American Imperialism in the Long Nineteenth Century: A Documentary History, 1775–1919

Dr Adam Burns is Head of Politics at Brighton College. He completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh and EdD at the University of Leicester. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has written widely on US imperialism and political history, including the books American Imperialism: The Territorial Expansion of the United States, 1783-2013 (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), The United States, 1865-1920: Reuniting a Nation (Routledge, 2020) and William Howard Taft and the Philippines: A Blueprint for Empire (University of Tennessee Press, 2020).

• Volume 3: From the Mexican-American War to the Spanish-American War,1846–1898 Edited by Adam BurnsGeneral IntroductionVolume 3 IntroductionPart 1. Fixing the Southern Border1. James K. Polk, excerpt from ‘Inaugural Address [in Polk’s hand]’ 4 March 18452. John C. Calhoun, excerpt from, ‘Speech of Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina, on his Resolution in Reference to the War with Mexico, delivered in the Senate, 4 January 1848’ (Washington, DC: John T. Towers, 1848), pp. 3–5.3. Abraham Lincoln, excerpts from ‘Speech of Mr. Lincoln, of Illinois, on the Reference of the President’s Message in the House of Representatives, 12 January 1848’ (Washington, DC: J. & G.S. Gideon, 1848), pp. 3–11.4. ‘The Gadsden Treaty Territory’, Charleston Daily Courier, 14 March 1854, p. 2.5. ‘Admission of California [Speech by Mr Shields in Congress]’, Weekly National Intelligencer [Washington, DC], 13 April 1850, pp. 1–2.6. Sheldon F. Gauthier and Elizabeth Roe, Elizabeth Roe. Texas, 1941.7. ‘Visit of Prof Painter to California’, in C. C. Painter, The Condition of Affairs in Indian Country and California. (Philadelphia, PA: Office of the Indian Rights Association, 1888), pp. 51–56.8. ‘The Chinese Exclusion Law’, The Daily Examiner, San Francisco, Cal., 17 June 1882, p. 2Part 2. Fixing the Northern Border9. Bryan Mullanphy and Samuel Hawken, ‘Petition of citizens of the United States, praying that measures may be adopted by Congress to protect the citizens of the United States in Oregon, &c.,’ April 10, 1846. Senate Doc. 288, 29th Congress, 1st Session.10. Letters between Russian Grand Duke Konstantin and Prince A.M. Gorchakov, March–December 1857.11. ‘The Cession of Russian American to the United States,’ New York Herald, 1 April 1867, p.4.12. Extracts from Speech of the Honorable Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the Cession of Russian America to the United States (Washington: Congressional Globe Office, 1867), pp. 11–15.13. Charles Cotesworth Beaman, ‘Our New Northwest,’ Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 206, July 1867, pp. 170–178.14. Leonard Myers, ‘Purchase of Alaska. Speech of Hon. Leonard Myers, in the House of Representatives,’ 1 July 1868 (Washington: Congressional Globe Office, 1868).15. William H. Seward, Alaska: Speech of William H. Seward at Sitka (Washington, DC: J. J. Chapman, 1879), pp. 10–14.16. Frederick Whymper, extract from ‘A Visit to the Capital of Alaska’, in Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska (London: John Murray, 1869), pp. 93–106.17. Extract from Report of the Hon. Vincent Colyer, United States Special Indian Commissioner, on the Indian Tribes and Their Surroundings in Alaska Territory, From Personal Observation and Inspection in 1869 [November] (Washington, DC: GPO, 1869), pp. 533–537.Part 3. “Winning the West”18. ‘The Indian War in Oregon’, Nevada Journal [Nevada City, CA], 28 December 1855, p.2.19. Congressional Testimony of Mr. John S. Smith, Washington, 14 March 1865, Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Massacre of Cheyenne Indians, 38th Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, DC: Congressional Globe Office, 1865), pp. 56–59.20. ‘Treaty with the Sioux-Brule, Oglala, Miniconjou, Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, San Arcs, and Santee-and Arapaho [Fort Laramie Treaty]’, 29 April 1868.21. ‘Deadwood’, Bismarck Weekly Tribune [Bismarck, ND], 31 May 1876, p.1.22. Sitting Bull to Chief Joseph, in The Works of Sitting Bull in the Original French and Latin: With Translations Diligently Compared (Chicago, IL: Knight & Leonard, 1878), pp.10–13.23. Excerpts from Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1878 (Washington: GPO, 1878), pp. iii–x.24. Pat Garrett, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid (Santa Fe, NM: New Mexican Printing and Publishing Co., 1882), pp. 3–5.25. ‘Sitting Bull Talks’, The Philadelphia Inquirer [Philadelphia, PA], 3 July 1885, p. 2.26. ‘Indian Affairs: Commissioner Atkins Reports Satisfactory Progress in Dealing with the Red Men’, The Indianapolis Journal [Indianapolis, IN], 1 November 1887, p. 2.27. Martha Jane Cannary [Calamity Jane], Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane, by Herself (c. 1900).28. James Mooney, ‘The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890’, in Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93 by J.W. Powell (Director), 54th Congress, 2nd Session, HR Doc. 230, Part 2 (Washington, GPO, 1896).Part 4. Hawaii and the Pacific29. Extract from American Guano Company, Report to the Stockholders of the American Guano Company (Brooklyn, NY: Jacobs & Brockway, 1857), pp. 9–10.30. ‘The American Guano Islands’, The National Era, [DC] 16 June 1859, p. 2.31. Hiram Bingham, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands (Canandaigua, NY: H.D. Goodwin, 1855), pp. 583–585.32. Letter from David L. Gregg to Abraham Lincoln, 24 January 1863, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Series 1.33. Helen Mather, extract from One Summer in Hawaii (New York: Cassell Publishing, 1891), pp. 277–282.34. Anne M. Prescott, extract from Hawaii, 2nd ed. (San Francisco, CA: Chas. A. Murdock & Co., 1893), pp. 28–37.35. Lorrin A. Thurston, extract from A Hand-Book on the Annexation of Hawaii (St. Joseph, MI: A.B. Morse Co., 1897), pp. 3–17.36. ‘First Step Taken in Hawaiian Annexation Treaty’, The South-Bend Daily Tribune [South Bend, IN], 17 June 1897, p. 2.37. ‘Late Annexation News’, The Independent [Honolulu, HI], 11 February 1898, p. 2.38. ‘Hawaii Holds the Stage’, The Hawaiian Star [Honolulu, HI], 4 June 1898, p. 2.39. Joint Resolution to Provide for Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, 7 July 1898; and Transcript of the Letter of Protest that Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii sent to the House of Representatives. US National Archives.Part 5. The Caribbean and War40. ‘Loco Foco Motto [Cuba],’ Jeffersonian Republican [Stroudsburg, PA], 15 June 1848, p. 2.41. Ostend Manifesto, 15 October 1854, in A. B. Hart and E. Channing (eds), American History Leaflets: Colonial and Constitutional, No. 2 (New York: A. Lovell & Co., 1892), pp. 1–9.42. Ulysses Grant, ‘Message Regarding Dominican Republic Annexation’, 31 May 1870.43. Frederick Douglass, ‘Dear Readers [On Annexation of Santo Domingo]’, New National Era, 6 April 1871, p. 2.44. General [Manuel] Quesada, Address of Cuba to the United States, 1873 (New York, NY: Comes, Lawrence & Co., 1873), pp. 9–16.45. ‘[Senator John T.] Morgan on Cuban Annexation’, The Chicago Chronicle, 13 July 1897, p. 6.46. ‘Outrages against Cuban Women’, The Scranton Tribune, 6 February 1897, p. 8.47. ‘Senator Hanna Says “No War!”’, New York Journal [Hearst], 23 February 1898, p. 1.48. William McKinley, excerpts from ‘Message Regarding the Cuban Civil War’, 11 April 1898.49. The Teller Amendment, 16 April 1898 (enacted 20 April), in The Bureau of Insular Affairs, The Establishment of Free Government in Cuba (Washington: GPO, 1904), p. 5.Part 6. Women and Empire50. Isabella L. Bird, The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands, 3rd ed. (London: John Murray, 1880), pp. 170–180.51. Minnie Forsyth Grant, Scenes in Hawaii or Life in the Sandwich Islands (Toronto, ON: Hart and Co., 1888), pp. 1–9.52. Emma L. Burnett, ‘For the Young People: Among the Missionary Islands’, Woman's Work for Woman: A Union Magazine, Vol 14, No. 1, Jan. 1884, pp. 19–21.53. Mary T. Hyde, ‘President’s Address: Woman’s Influence in the Uplifting of a Race’, in 23rd Annual Report of the Woman’s Board of Missions for the Pacific Islands, June 5th 1894. (Honolulu: Robert Grieve, 1894), pp. 47–54.54. Queen Lili'uokalani, ‘Hawaiian Autonomy’, in Hawaii’s Story (Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1898), pp. 366–374.Part 7. Indigenous Perspectives55. Chief Joseph, quoted in Joseph Young and William H. Hare, ‘An Indian’s Views of Indian Affairs’, The North American Review, Vol. 128, No. 269 (April, 1879), pp. 415–419.56. Sitting Bull, quoted in James Creelman, On the Great Highway; The Wanderings and Adventures of a Special Correspondent (Boston: Lothrop, 1901), pp. 299–302.57. [William T.] Selwyn’s Interview with Kuwapi, November 22, 1890 in ‘The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890’, in Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1892-93, Part 1, (Washington: GPO, 1896), pp. 799–80 .58. Kalakaua, excerpts from Constitution of the Hawaiian Islands Signed by His Majesty Kalakaua [The “Bayonet” Constitution], 6 July 1887 (Honolulu: Hawaiian Gazette Publishing Co., 1887), pp. 3–9.59. Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii, 1897 in Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents, which were referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations from the 55th Congress.Part 8. Anti-Imperialist Voices60. Grover Cleveland, Message to the Senate and House of Representatives, 18 December 1893, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894, Appendix II, Affairs in Hawaii.61. Miriam Michelson, ‘Strangling Hands Upon a Nation’s Throat’, The Call [San Francisco, CA], 30 September 1897, p. 1.62. Congressman John F. Fitzgerald, ‘Hawaii’, Congressional Record – House, June 15, 1898 Vol. 31, Part 7 — Bound Edition, pp. 5967–5969.63. ‘Opinion on Manila’, The Morning Oregonian, 29 July 1898, p. 3.64. Samuel Gompers, ‘The Future Foreign Policy of the United States’, American Federationist, Vol. 5, No. 7, September 1898, pp. 136–138.Part 9. Through an Environmental Lens65. US Congress, ‘An Act Authorizing a Grant to the State of California of the "Yo-Semite Valley" and of the Land Embracing the "Mariposa Big Tree Grove"’, U.S. Statutes at Large, Volume 13 (1864-1865), 38th Congress.66. Letter from Yosemite – John Muir to Emily Pelton, May 15, 1870, Muir, John, Manuscript letters, 1861-1914.67. J. D. Whitney, extract from The Yosemite Guide-Book: A Description of the Yosemite Valley and the Adjacent Region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the Big Trees of California (Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1874), pp. 16–18.68. US Congress, ‘An Act To Set Apart Certain Tracts of Land in the State of California as Forest Reservations’, U.S. Statutes at Large, Volume 26 (1890-1891), 51st Congress.69. ‘The Yosemite National Park’, San Francisco Examiner, 3 October 1890, p. 6.Index