francis Adams II was a member of the prominent Adams family, and son of Charles Francis Adams, Sr. He served as a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, railroader - Jane AddamsJane AddamsJane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
, reformer - Edward Atkinson, activist
- Ambrose BierceAmbrose BierceAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
, journalist, writer - George S. BoutwellGeorge S. BoutwellGeorge Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S...
, politician - Andrew CarnegieAndrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, industrialist - Samuel ClemensMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
(Mark Twain), author - Grover ClevelandGrover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, former President - John DeweyJohn DeweyJohn Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, philosopher - Finley Peter DunneFinley Peter DunneFinley Peter Dunne was a Chicago-based U.S. author, writer and humorist. He published Mr. Dooley in Peace and War, a collection of his nationally syndicated Mr. Dooley sketches, in 1898. The fictional Mr...
, humorist - Edwin Lawrence GodkinEdwin Lawrence GodkinEdwin Lawrence Godkin was an American journalist and newspaper editor. He founded The Nation, and was editor-in-chief of the New York Evening Post 1883-1899.-Biography:...
, co-founder and editor of The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
(1865-99), editor - Samuel GompersSamuel GompersSamuel Gompers was an English-born American cigar maker who became a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor , and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924...
, labor leader, founder and president of the American Federation of LaborAmerican Federation of LaborThe American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
(1886-1924) - William Dean HowellsWilliam Dean HowellsWilliam Dean Howells was an American realist author and literary critic. Nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters", he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day" and the novel The Rise of...
, editor - Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, author - William JamesWilliam JamesWilliam James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
, psychologist and philosopher - David Starr JordanDavid Starr JordanDavid Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.-Early life and education:...
, university president - Josephine Shaw LowellJosephine Shaw LowellJosephine Shaw Lowell was a Progressive Reform leader in the United States in the Nineteenth century. She is best known for creating the New York Consumers League in 1890.-Early years:...
,reformer - Edgar Lee MastersEdgar Lee MastersEdgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist...
, poet - William Vaughn MoodyWilliam Vaughn MoodyWilliam Vaughn Moody was a United States dramatist and poet. Author of The Great Divide, first presented under the title of The Sabine Woman at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago on April 12, 1906...
, poet - Carl SchurzCarl SchurzCarl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...
, politician - Moorfield StoreyMoorfield StoreyMoorfield Storey was an American lawyer, publicist, and civil rights leader. According to Storey's biographer, William B...
, lawyer; - William Graham SumnerWilliam Graham SumnerWilliam Graham Sumner was an American academic and "held the first professorship in sociology" at Yale College. For many years he had a reputation as one of the most influential teachers there. He was a polymath with numerous books and essays on American history, economic history, political...
, economist - Oswald Garrison VillardOswald Garrison VillardOswald Garrison Villard was an American journalist. He provided a rare direct link between the anti-imperialism of the late 19th century and the conservative Old Right of the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...
, editor
See also
- League against ImperialismLeague against ImperialismThe League against Imperialism was founded in the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Belgium, on February 10, 1927, in presence of 175 delegates, among which 107 came from 37 countries under colonial rule. The Congress aimed at creating a "mass anti-imperialist movement" at a world scale, and was...
- Treaty of ParisTreaty of Paris (1898)The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed on December 10, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, and came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the ratifications were exchanged....
- New ImperialismNew ImperialismNew Imperialism refers to the colonial expansion adopted by Europe's powers and, later, Japan and the United States, during the 19th and early 20th centuries; expansion took place from the French conquest of Algeria until World War I: approximately 1830 to 1914...
- Classical LiberalismClassical liberalismClassical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
- Overseas expansion of the United States
External links
- Library of Congress webpage with short description
- The League's Platform, from the Internet History Sourcebooks Project at the History Department of Fordham UniversityFordham UniversityFordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
- Historical Documents pertaining to the Anti-Imperialist League, at Liberty and Anti-Imperialism.
david