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    CTA: Male Degeneracy and The Allure of The Philippines

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    America struggles with the idea of expansion and empire based on the idea of male degeneracy. The Philippines found themselves to be an easy target for greedy American Politicians eager to control trade routes to the East.

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    CTA: Male Degeneracy and The Allure of The Philippines

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    SSlovachek
    2K views3 pages
    America struggles with the idea of expansion and empire based on the idea of male degeneracy. The Philippines found themselves to be an easy target for greedy American Politicians eager to control trade routes to the East.

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    CTA: Male Degeneracy and the Allure of the Philippines

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    America struggles with the idea of expansion and empire based on the idea of male degeneracy. The Philippines found themselves to be an easy target for greedy American Politicians eager to control trade routes to the East.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    2K views3 pages

    CTA: Male Degeneracy and The Allure of The Philippines

    Uploaded by

    SSlovachek
    America struggles with the idea of expansion and empire based on the idea of male degeneracy. The Philippines found themselves to be an easy target for greedy American Politicians eager to control trade routes to the East.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    The key takeaways are that imperialists believed acquiring colonies was necessary to prevent the 'degeneration' of American men and society after industrialization. They thought engaging in war and building an empire would allow men to regain their masculinity and strengthen the country.

    The imperialists wanted to gain control of the Philippines because they believed it was necessary to prevent the 'degeneration' of American society by giving men opportunities for heroism and adventure through war and empire-building. They also saw it as a way to open new markets.

    Imperialists viewed the roles of men and women in post-industrial America as 'effeminate' and not upholding traditional gender norms. They believed women should be housewives and mothers and that men needed opportunities to demonstrate masculinity through work, war, and asserting power over other nations.

    Susan Slovachek

    Hist 1302-118
    10/10/2014

    Slovachek 1

    CTA #1 Male Degeneracy and the Allure of the Philippines


    The authors main purpose in writing this article is to inform the reader of the reasons behind
    the imperialists desire to start an overseas empire by gaining control of the Philippines as an American
    Colony. The fact that the article was written one hundred years after the fact leads me to believe that
    the probable audience for this article is other students, professors and perhaps the general public. This
    article is trying to convey that the imperialists believed the change of masculine and feminine roles in
    American society would lead to degeneration and thus the eventual downfall of the country as a whole.
    The author supports this with various quotes by Industrialist regarding the effeminate nature of middle
    class men in post Industrial era America. According to the author only the way Imperialists thought they
    could achieve this was by conquering other nations who were deemed unfit to rule themselves. This
    idea the author surmises set the course for the American Imperialists dreams of an Empire. The key
    question that the author is addressing in her article is why did the United States finish one war, waged in
    the name of liberty, only to start another, waged on behalf of empire?
    The most important evidence in this article is her use of Imperialists quotes from their own
    writings on the subject of the Spanish American war, the acquisition of the Philippines from Spain, and
    state of traditional gender roles and characteristics as well as martial spirit in post Industrial America.
    The author uses Roosevelt as an example stating that he turned to empire as a more lasting remedy to
    the softness wrought by Industrialization. She believes Roosevelt sees upholding traditional gender roles
    by appealing to womens sense of domesticity and mens sense of heroism is the best way to deal with
    this. She uses various quotes to back up this claim, and I feel these quotes are most effective and lend
    to her credibility. The woman must be the housewife, the helpmeet of the homemaker, the wise and
    fearless mother of many healthy children. (Hollitz, 87) When men fear work or fear righteous war,
    when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom. (Hillotz, 88) Both quotes are found

    Slovachek 2
    in his writing The Strenuous Life. She also uses a quotes by McKinnley to back up her claim that
    Imperialists believed that war and building an empire is the best way for American men to regain their
    masculinity thus strengthening the country. The progress of a nation can alone prevent degeneration.
    There must be new life or there will be weakness and decay. (Hollitz,87) He also stated that the
    Philippines was the mightiest test of American virtue and capacity. (Hollitz, 87) He also appeals to the
    patriotism and heroism of American men, We have not only been adding territory to the United States
    but we have been adding character and prestige to the American name. (Hollitz, 87)
    The key concept we need to understand in this article is that Imperialists were using the noble
    sounding reasons as a mask for their true intentions and reasons behind them. Imperialists saw the
    Filipinos as opportunities as well as responsibilities. (Hollitz, 87) They were motivated by markets and
    the conviction that holding colonies would keep American men and their political system from
    degenerating. (Hollitz, 84) Another concept the author touches on only briefly is the plight of the AntiImperialists. The men who identified with the Imperialists were determined to make the Antis appear
    weak so they depicted them as women and gave them elderly feminine sensibilities though there were
    actually no women holding leadership roles.
    The article concludes that in order to strengthen men and thus the country after
    industrialization it was necessary for America to engage in war and empire. This would also prevent the
    degeneration of American men which Imperialists saw as a paramount in advancing American society.
    The main point of view presented in this article is one of understanding, though since the author is a
    female I feel that she does show some intolerance for the idea that women of that time being viewed as
    weaker than men. She shows this only at the end of the article when she is writing about the way
    imperialists and antis were viewed. The valorization of manly character in late-nineteenth-century U.S.
    politics meant that the aunties as the old lady element in public affairs, appeared less qualified to

    Slovachek 3
    judge whether American politics were consistent with American principles than the imperialists, who
    might have seemed boyish but always seemed male.

    Hollitz, John. Thinking Through the Past: A Critical Thinking Approach to U.S. History, Vol II: Since 1865,
    5th Edition. Stamford, CT. Cengage. Copyright 2015, 2010, 2005. (83-89) Print.

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