America, the land of opportunity and freedom! It is this concept that often defines our culture when discussing American history. However, the availability of opportunity and freedom was not equal. How one interprets the building of the nation and the American Empire can be debated based on one’s own circumstances. Race, wealth, and social standing contributed to how much access one had to the “American dream”. The 13 colonies and the “New World” were based on inalienable rights and self-government. These immigrants created the United States of America in 1776 by declaring independence from Great Britain. The colonization of these territories, the beginning of the American Empire, must be viewed from both the perspective of the colonizer as well as those already occupying the land. Seeing the bigger picture, an altruistic goal of a better place for all mankind depends on the view you take.
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It is from this narrative that such expansion was supported in an effort to bring progress to America by spreading Christianity and civilization to those in need. It was expected that the superior race will Americanize those savage natives that they encounter in the expansion of the Americas. Kipling’s poem, The White Man’s Burden, is an evocative representation that shows the relationship between racism and imperialism. “Send forth the best ye breed”, the duty to send he who is superior in race and enlighten the indigenous,”Half-devil and half-child” to the ways in which are righteous. An acknowledgment that there was a presumed responsibility of the white man to be charitable and place cultural influences on others. While these ideas may have prospered at the time because the Native Americans were said to be savages, there was a heavy cost paid by the Native American Indians. They had lost their land, been stripped of their rights, and oppressed by the white man. This oppression was simply a way for western power to fulfill the duty to civilize the rest of the
It is from this narrative that such expansion was supported in an effort to bring progress to America by spreading Christianity and civilization to those in need. It was expected that the superior race will Americanize those savage natives that they encounter in the expansion of the Americas. Kipling’s poem, The White Man’s Burden, is an evocative representation that shows the relationship between racism and imperialism. “Send forth the best ye breed”, the duty to send he who is superior in race and enlighten the indigenous,”Half-devil and half-child” to the ways in which are righteous. An acknowledgment that there was a presumed responsibility of the white man to be charitable and place cultural influences on others. While these ideas may have prospered at the time because the Native Americans were said to be savages, there was a heavy cost paid by the Native American Indians. They had lost their land, been stripped of their rights, and oppressed by the white man. This oppression was simply a way for western power to fulfill the duty to civilize the rest of the