BECOMING A WORLD POWER ★^687time of worldwide concern about immigration, race relations, and the “white
man’s burden,” all of which inspired a global sense of fraternity among
“ Anglo- Saxon” nations. Chinese exclusion in the United States strongly influ-
enced anti- Chinese laws adopted in Canada.
One “lesson” these countries learned from the United States was that the
“failure” of Reconstruction demonstrated the impossibility of multiracial
democracy. The extremely hostile account of Reconstruction by the Brit-
ish writer James Bryce in his widely read book The American Commonwealth
(published in London in 1888) circulated around the world. Bryce called
African- Americans “children of nature” and insisted that giving them the
right to vote had been a terrible mistake, which had produced all kinds of
corruption and misgovernment. His book was frequently cited by the found-
ers of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) to justify their “white Australia”
policy, which barred the further immigration of Asians. The Union of South
Africa, inaugurated in 1911, saw its own policy of racial separation— later
known as apartheid— as following in the footsteps of segregation in the United
States. Even American proposals that did not become law, such as the liter-
acy test for immigrants vetoed by President Cleveland, influenced measures
adopted overseas. The United States, too, learned from other countries. The
Gentleman’s Agreement that limited Japanese immigration early in the twen-
tieth century (see Chapter 19) followed a similar arrangement between Japan
and Canada.
“Republic or Empire?”
The emergence of the United States as an imperial power sparked intense
debate. Opponents formed the Anti- Imperialist League. It united writers and
social reformers who believed American energies should be directed at home,
businessmen fearful of the cost of maintaining overseas outposts, and rac-
ists who did not wish to bring non- white populations into the United States.
Among its prominent members were E. L. Godkin, the editor of The Nation, the
novelist William Dean Howells, and the labor leader George E. McNeill. The
league held meetings throughout the country and published pamphlets called
Liberty Tracts, warning that empire was incompatible with democracy. Ameri-
ca’s historic mission, the league declared, was to “help the world by an example
of successful self- government,” not to conquer other peoples. A “republic of
free men,” anti- imperialists proclaimed, should assist the people of Puerto Rico
and the Philippines in their own “struggles for liberty,” rather than subjecting
them to colonial rule.
In 1900, Democrats again nominated William Jennings Bryan to run against
McKinley. The Democratic platform opposed the Philippine War for placing
How did the United States emerge as an imperial power in the 1890s?