SEGREGATION & IMPERIALISM

After the civil war, many African-Americans still lived in South, who were still stuck
to inhumane views about slavery. Since lincoln was assassinated before he could apply his
plan for Reconstruction, and his Southerner VP Andrew Johnson created his own plans.
Instead favouring the newly freed slaves and aiding them out of poverty, without Lincoln, the
South remained unchanged and were easily “let off the hook” for the evils committed. This
lead to a time period of maltreatment, perhaps a way of living even worse than slavery.
Groups like the KKK were formed to scare African-Americans from exercising their rights,
such as harassening and scaring them away from voting. Though their rights were protected
by the law, it didn’t stop White Supremacists from segregating Blacks, by treating them
differently. The North and South still remained having drastically different views, which is
perhaps why even to present day there are visibly different political and ethical views
between the North and South of America. The result of the civil war was freedom, but also
segregation, having “separate but equal” facilities. Segregation is the root of racism in
America and belief that one race or religion is superior.
The belief that Christian “Whites” were superior to any other religion or race is a
common theme found throughout American history. It began with the Europeans slaughtering
Natives for land and wealth, then to enslavement and dehumanization of Natives and
eventually, African Americans too, which resulted in many decades of brutal enslavement.
Even the Civil War is the cause of White Supremacy, not an uprising for African-Americans.
Realistically, if it weren’t for stubborn supremacists, the war could’ve been avoided, as
Lincoln had said- “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the
momentous issue of civil war.”1 This unequal treatment and need for superiority still exists
today, but on a quieter level. Not only is the supremacist group, the KKK, now an
underground organization, but White Supremacists (still often found in the South) are less
outspoken now, reverting to more subtle methods of racism, but still often having outbursts of
extremism. One example of a racist under wraps is the current US president who’d recently
called several African countries “s***holes”, but in an interview after the fact claiming that
he’s the “least racist person [the reporter] has ever interviewed”.2 Sadly, evident from its

1
Roper, Jon. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Presidents of America: An Authoritative History of the
American Presidency, Shown in More than 460 Photographs and Illustrations. (Lorenz, 2012.) page.87-90
2
Smith, David, and Kevin Rawlinson. “Trump insists 'I am the least racist person' amid outrage over remarks.”
The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Jan. 2018,
elected representatives and constant issues with racism and inequalities, America’s Identity
includes common mistreatment of minorities.
This sense of superiority stems for the Social Darwin Theory, believing that one race
is superior to the rest and are better fit for survival. Also, this theory suggested that white
Americans were responsible to educate and help the “savages”. This theory was one of the
reasons the US began to expand and join the imperialists at the end of the 19th century. The
other reasons were because of their military/strategic interests, closure of the American
frontier, and manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is America’s hunger for world power; they
saw other countries like Britain and India expanding, and they wanted to join in. To do this,
they needed a great military, but more importantly, a strong navy/sea power; and America
had the strongest navy in the world. After the Spanish American war they won Puerto-Rico,
Cuba, Guam, Philippines, Dominican. They made laws that allowed the countries to govern
themselves, but that America can install military in their territory, and they cannot take part
in American elections. America also bought Alaska from Russia, and “saved” Hawaii after
their monarchy was overthrown by rebels. As the US gained more territory and increased
involvement with world affairs, they achieved economic imperialism and supremacy in the
Western Hemisphere. Imperialism represents the highlight of America’s identity. It isn’t
necessarily a bad thing, but their hunger for power remains a large aspect of its identity, and
has been consistent since day 1. To this date, America remains an economically thriving,
militarily powerful nation because of its greed for wealth and power. Their overall power is
another aspect of their identity. They came a long way from rebellious colonists to become an
independent world power. Their history and rise to power plays a part into America’s
egotistical, but genuinely patriotic identity. They are proud of what they’ve accomplished, as
they should be because they were able to begin from nothing and create an empire, but at the
cost of many lives and generations.