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The American Anti-Imperialist League - Digital Archive - Nathan Spicer

A digital archive of essays from and other primary source material on The American Anti-Imperialist League. Primary resources gather and curated by Nathan Spicer in partial completion of the requirements of the HIST 1011 Field Experience.

Essay: Anti-Imperialism and the Tracks of our Forefathers

Adams, Charles Francis. “Imperialism and the Tracks of Our Forefathers: A Paper Read by Charles Francis Adams Before the Lexington, Massachusetts, Historical Society, Tuesday, December 20, 1898.” Boston: D. Estes & company, 1899.

"A wholly new problem was thus suddenly presented to the people of the United States. On the one hand, it is asserted that, by destroying Spanish government in these islands, the United States has assumed responsibility for them, both to the inhabitants and to the world. This is a moral obligation. On the other hand, trade and commercial inducements are held out which would lead us to treat these islands simply as a commencement—the first instalment—in a system of unlimited extra-territorial dependencies and imperial expansion. With these responsibilities and obligations we here this evening have nothing to do, any more than we have to do with the expediency or probable results of the policy of colonial expansion, when once fairly adopted and finally entered upon. These hereafter will be, but are not yet, historical questions; and we are merely historical inquirers. We therefore, no matter what others may do, must try to confine ourselves to our own proper business and functions."

---- Charles Francis Adams Jr.