HIST 368 | The Course of American Empire: The United States in the West and Pacific, 1776-1919

This course explores the politics and culture of United States imperialism from the nation's founding until the first decades of the 20th century. Focusing on westward expansion and the projection of U.S. power into Asia and the Pacific, the course considers how the ideas and policies supporting expansion and military conquest were developed, expressed, manifested, and contested. It examines how various peoples have confronted U.S. colonialism, including Indians, Mexicans, Chinese, Hawaiians and Filipinos. It also examines the economic underpinnings of expansion, its environmental impact, and the racial ideas that paradoxically were used both to justify and to criticize imperialism.