The Official Teacher s Companion Guide for Oliver Stone s Untold History of the United States designed by The Untold History Education Project Eric S. Singer M.Ed., Ph.D. Lesson Plan for Prologue, Chapter A
President McKinley s Rationale for U.S. Imperialism and The Untold History of Anti- Imperialism This lesson plan is designed to address, in part or in full, the following California History-Social Studies Content Standard(s): 11.4 Students trace the rise of the United States to its role as a world power in the twentieth century. 2. Describe the Spanish-American War and U.S. expansion in the South Pacific. 3. Discuss America s role in the Panama Revolution and the building of the Panama Canal. 5. Analyze the political, economic, and social ramifications of World War I on the home front. 6. Trace the declining role of Great Britain and the expanding role of the United States in world affairs after World War I. 11.5 Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s. 2. Analyze the international and domestic events, interests, and philosophies that prompted attacks on civil liberties, including the Palmer Raids, Marcus Garvey s back-to-africa movement, the Ku Klux Klan, and immigration quotas and the responses of organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Anti-Defamation League to those attacks. Class Time: 90 minutes, or 2 traditional class periods (This lesson is designed to immediately follow the screening of the prologue, chapter A of Oliver Stone s Untold History of the United States. The episode is 58 minutes in length. Assuming 45 minute class periods, teachers should, for example, plan to air the episode on Monday, complete it during the first twenty minutes of Tuesday s class, begin this lesson on Tuesday after the screening and complete it on Thursday. Objectives: Students will be able to examine President McKinley s rationale for U.S. annexation of the Philippines in 1899.
Students will be able to assess the opposition that anti-imperialists mounted to U.S. annexation of the Philippines and analyze their rationale. Materials: Supplement A- 1: President William McKinley s Defense of U.S. Imperialism Supplement A- 2: Platform of the Anti- Imperialist League, 1899 Focusing Questions: What rationale did President McKinley give for annexing the Philippines? Why did Anti- Imperialists reject his rationale? On what Constitutional basis did the Anti- Imperialists base their platform? What was the ultimate outcome of the Philippine War? What were the human costs? The Action: In order to activate prior knowledge, teacher asks students if they know the meaning of the world imperialism. Students have a few minutes to answer. Teacher defines imperialism using whichever definition he/she likes best. For reference, Merriam-Webster s definition is: Imperialism: the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly: the extension or imposition of power, authority or influence. Teacher asks students to come up with examples of U.S. imperialism based upon their viewing of the Prologue, Chapter A. Students will hopefully identify American economic and/or political dominion in Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines among other examples. If students do not come up with those, teacher fills in the blanks. Teacher asks students whether American westward expansion should be an example of imperialism given the definition of the term. Teacher asks students what nations were victims of U.S. westward expansion, which should lead to a brief discussion about the demise of Native American societies and cultures.
Teacher explains to students that most mainstream interpretations trace the beginning of American imperialism to 1898, when the United States defeated Spain and asserted control over its former colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, thus expanding beyond contiguous borders. Teacher explains that the class had just challenged that mainstream interpretation by entertaining the idea that U.S. imperialism began much earlier. Teacher explains that since 1898, U.S. imperialism has allowed American companies to assert control over shipping lanes, natural and human resources across the world, but many times at the expense of the health and prosperity of people who lived in those places. (20 minutes) Lights are turned off. Teacher explains that American imperialism has prompted worldwide backlashes and unintended consequences. Teacher explains that one of those backlashes was Fidel Castro s eventual 1959 revolution in Cuba, a reaction to what he and many other Latin Americans deemed heavy-handed and oppressive American policies and actions across Central and South America. Teacher explains that leaders of revolutionary movements worldwide embraced Communism throughout the twentieth century as an antidote to American-style capitalism, which they believed was an oppressive system designed to concentrate resources and wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of many. One of the most vociferous critics of American-style capitalism and anti-american revolutionary, Che Guevara, expressed his perspective in the following clip. Teacher shares with the class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj0fqi0-kia Teacher explains that while it is tempting to believe that all anti-imperialist sentiment originated outside the United States, the reality is that a strong anti-imperialist movement emerged immediately after the U.S. declared war on Spain in 1898. Teacher explains that prominent Americans including Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Jane Addams, Grover Cleveland, John Dewey, Samuel Gompers and William Graham Sumner formed the Anti-Imperialist league in response to American annexation of Hawaii and political and economic control over the former Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. (20 minutes) Teacher divides class into two equal groups. Teacher passes out copies of Supplement A-1 to the pro-imperialist group; and copies of Supplement A-2 to the antiimperialist group. Teacher asks students to read through the documents for homework and to record what they determine to be the five most important arguments that their respective documents make.
Day 2 Teacher asks each student in the pro-imperialist group to pair up with one student in the anti-imperialist group. Each student has five minutes to convince the other in his/her pair that the arguments outlined in their respective documents are correct. Teacher asks for volunteers who would like to share their perspectives with the class. Students present their positions and teacher opens up a wider discussion using the focusing questions above as a guide. Teacher shows Philippine War and Anti-Imperialist-related images: http://www.gettyimages.com/search/search.aspx?eventid=123400452&editorialpro duct=archival For more background, see: http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/war http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeamex87.html
Oliver Stone s Untold History of the United States Untold History Education Project Supplement A- 1: President William McKinley s Defense of U.S. Imperialism Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don t deserve it. The truth is I didn t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hong Kong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it! But that was as far as I thought then. When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides Democrats as well as Republicans but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way I don t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany our commercial rivals in the Orient that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves they were unfit for self-government and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President! Source: George Mason University History Matters U.S. Survey Course on the Web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5575/, General James Rusling, Interview with President William McKinley, The Christian Advocate 22 January 1903, 17. Reprinted in Daniel Schirmer and Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, eds., The Philippines Reader (Boston: South End Press, 1987), 22 23.
Oliver Stone s Untold History of the United States Untold History Education Project Supplement A- 2: Platform of the American Anti- Imperialist League, 1899 We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which it has been our glory to be free. We regret that it has become necessary in the land of Washington and Lincoln to reaffirm that all men, of whatever race or color, are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We maintain that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. We insist that the subjugation of any people is "criminal aggression" and open disloyalty to the distinctive principles of our Government. We earnestly condemn the policy of the present National Administration in the Philippines. It seeks to extinguish the spirit of 1776 in those islands. We deplore the sacrifice of our soldiers and sailors, whose bravery deserves admiration even in an unjust war. We denounce the slaughter of the Filipinos as a needless horror. We protest against the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods. We demand the immediate cessation of the war against liberty, begun by Spain and continued by us. We urge that Congress be promptly convened to announce to the Filipinos our purpose to concede to them the independence for which they have so long fought and which of right is theirs. The United States have always protested against the doctrine of international law which permits the subjugation of the weak by the strong. A self-goveming state cannot accept sovereignty over an unwilling people. The United States cannot act upon the ancient heresy that might makes right. Imperialists assume that with the destruction of self-government in the Philippines by American hands, all opposition here will cease. This is a grievous error. Much as we abhor the war of "criminal aggression" in the Philippines, greatly as we regret that the blood of the Filipinos is on American hands, we more deeply resent the betrayal of American institutions at home. The real firing line is not in the suburbs of Manila. The foe is of our own household. The attempt of 1861 was to divide the country. That of 1899 is to destroy its fundamental principles and noblest ideals. Whether the ruthless slaughter of the Filipinos shall end next month or next year is but an incident in a contest that must go on until the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are rescued from the hands of their betrayers. Those who dispute about standards of value while the foundation of the Republic is undermined will be listened to as little as those who would wrangle about the small economies of the household while the house is on fire. The training of a great people for a century, the aspiration for liberty of a vast immigration are forces that will hurl aside those who in the delirium of conquest
seek to destroy the character of our institutions. We deny that the obligation of all citizens to support their Government in times of grave National peril applies to the present situation. If an Administration may with impunity ignore the issues upon which it was chosen, deliberately create a condition of war anywhere on the face of the globe, debauch the civil service for spoils to promote the adventure, organize a truth-suppressing censorship and demand of all citizens a suspension of judgment and their unanimous support while it chooses to continue the fighting, representative government itself is imperiled. We propose to contribute to the defeat of any person or party that stands for the forcible subjugation of any people. We shall oppose for reelection all who in the White House or in Congress betray American liberty in pursuit of un-american ends. We still hope that both of our great political parties will support and defend the Declaration of Independence in the closing campaign of the century. We hold, with Abraham Lincoln, that "no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. When the white man governs himself, that is self-government, but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government-that is despotism." "Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it." We cordially invite the cooperation of all men and women who remain loyal to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. "Platform of the American Anti-lmperialist League," in Speeches, Correspondence, ard Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, ed. Frederick Bancroft (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1913), p. 77, note 1. Accessed on 9/20/2013 from Fordham University, Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1899antiimp.asp