American Anti-Imperialist League Analysis

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The late 19th century in the United States was an era that was highly characterized by the American people’s fascination in spreading the ideals and culture of the United States outside of its borders. This fascination sprung from various ideas at the time that said that America was, in some way, an exceptional model that the world would be grateful to adopt. Collectively, those ideas formed the basis for an ideology that has been referred to as American exceptionalism. Many examples of this exceptional way of thinking can be found across the nation’s issues and debates during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet one of the strongest examples of American exceptionalism lies within the debates that centered around American imperialism …show more content…
In clarifying that message, the League developed a document, that was aptly titled the “Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League” to explain their position. The overall message of this piece declares that the United States was a nation founded on the belief of self-governance and the essential rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as evidenced by the nation’s history. These fundamental principles are seen by the author to be uniquely American, and that following the actions of imperialism is to destroy these “noblest ideals” of America’s founding. In the description of their platform, the League even directly states imperialism as being “hostile to liberty and . . . an evil from which it has been our glory [as United States citizens] to be free” (CITE). This quote emphasizes just how remarkable the ideals of American democracy were perceived in respect to the malicious actions of Spanish imperialism. However, the Anti-Imperialist League argues that American democracy is not a virtue that can be taught through militarist force, but rather it can only be modeled in a foreign nation by its own people. To act otherwise would be to “betray American liberty in pursuit of un-American ends” (CITE). …show more content…
Not only did both the imperialist and the anti-imperialist perspectives of the debate share ideas on the exceptional nature of American democracy, they both wished to see that democracy spread to the rest of the world, albeit through different avenues. Together, these beliefs provided the cornerstone for American exceptionalism in the late 19th
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