NAME : DATE: HOUR:

To be or not to be
an Imperial Power?
Should we acquire territories?

. Take a stand and be a part of the You are living in 1901
debate. Its up to you to defend the argument of either Albert J. Beveridge or George F. Hoar.

YOUR TASK: TAKE A STAND

You will now take a stand on the following question: Should America become an imperial power?
You may either support or oppose the war. Use the supplied information to provide reasons that
support your position. Write a short (30-60 seconds) speech that is either in favor of acquiring
territories or against. You will be handing in the written part for a grade and will have the opportunity
to present your speech orally to the class. Your speech MUST include the following:

Your position: Should we remain isolationist become an imperial power?
Support your position clearly with information from history, geography, civics or economics
that you already know (prior knowledge). Consider: an economic argument, a military
argument, an ethical argument
Support your position with information from the data section, including one quote from
Beveridge or Hoar, explaining how it applies to your argument.
Support your position clearly with reference to at least one Core Ideal of American Democracy.
Support your position clearly by explaining and refuting one reason why the other side of the
argument is wrong (counter argument).
Restate your position in conclusion.
Speech length of 30-60 seconds (about one typed page)


DATA SECTION
PRIMARY SOURCE #1:
Senator Albert J. Beveridge Defends America's Right to Subjugate
"Savage" Peoples and Foreign Governments
Mr. President, the times call for candor. The Philippines are ours forever"territory belonging to the United
States," as the Constitution calls them. And just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. We will
not retreat from either. We will not abandon our opportunity in the Orient. We will not renounce our part in the
mission of our race: trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world. And we will move forward to our work,
not howling our regrets like slaves whipped to their burdens, but with gratitude for a task worthy of our
strength, and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in
the regeneration of the world....
Pray God that spirit never fails. Pray God the time may never come when Mammon and the love of ease
shall so debase our blood that we will fear to shed it for the flag and its imperial destiny. Pray God the time may
never come when American heroism is but a legend like the story of the Cid, American faith in our mission and
our right a dream dissolved, and the glory of our mighty race departed....

PRIMARY SOURCE #2:










Equality the condition of being equal
Rights basic conditions guaranteed to each person
Liberty the freedom to act or think without being limited by unnecessary force
Opportunity the promise that people should have the chance to attain their hopes and
dreams
Democracy a form of government that places power in the hands of the people



Score 9th Grade U.S. History Constructed Response Rubric
7-8
I am able to take a position and support it with historically significant evidence including
terms I can effectively define/describe/explain related to this topic, and provide many
examples/details from the text, class discussion and activities.
5-6
I am able to discuss historically significant evidence including terms I can
define/describe/explain related to this topic, and provide some examples/details from the
text, class discussion and activities.
3-4 I am somewhat able to define/describe/explain several things about this topic.
1-2 I am unable to define/describe/explain more than a few things about this topic.

Score ________________
revised 8.X.13
Senator George F. Hoar Denounces American "Imperialism."
If a strong people try to govern a weak one against its will, the home government will get despotic, coo. You
cannot maintain despotism in Asia and a republic in America. If you try to deprive even a savage or a barbarian
of his just rights you can never do it without becoming a savage or a barbarian yourself.
What has been the practical statesmanship which comes from your ideals and your sentimentalities? You
have wasted six hundred millions of treasure. You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand American livesthe
flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you
desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their
harvest, bringing their sheaves with them, in the shape of thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag
out their miserable lives, wrecked in body and mind. You make the American flag in the eyes of numerous
people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, and of the burning of human dwellings, and of the horror
of the water torture. Lincoln or the soldiers of the Revolution or of the Civil War as models, has looked in some
cases to Spain for your example. I believenay, I knowthat in general our officers and soldiers are humane.
But in some cases they have carried on your warfare with a mixture of American ingenuity and Castilian cruelty.

FOUNDING IDEALS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY