American Imperialism

Below, you will see a number of questions and tasks you will be expected to complete within your assigned groups.  There are 3 color coded groups, and within each pre-assigned group, you will be expected to answer carefully and thoughtfully your assigned question sets according to your groups color.  Once your group answers the assigned questions, we will share the answers on Wednesday as a class.  Within your group, elect on representative to report out on Wednesday the correct answers.  

Green Group-You will answer all green colored questions.  Make sure you work together to find the correct answers. 

Yellow Group-You will answer all yellow questions.

Blue Group-You will answer all blue questions.

Read the questions below and begin your WebQuest on American Imperialism. 

Task #1

http://www.hippocampus.org/HippoCampus/History%20%26%20Government;jsessionid=4F246269517AEB435115E77DDFA6A759

After your click on the above link, click on Moments in American History and find the video titled Manifest Destiny.  

View the short (2 min.) clip, answer the questions below:

1)1)1)  Who coined the term "Manifest Destiny"?

2)2)2)  What did he want the United States to do?

3)3)3) How did the idea of Manifest Destiny catch on?  

4)  How did the United States complete the idea of Manifest Destiny in the continental United States by the end of the 19th century? 

Task #2

Next, click on http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/imperialism/

Answer the following questions by clicking on the following portions of the website under contents.

Click on Expansion in the Pacific

1)1) What war stopped the original Manifest Destiny that began in the 1840's?

2)2) 2) What did Captain Alfred T. Mahan believe that America's survival depended on?  Why?

3)3) 3) What did America need to support a strong navy

4)4)  Why did America want to expand into Asia?  What did he warn President Fillmore about?

5)  After reading about how the United States forced the Japanese to make trade concessions, what do you think the Japanese would eventually do if they became an industrialized nation?  Explain your reasoning.

Task #3-All color groups will complete task below.  

Scroll down to the next article-A letter to an Emperor and read about the meeting.  Make sure you take detailed notes on the meeting, as you will be interpreting the outcome in a 6 panel comic strip using the website below.  If you would like to draw your comic instead of using the Pixton website,you may do so on the designated area on the WebQuest handout.  

 

1. Go to www.Pixton.com/activate
2. Enter the Activation Code:ELYE-QQ
3. Click on the green open tab, and follow instructions.
4. Click on either create a comic or create a character.  You will need to have at least 3 characters and 6 panels in your comic.  
5. The comic should try to capture the discussion between Commodore Perry and the Japanese delegation
6. Comic will be graded according to rubric posted on Pixton assignment.
7. When you are completed, print the 6 panel cartoon and turn in at the end of the Webquest

Task #4

 Next, go to http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/imperialism/

Scroll down to Spanish-American War 

1)1)1)  Why was the battleship Maine in Havanna, Cuba in 1898?

2) 2)2) What happened to the Maine?  How many sailors died?

Next, click on the following link: http://www.spanamwar.com/maine.htm and scroll down to Background

3)3) According to newspaper accounts, what was the cause for the sinking of the Maine?  

4)  Why do you think we went to war with Spain?  Do you believe that the ship was sunk intentionally?  

Task #5-"White Man's Burden"

Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden, 1899
This famous poem, written by Britain's imperial poet, was a response to the American takeover of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. Read the poem to yourself several times before beginning to answer the questions below.  All groups read and answer.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Guiding Questions:

1. According to Kipling, what is the ‘White Man’s Burden?’
2. Based on this poem, how did imperialists (people who supported annexation) think
of the people in the countries they were taking over (i.e., Cuba, Philippines, etc.)?
3. Kipling supported U.S. annexation of the Philippines. What might someone say who
disagreed with Kipling?
Vocabulary
Burden: a heavy responsibility
Breed: children
Harness: boring daily work
Fluttered: unsteady
Folk: people
Sullen: bad-tempered; gloomy
Cloak: hide