Monday 26 March 2012

American Imperialism

L'IMPÉRIALISME AMERICAIN
Encore un pas et...

Americans rebelled against the imperialism of Britain to become their own country: a bulwark of "freedom and democracy" against the old world of empire-building. Ever since that successful revolution, they have been accused of doing the same thing to others. In this cartoon, we see Uncle Sam (a caricature of the stereotypical American) stepping on the Philippines and Cuba on his way to Canada.

This is a great introduction to topics that ought to help tie together historical concepts. It should raise questions such as:
1) What other countries do the US control?
2) Is what America did the same as what Britain did in building the British Empire?
3) Is imperialism (empire-building) a good thing or a bad thing? (think hard before you answer, and consider the consequences)
4) Why didn't the US take over Canada?
etc.etc.

Many of the cartoons that I use in class were taken from this book by Charles Hou (former Socials 10 teacher in BC):

No comments:

Post a Comment