Show Notes
We often learn that Manifest Destiny was the invention of racists and conquest-hungry imperialists, and there is some truth to that, but much as historians have ignored it and much as we might like to do the same, America’s first libertarian movement was also responsible. Jacksonian radicals called Locofocos provided the ideology that helped transform the United States from a limited republic into a continental empire. Uncomfortable as it might be, we will find that their early libertarianism was a jumping-off point for what only later became a much more typical racist imperialism. Further Reading: “Battling the Empire,” Part One and Part Two “The Oregon Question” “A Latent Leaning Toward Texas:” Republicanism vs. Empire John L. O’Sullivan: The Great Nation of Futurity Horsman, Reginald. Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1981. Merk, Frederick. Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History: A Reinterpretation. New York: Knopf. 1963. Stephanson, Anders. Manifest Destiny: American Expansionism and the Empire of Right. New York: Hill & Wang. 1995. Music by Kai Engel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Today Anthony Comegna (@DrLocoFoco) leaves us with one final message as we end chronicling liberty: “I certainly will continue my own end of the deal we have struck here—you couldn’t drag me away from my Locofocos, my Spiritualists, my Free Love anarchists, or my radical English Dissenters, to name just a few—but I’ll close with one final plea to each of you: History is not an instruction manual; it is a cautionary tale. No intellectual tradition, no set of good or just ideas, no heroes nor villains are ever remembered unless we do the labor of memory. Our tradition, our ideas, our tales of heroes and our villains all deserve to be remembered, and we deserve to learn from their examples.” Be sure to check back with libertarianism.org to learn about our new history adventures in the coming months. Our Most Memorable Episodes: Eggnog Riot!! The Possession of Frances Whipple Reasonable Crimes: Humanizing Pirates There’s No Excuse for Slavery (Updated) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Last week we left off with selections from William Graham Sumner and we pick up right there today with Christopher Preble. Preble’s new book was released today on our site and it not only explores America imperialist tendency in the past, but also recognizes our foreign policy blunders of today. Does the U.S. think they are in a perfect position to solve the problems of other countries? How did the war against Spain turn out? Does the American imperial empire exist today? When did the U.S. start to get influenced by the imperial mindset of Europe? What is corporatism? Was it honorable to be a soldier in the 1900s? What was the anti-war movement and what happened to it after World War II? Further Reading: Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy, written by Christopher A. Preble, available April 30, 2019. Dreams of a City on a Hill, 1630, written by John Winthrop Related Content: Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence, written by John Quincy Adams Jackson: The First Imperial President, Learn Liberty The Conquest of the United States by Spain, written by William Graham Sumner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Christopher A. Preble joins us for the first episode of a 2-part discussion about early America’s role in the world. Comegna and Preble focus their conversation around two historical documents that are cited in Preble’s new book Peace, War, and Liberty. The first document is John Quincy Adam’s “Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence”. The second document is, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain”. Be sure to tune in next week to hear part 2 of this discussion and to download a free copy of the Preble’s book! What is realpolitik? Why weren’t Native Americans seen as sovereign peoples by the United States? What did Americans think of their place in the world by 1820? Did Americans still fear the British in 1820? How did we use the Navy to expand markets in the early and late 1800s? Further Reading: Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy, written by Christopher A. Preble, available April 30, 2019. Dreams of a City on a Hill, 1630, written by John Winthrop Related Content: Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence, written by John Quincy Adams Jackson: The First Imperial President, Learn Liberty The Conquest of the United States by Spain, written by William Graham Sumner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Can you imagine people getting themselves all worked up over banks and money today? Having that intensely boring issue so thoroughly dominate political life that presidents and parties rise and fall on this one subject alone? No one today knows anything about the Fed and no one wants to know about the Fed. People back in the 1830s and ‘40s, were in a constant state of agitation about it. It seemed to Jacksonian Americans that the individual pursuit of self interest was natural and inevitable. What was important about Adam Smiths’ Wealth of Nations? Were banks corrupt? Have banks always been corrupt? How did views of banks and the Fed change since Jacksonian America? Further Reading: The Myth of Class in Jacksonian America, Cambridge University Press The Bank War and the Partisan Press, written by Stephen W. Campbell Andrew Jackson, Banks and the Panic of 1837, Lehrman Institute Related Content: Jackson Kills the Bank, Part One, written by Andrew Jackson Jackson Kills the Bank, Part Two, written by Andrew Jackson Make America Young Again, Liberty Chronicles Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.