6.8 Causation of Imperialism DBQ
Question 1
Evaluate the extent to which imperialism influenced state formation and contraction around the world in the period 1750 to 1900.
The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain within the settled portions of the United States to the country west of the Mississippi River approaches its consumption.... All preceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have failed. It seems now to be an established fact that they can not live in contact with a civilized community and prosper. . . . [NIO one can doubt the moral duty of the Government of the United States to protect and if possible to preserve and perpetuate the scattered remnants of this race which are left within our borders. In the discharge of this duty an extensive region in the West has been assigned A territory exceeding in extent that for their permanent residence. . relinquished has been granted to each tribe.
Source: U.S. President Andrew Jackson, excerpts from a proposal to Congress to remove members of the Cherokee nation and other Native American tribes from their traditional lands and relocate them westward to territory in Oklahoma, then known as Indian Territory, December 7, 1835. This trek became known as the Trail of Tears.
Article III It being obviously necessary and desirable, that British Subjects should have some Port whereat they may careen [turn a ship on its side for repair] and refit their Ships, when required, and keep Stores [supplies] for that purpose, His Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc., the Island of Hong-Kong, to be possessed in perpetuity [state of lasting forever] by her Britannic Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and to be governed by such Laws and Regulations as Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc. shall see fit to direct.
Source: Excerpt from the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing), August 1842. The treaty ended the Opium War of 1839—1842 between Great Britain and the Qing Dynasty of China. The Qing emperor was forced to sign this treaty, which gave favorable terms to the British.
It is well known to all that in this age the people of Hindustan [northern India], both Hindus and Muslims, are being ruined under the tyranny and oppression of the infidel and the treacherous English. It is therefore the bounden duty of all the wealthy people of India.. .to stake their lives and property for the well-being of the public ... I, who am the grandson Of Bahadur Shah, have . . come here to extirpate [root out and destroy completely] the infidels residing in the eastern part of the country, and to liberate and protect the poor helpless people now groaning under their iron rule ... Several of the Hindu and Muslim chiefs who have been trying their best to root out the English in India, have presented themselves to me and taken part in the reigning Indian crusade . . all agree, asserting that the English will no longer have any footing in India or elsewhere. Therefore, it is incumbent [necessary] on all to give up the hope of the continuation of the British sway, [and to] side with me
Source: Excerpts from a Proclamation published in the Delhi Gazette, probably authored by Firoz Shah, grandson of the last and largely powerless Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, during a revolt by Indian soldiers (known as sepoys) employed by the British East India Company, 1857.
About sixteen years ago, one of the Governors of the Colony, Sir George Napier, marked down my limits on a treaty he made with me. I was to be the ruler within those limits.... The Boers then began to talk of their right to places I had then lent to them, Then came Sir Harry Smith . and that he was to keep the Boers in my land under proper control, and that I should hear no more of their claiming the places they lived on as their exclusive property. But instead of this, I now heard that the Boers consider all those farms as their own.... Sir Harry Smith had sent Warden to govern in the Sovereignty. He listened to the Boers, and he proposed that all the land in which those Boers' farms were should be taken from me. I was at that time in trouble, for Sikonyela and the Korannas [other tribes living in the Cape Colony] were tormenting me and my people by stealing and killing; they said openly the Major gave them orders to do so, and I have proof he did so. One day he sent me a map and said, sign that, and I will tell those people (Mantatis and Korannas) to leave off fighting: if you do not sign the map, I cannot help you in any way.... I begged [the British Queen Victoria] to investigate my case and remove "the line," as it was called, by which my land was ruined.
Source: Moshweshewe, Chief of the Basutos, a large and powerful tribe located in the area of present-day South Africa and Lesotho, excerpts from a letter to Sir George Grey, governor of the British Cape Colony, June 1858.
"The opening to the modern civilization of the West began in the reign of Kaie (1848-1858). Our people began to discover its utility and gradually and yet actively moved toward its acceptance. However, there was an old- fashioned and bloated government that stood in the way of progress. It was a problem impossible to solve. If the government were allowed to continue, the new civilization could not enter. The modern civilization and Japan's old conventions were mutually exclusive. If we were to discard our old conventions, that government also had to be abolished. We could have prevented the entry of this civilization, but it would have meant loss of our national independence.... Not only were we able to cast aside Japan's old conventions, but we also succeeded in creating a new axle toward progress in Asia."
Source: Fukuzawa Yukichi, Japanese author and son of a lower samurai family, excerpts from his essay "Good-bye Asia," 1885. In it, Fukuzawa Yukichi describes the spread of Western civilization in Japan.
Article I China recognizes definitively the full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea, and, in consequence, the payment of tribute and the performance of ceremonies and formalities by Korea to China, in derogation [repeal] of such independence and autonomy, shall wholly cease for the future. Article 2 China cedes to Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty the following territories, together with all fortifications, arsenals, and public property thereon:— (a) The southern portion of the province of Fengtien.... (b) The island of Formosa, together with all islands appertaining or belonging to the said island of Formosa (c)The Pescadores Group [islands located in the South China Sea near
Source: Excerpts from the Treaty of Shimonoseki agreed to by the Empire of Japan and the Qing Dynasty of China, April 17, 1895. This treaty ended the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), which was largely fought over control of the Korean Peninsula.
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