Causes of Imperialism DBQ

The makers of cotton and iron goods have been very much interested in imperialism. This group of
import interests has been greatly strengthened by the demand of giant industries for colonial raw materials
. . . Shipowners demand coaling stations for their vessels and naval bases for protection. To these
interests may be added the makers of armaments and of uniforms. The producers of telegraph and railway
material and other supplies used by the government in its colony may also be included. . . . Finally, the
most powerful business groups are the bankers. Banks makes loans to colonies and backward countries
for building railways and steamship lines.

American factories are making more than the American people can use; American soil is producing more
than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and shall be
ours. . . . We will establish trading posts throughout the world as distributing points for American
products. We will cover the ocean with our merchant marines. We will build a navy to the measure of
our greatness.

None of the colonial undertakings was motivated by the quest for capitalist profits; they all originated in
political ambitions . . . the nations’ will to power . . . glory or national greatness.

I contend that we [Britons] are the finest race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the
better is is for the human race. . . .It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and
we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simple means more of the Anglo-
Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honorable race the world possesses.

But the economic side . . . must not be allowed to obscure [hide] the other factors. Psychologically
speaking . . . evolutionary teaching [about the “survival of the fittest”] was perhaps most crucial. It not
only justified competition and struggle but introduced an element of ruthlessness.

Take up the white man’s burden
Send for the best yet breed
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need,
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild
Your new caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

We could not leave them to themselves. They wee unfit for self-government. There was nothing left for
us to do but to take them over. Then we would be able to educate the Filipinos. We could uplift and
civilize and Christianize them.

Now, the French are come, with their powerful weapons of war to cause dissension among us. We are
weak against them; our commanders and our soldiers have been vanquished. . . .The French have
immense warships, filled with soldiers and armed with huge cannons. No one can resist them. They go
where they want, the strongest ramparts fall before them.
Question: How does this Vietnamese man explain French imperialism in Indochina?