From the Far West to the Far East: American Imperialism, 1845-1945

About this experience

Fridays, 10:00 – 11:30 am 
September 19 – October 24 

In this class we will trace the direct line in U.S. history leading from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), which gave the U.S. a Pacific presence, to the attack on Pearl Harbor (1941), which initiated the attempt to remove the U.S. from the Pacific. The line threads its way through the story of American involvements in the Pacific and Far East from the 1850s through the 1940s—the opening and “civilizing” of Japan, the commercial and missionary penetration of China, the annexation of Hawaii, the acquisition of the Philippines and various Pacific islands, the support for Japan’s early military enterprises in Korea, China, and Manchuria, the linking of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans via the Panama Canal (including the virtual takeover of Central America and the Caribbean to secure the canal), and finally U.S. efforts in the 1920s and 1930s to manage an increasingly aggressive and expansionistic Japan. Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (and many other sites) in December 1941 announced the failure of these efforts and the decision by Japan to challenge the American empire everywhere in the Pacific. Numerous museums, monuments, and commemorations dedicated to acts of resistance keep the memory of American imperialism very much alive in various Pacific and Far Eastern countries, and the fact that story of 19th-and early 20th-century U.S. imperialism represents the deep background to the story of present-day China-U.S. relations gives it great contemporary relevance. 

1. Manifest Destiny: To the Pacific/Across the Pacific, 1845-1869
2. Industrialization, Evangelization, and Expansion, 1870-1895
3. The Imperial Moment: Annexations East and West, 1895-1904
4. Empires Rising, Empires Declining: Russia, Japan, China, and the U.S., 1904-1917
5. The Panama Canal and the New Monroe Doctrine, 1898-1917
6. Colliding Empires: Japanese Imperialism and the Path to Pearl Harbor, 1921-1941

  Refund Policy

To receive a refund, a written request must be received 3 business days before the first class. A $25 processing fee will be deducted from the refund. Cancellation requests received less than 3 business days before the first class but before the second meeting will receive a 50% refund.  ALL written requests should be emailed to emeritus@spartanstrategiesinc.org or mailed to the address below.

Spartan Strategies, Inc.
Attn: Emeritus Society
5900 Summit Avenue, #201
Browns Summit, NC  27214