“Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League”, got published by Carl Schurz in 1899 and it appeared to be a political opinion piece. The purpose of publishing this article this may have been to influence people who supported the idea of imperialism. Schurz claimed that imperialism held a lack of compatibility with the values that the American government claimed they stood for. Hence, when the United States seized control of the Philippines by force, Schurz felt compelled to write this article. The Philippines had been under a self-government and the Unites States only took control of the Philippines as a response to their rift with Spain. Due to this it gave the impression that the United States and the other powers at the time, saw this
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Schurz’s writing appears to be that of a well learnt man of his time as his words and ideas come out very clearly and concisely and his writing patterns seem to lack ambiguity. The author clearly has a bias against the imperialist who chose to lead this country with an ironic twist of values. However, although the author stays clear on his opinion and remains open in regards to his understanding that it does not align with the thought process of many leaders of his time, he still seems to stay true to the details of what occurred and does not misconstrue the facts to make his point. The author uses somewhat advanced, yet very well structured writing which gives the feeling that he has a very clear position on this topic. Schurz does use some imagery as an aid to his point such as when he writes in a metaphor that “…Those who dispute about standards of value while 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…”. He uses such imagery so that the intended audience can truly understand how much of a real disconnect exists between the facts and the values they claim to aspire to …show more content…
The writer’s intentions in this piece can be perceived as strong and well said through his level of certainty in the knowledge he had of how badly the American people had fallen. The suffered a moral and ethical fall due to them becoming the aggressor, after they had suffered and knew so much pain from their experience being under the rule of Great Britain. As a result of what happened to them they created a system of values that afforded rights to those who needed them and by taking control of other countries in a way that paralleled what they had gone through, it appeared as though they had forgotten what the constitution truly stood for. This behavior goes to show how little things have changed as people have and continue to be human and make the exact same mistakes they have always
Schurz’s writing appears to be that of a well learnt man of his time as his words and ideas come out very clearly and concisely and his writing patterns seem to lack ambiguity. The author clearly has a bias against the imperialist who chose to lead this country with an ironic twist of values. However, although the author stays clear on his opinion and remains open in regards to his understanding that it does not align with the thought process of many leaders of his time, he still seems to stay true to the details of what occurred and does not misconstrue the facts to make his point. The author uses somewhat advanced, yet very well structured writing which gives the feeling that he has a very clear position on this topic. Schurz does use some imagery as an aid to his point such as when he writes in a metaphor that “…Those who dispute about standards of value while 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…”. He uses such imagery so that the intended audience can truly understand how much of a real disconnect exists between the facts and the values they claim to aspire to …show more content…
The writer’s intentions in this piece can be perceived as strong and well said through his level of certainty in the knowledge he had of how badly the American people had fallen. The suffered a moral and ethical fall due to them becoming the aggressor, after they had suffered and knew so much pain from their experience being under the rule of Great Britain. As a result of what happened to them they created a system of values that afforded rights to those who needed them and by taking control of other countries in a way that paralleled what they had gone through, it appeared as though they had forgotten what the constitution truly stood for. This behavior goes to show how little things have changed as people have and continue to be human and make the exact same mistakes they have always