By Dorothy Umoh
Colonialism takes place when a certain nation or group of people move into another’s territory, takes possession of the land and derives economic gain from there at the expense of the original occupant. Colonialism has been the fate of the American empire since its inception and can be examined in two phases. The first phase occurred when English settlers who later became Americans physically colonized the New World by invading Indian territories and forcibly converting them into English colonies. The thirteen colonies included; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the Carolinas, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey and Georgia ( Leigh, 2001-2010). Colonization was intermixed with slavery and slavery with racism. Eventually, America established a society that placed whites above Latinos, black freed slaves, and the reservation dwelling Native American Indians. The hierarchy would influence America’s relationship to the colonized nations in the next phase of American Imperialism (Mann, pp.1-14).
In the second phase, America is dealing with virtual colonization in which America attempts to control its neighbors in Central America and the Philippines. The war between the U.S. and Spain started after the latter sank the U.S. military ship, Maine, at Havana harbor in 1898. At the end of the Spanish-American war, the U.S. acquired the following colonies: Cuba, Puerto Rica, the Philippines and other smaller Pacific Islands. Mann states that these regions were considered “nonincorporated territories,” because the ruling class white Americans did not want to inherent any peoples of “lower races” than themselves (p. 16). As a result, American colonialism was hindered by racism. The American imperialist rulers such as President McKinley did not want to admit the Cubans, the Filipinos and the Negroes in the new colonies as citizens of the United States. This second phase of colonialism in the U.S was also hindered by the fact that there was no mass interest in American citizens to want to settle in the new colonies. Fairly new at this type of colonization, the U.S. established its own government in the territories without consulting the local people. This brought about a three-year anti-colonialism battle towards the U.S, by their former supporters, Cuba and the Philippines. The war stirred up protest back home in the United States resulting in the era of anti-imperialism spearheaded by such individuals like, Mark Twain. This pushed American imperialists to adopt an indirect rule in the colonies giving most of the power to the local elites to rule themselves. The colonies were now considered temporary colonies with a view towards independence once Americans decided they were mature enough to be accorded their own independence. During the second phase of American imperialism racism became permanently ingrained into the fabric of the American society. Whites were placed above Latinos and Filipinos who were themselves placed above the blacks in the racial hierarchy. The savages occupied the bottom of the ladder (Mann, pp. 13-26).
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References
Mann, M. (2008). American empires: Past and present. University of California-Los Angeles.
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Leigh, K. (2010). History of the United States. Retrieved from, http://www.usahistory.info/colonial/government.html
