William Graham Sumner - The American Anti-Imperialist League - Digital Archive - Nathan Spicer - Research Guides at University of Northern Iowa

by Nathan Spicer

This digital archive was curated by Nathan Spicer in partial completion of UNI HIST 1011 Field Experience: Public History.

William Graham Spencer

William Graham Sumner was the first American chair in sociology. Doing most of his work at Yale University, he was the man who coined such terms as “ethnocentrism” in the social sciences, which he theorized was a source for imperialism.
--- Nathan Spicer

Essay: The Conquest of the United States by Spain - William Graham Sumner

Sumner, William Graham. “The Conquest of the United States by Spain: A Lecture Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Yale University, January 16, 1899.” Boston: Estes & Company, 1899.

“The war with Spain was precipitated upon us headlong, without reflection or deliberation”

--- William Graham Sumner

“Spain was the first, for a long time the greatest, of the modern imperialistic. The United States, by its historical origin, its traditions, and its principles, is the chief representative of the revolt and reaction against that kind of a state. I intend to show that, by the line of action now proposed to us, which we call expansion and imperialism, we are throwing away some of the most important elements of the American symbol and are adopting some of the most important elements of the Spanish symbol. We have beaten Spain in a military conflict, but we are submitting to be conquered by her on the field of ideas and policies.”

--- William Graham Sumner