Immigration: Challenges and Dangers
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about the challenges that immigrants faced in coming to North America during the colonial period. Professor Bailyn explains that the transatlantic voyage was always unpredictable..
Immigration: The Irish Become A Force
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about the reasons behind the increasingly influential role played by Irish immigrants beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century in cities like..
Impact of Slavery, The
Historian and author Ira Berlin argues that slavery was vile, hideous and obscene, but also an institution which became, "...the seed bed of so much creativity, and so much we...appreciate and love about American life."
Imperial Ambition: Business Interests Push U.S. Involvement Overseas
Great Britain amasses vast colonies in Asia and Africa in the second half of 19th century. With the exception of the United States, other countries scramble to join race. Many Americans loath the idea of imperialism and ..
Imperial Ambition: Difficulties with Cuba and the Philippines
The new American empire is small in comparison to the great European empires of the era. Three recent acquisitions--Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico--present relatively few problems for the country, but Cuba and the Phili..
Imperial Ambition: Diplomacy of Imperialism, The
As a newcomer to the diplomacy of imperialism, the United States finds itself welcomed by some countries and rejected by others. It is the United State's proposed open-door policy toward China that particularly angers so..
Imperial Ambition: Early Overtures in Western Hemisphere
Since 1790, the Caribbean is a region of primary interest to the United States. Fear of European expansion in Western hemisphere plays out in the Venezuelan crisis of 1895. Henry Cabot Lodge pressures for the United Stat..
Imperial Ambition: Events Leading to War with Spain over Cuba
The passage of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff in 1894 devastates the Cuban sugar market and contributes to civil unrest and revolutionary activity on the island Charges of Spanish human rights violations against Cuba are repo..
Imperial Ambition: Splendid Little War, The
The United States declares war on Spain in April of 1898. Anti-imperialists in Congress attach the Teller Amendment to the war resolution stating that the U.S. will not annex Cuba. The support of Cuban guerillas and Spai..
Imperial Ambition: Spoils of Spanish-American War Extend beyond Caribbean
Annexation of the Philippines becomes a target of opportunity in the closing days of war. The United States also invades and annexes Puerto Rico, an unincorporated but strategic island territory. There is fierce Senate d..