Expansionism
When Christopher Columbus sailed back to Spain with word that an entire new world existed which the Europeans knew nothing about, it commenced a long, bloody, violent and expensive history of land grabs. The American pageant is a story of pushing its boundaries and expanding its borders by any means possible or necessary. This enlargement of the territory which America rules has been gained through monetary transactions (Louisiana Purchase, Alaska), through seizure and displacement of those already there (Native Americans), through battle (the Mexican War) and, as comprehensive justification, as a fulfillment of the James K. Polk’s doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
Regularity of Anti-Immigration Sentiment
One theme that pops out in the textbook is that America has always experienced fluctuations in the view toward immigrants, but what is really shocking is anti-immigrant sentiment seems to occur on a regular and almost predictable time schedule. The Know-Nothing Party of the late 1850’s ran on an anti-immigrant platform and suspicions that Republican John Fremont was a Catholic led to anti-Catholic immigrant violence. Twenty years later, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed specifically limit Chinese immigration. Twenty years after that, Japanese immigrants became the targets and segregation in San Francisco almost brought America to war over the issue. Twenty years later not one, but two different anti-immigration laws were passed by Congress, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924. Another twenty years pass and the Japanese are targeted again, this time being ripped from their homes and placed into detention camps. Since around 1860 the twenty-year cycle of anti-immigrant hysteria been like clockwork, more dependable than any other swing back and forth between conservatives and liberals or populists and progressives.
The Significance of Banks
Most people probably don’t think much about the impact banking has had on American history, but one of the most powerful themes to break through in the text is just how intricately interwoven changes in banking has been during the American pageant. It all began, of course, with Alexander Hamilton essentially creating the American banking system in the 1790’s. The Panic of 1819 set the stage for what actually became known as the Bank War, Andrew Jackson’s feverish desire to destroy any remaining vestige of Hamilton’s vision. An attempt to undo much of Jackson’s reforms was vetoed by John Tyler. By 1863, the National Banking System was authorized. Basically, the American banking system became a contentious political issue (even Jefferson fought strongly against Hamilton’s original plan) which saw two major systemic overhauls in just seventy-five years of American history. And it hardly stopped then, as the banking industry has continued to wield tremendous influence over how American history has twisted and turned.
