American Imperialism Course

Lesson 1 • Defining Imperialism and Empire

Distinguishes imperialism, colonialism, and hegemony as analytical categories. Grounds subsequent analysis in precise, contested terminology used by historians and political theorists.

Lesson 2 • Ideological Roots of Expansion

Traces Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, and civilizationist rhetoric as drivers of expansionist ideology. Connects 19th-century ideas to later imperial justifications.

Lesson 3 • Historiographical Schools and Debates

Surveys major interpretive traditions from nationalist to revisionist and post-colonial schools. Equips students to evaluate competing scholarly arguments about U.S. expansion.

Lesson 1 • Indigenous Dispossession and Settler Colonialism

Examines removal policies, treaty violations, and reservation systems as foundational imperial mechanisms. Situates Native dispossession within broader imperial frameworks introduced in Chapter 1.

Lesson 2 • Early Pacific and Caribbean Interests

Traces commercial and strategic interests in Hawaii, Cuba, and Pacific trade routes before 1898. Establishes the pre-war context for overseas empire examined in Chapter 3.

Lesson 3 • Territorial Acquisitions and Annexations

Covers major land acquisitions through purchase, war, and negotiation from the late 18th to mid-19th century. Demonstrates how legal and military tools combined to extend sovereignty.

Lesson 1 • Insular Cases and Colonial Governance

Examines judicial rulings that defined the constitutional status of new territories as neither foreign nor fully domestic. Links legal doctrine to the practical administration of empire.

Lesson 2 • Treaty Outcomes and Territorial Acquisitions

Analyzes the peace settlement transferring Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to U.S. control. Examines the constitutional and political debates over governing non-contiguous territories.

Lesson 3 • Anti-Imperialist Opposition

Surveys the organized resistance to overseas empire from political, racial, and constitutional perspectives. Demonstrates that imperialism was contested domestically from its outset.

Lesson 4 • Causes and Pretexts for War

Identifies humanitarian, economic, and strategic factors that drove the U.S. into conflict with Spain. Connects yellow journalism and public opinion to policy escalation.

Lesson 1 • Philippine-American War and Colonial Rule

Covers the brutal suppression of Filipino resistance and the subsequent colonial administration. Demonstrates the gap between civilizationist rhetoric and colonial violence.

Lesson 2 • Wilsonian Idealism and Interventionism

Examines the paradox of Wilson's democratic rhetoric alongside repeated military interventions in Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Connects moral justification to imperial practice.

Lesson 3 • Roosevelt Corollary and Big Stick Policy

Analyzes the extension of the Monroe Doctrine into an interventionist mandate for the Western Hemisphere. Connects ideological justifications to specific military and diplomatic actions.

Lesson 4 • Open Door Policy in Asia

Traces U.S. efforts to maintain commercial access to China amid European and Japanese imperial competition. Links trade ideology to diplomatic strategy in East Asia.

Lesson 1 • Economic Expansion and Corporate Empire

Traces the global reach of U.S. corporations in oil, agriculture, and manufacturing during the 1920s and 1930s. Demonstrates how private enterprise extended U.S. influence beyond formal territory.

Lesson 2 • Good Neighbor Policy and Its Limits

Covers the rhetorical shift away from intervention in Latin America under Franklin Roosevelt. Assesses whether the policy represented genuine change or rebranded control.

Lesson 3 • Post-World War I Order and U.S. Power

Examines U.S. emergence as a creditor nation and its role in shaping the postwar international order. Connects wartime mobilization to peacetime economic dominance.

Lesson 1 • Covert Operations and Regime Change

Examines CIA-led interventions that overthrew or destabilized governments deemed hostile to U.S. interests. Demonstrates the covert dimension of Cold War imperial practice.

Lesson 2 • Containment Doctrine and Its Applications

Analyzes the strategic logic of containment and its translation into policy across multiple regions. Connects theoretical doctrine to specific interventions examined in later sections.

Lesson 3 • Postwar Architecture of American Power

Covers the creation of international financial institutions, military alliances, and forward basing networks after 1945. Establishes the structural foundations of Cold War hegemony.

Lesson 4 • Korean and Vietnam Wars as Imperial Conflicts

Analyzes both wars as expressions of Cold War containment with imperial dimensions and devastating consequences. Connects military strategy to broader debates about U.S. global commitments.

Lesson 1 • Unipolar Moment and Strategic Doctrine

Examines the strategic thinking that shaped U.S. policy after Soviet collapse, including debates over primacy and multilateralism. Connects doctrinal shifts to specific policy choices.

Lesson 2 • War on Terror and Imperial Overreach

Examines the post-2001 military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq as expressions of unilateral imperial ambition. Assesses the strategic and humanitarian consequences of the War on Terror.

Lesson 3 • Economic Globalization as Imperial Tool

Analyzes how international trade rules, structural adjustment programs, and financial institutions extended U.S. economic influence. Connects economic policy to political outcomes in developing nations.

Lesson 4 • Democracy Promotion and Soft Power

Evaluates U.S. efforts to spread democratic governance through aid, civil society funding, and diplomatic pressure. Distinguishes genuine democratization from imperial regime-change agendas.

Lesson 1 • Drone Warfare and Surveillance Empire

Examines targeted killing programs, global surveillance networks, and cyber operations as new imperial instruments. Connects technological capability to questions of sovereignty and accountability.

Lesson 2 • Theoretical Synthesis and Future Scenarios

Integrates course frameworks to evaluate competing futures for U.S. global power. Develops students' capacity to construct and defend original analytical arguments.

Lesson 3 • China, Multipolarity, and Imperial Competition

Analyzes the rise of China and other powers as challenges to U.S. hegemony. Situates current great-power competition within the longer history of imperial rivalry.

Lesson 4 • Decline, Retrenchment, and Resilience

Examines scholarly and policy debates over whether U.S. global power is declining or adapting. Connects historical patterns to current strategic choices.