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Adam Smith Theory Of American Imperialism

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After the British colonial administration rose taxes and barred western immigration in conclusion of the French and Indian War, American lawyers, wealthy merchants, and aristocratic planters clung to their innate liberties, arguing that British colonial taxation, administration, and jurisdiction violated their basic freedoms. To America’s founding fathers, the colonies’ separation from Britain represented not only a break from the tyrannous crown, but also from the European practice of realpolitik and subsequent domination of the mercantilist world economic system. The colonies sought a freer international system of open markets and diplomacy, adopting the ideas of Adam Smith in their quest for economic liberty. Smith’s theories of self-interest …show more content…

Jeffersonian expansionism sought to supply liberty with enough land and treasure to support the rapid growth of white American settlers. Jeffersonian internationalism sought to express the interests of these white settlers to the entirety of the world. Hand in hand, expansionism and internationalism represented critical foundations to the American force of liberty. This white-American force once again demanded the exploitation of non-white …show more content…

American liberty and promises of freedom did not extend to the small island of former slaves. Haiti was unrecognized by the United States government as an independent nation for decades following its violent revolution and overthrow of French slavery in 1803. Instead, southern slaveholders believed that a “prolonged racial war” during San Domingue’s revolution would spread to the United States. Southern interests were to isolate and embargo the island to quarantine its success and prevent any spread of its revolutionary ideas to their slaveholdings on the mainland. It was not lost on the international community, especially Haiti, that America, a slaveholding nation, was extremely concerned with ‘liberty’. In this case, the projection of American liberty meant the freedom to discriminate against a fellow republic for internal interests and resembled the hierarchized and racialized form of the force of liberty at an international

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723 Words | 3 Pages

The British government’s desire for territorial and sociopolitical dominance has been observed, and abhorred, by other nations and territories throughout the world’s history. In the eighteenth century, with the British incessantly exploiting the American colonies, the colonists quickly grew distrustful of and resentful toward their domineering leader across the ocean. In 1776, a year following the beginning of the Revolutionary War, this ill treatment motivated Thomas Jefferson to pen a document that has become known as the Declaration of Independence. The influential founding father provocatively besought the support of the French government in the ongoing war between England. It was Jefferson’s hope that the text would persuade France to

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770 Words | 4 Pages

In the book Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, author Mary A. Renda discussed the United States occupation of Haiti between the years of 1915 and 1934. When the United States decided to move into Haiti for military occupation, it wanted to establish not just control of the country, but it also wanted to secure its interests there. American politicians and many marines viewed Haiti through a racist lens and viewed their people and government as inferior. They believed the nation required a helping hand from the United States. American politicians justified the tactics of forced labor, economic manipulation by American politicians, and murder by the marines, as part of the paternalistic policy it had implanted there.

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1031 Words | 5 Pages

During late 18th century America, there was much debate regarding the topic of the where the American colonies stood: with Britain, or separate from them. The British crown with parliament continuously imposed taxes upon the colonies and with each tax imposed the colonists grew increasingly angrier. However, there still was the debate that the British were justified as well for the taxes they imposed since they had supported the colonies in the French-Indian war. While the British did have, a good argument regarding with their justification the colonies were justified in their actions of separating from the crown.

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593 Words | 3 Pages

The Haitian Revolution has been seen as the first successful slave revolt in the western hemisphere where the slaves got rid of their oppression and created their own government. Hatie claimed to be a republic, and wrote their own declaration to rule by. In the declaration it clearly outlaws slavery and legal bias from skintone. “Men are born free and equal in rights; social distinctions may be based only upon the general usefulness. ”(Document 2).

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1425 Words | 6 Pages

It was Britain’s method of increasing their wealth through commerce, and they used it to their advantage during the Seven Years War as they were going broke through taxations on the British colonies. 2. Why did many colonists feel that their rights had been violated by British taxes? What measures did they take to protest this?

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1558 Words | 7 Pages

Between 1763 and 1775, there were three ‘Imperial Crises’ which occurred between the British and the American colonists. The conflict that was produced during this period arose through an undefined balance of political and economic power between the two parties. In 1763, Britain had just concluded the French and Indian war and was left with an immense and almost crippling debt of around 140 million pounds sterling (“Turning Point In American History”). In Britain’s eyes, the most effective way to reduce this debt was increased taxes. Unfortunately, the people of England were already massively overtaxed, which meant the last option for the British was to tax the American colonists.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

The Haitian revolution was a global event in terms of its origin, its process, and its legacy. In 1791, within only two years of the start of the French Revolution, an organized slave revolution had begun in France’s richest colony of Haiti. There, slaves from Africa and their mixed race descendants learned of the result of the French Revolution which strove for equal rights and freedom of all men. In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen document 2 of the Declaration, a result of the new National Assembly, setup a direct conflict with the French Code Noir, a code regulating slave colonies including the treatment of slaves. In the minds of Haitian slaves, the differences between their status and treatment in the Code Noir versus

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982 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the 1700’s, the thirteen colonies faced a great deal of injustice that led them to fight for their independence from the British. Before the war, the British parliament had begun taxing the colonists in order to pay off their own personal war debt. The Stamp Act, Townshend Act, and Tea Act were all taxes imposed on the colonists. Despite of their social class, gender or race, all the colonists came together to protests and rebel against the unfair taxes. Eventually, this combined resistance led to the shared motivation of colonists to separate from the British and become independent.

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1001 Words | 5 Pages

People like Toussaint believed that all slaves had their own civil rights, and no one should be subjected to chains. After gruesome battles, Haiti was eventually declared as an independent state around the 18th century. During 1838, Britain also eventually declared to abolish and end slavery in response to slave revolts. Slaves in Saint Domingue fought for their own

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450 Words | 2 Pages

Furthermore, U.S. imperialism contradicted the values of democracy and self-determination. The United States claimed to be a champion of democracy, yet it denied colonized people the right to govern themselves. In Puerto Rico, for example, the United States imposed a colonial government that did not allow for full representation or participation in the democratic

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426 Words | 2 Pages

During the Colonial Era (1492-1763), colonists were justified in waging war against Great Britain; due to the inequitable Stamp Act, the insufferable British oppression, and the perceived tyranny of King George III, the king of Great Britain, however, the colonists were unjustified in some of their actions. In Colonial America, colonists were justified in waging war against Great Britain, because the Stamp Act was unfair and viewed as punishment. Because of the war, Britain had no other choice but to tax the colonists to pay for the debt. For example, according to document 2, the author states that the act was not only for trade but for “the single purpose of levying money.”

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163 Words | 1 Pages

The American colonies represent the ideals of the mother country through their devotion to their own liberty and justice, and to monetary gain. Colonists use English arguments to justify their aversion to the increases in taxes and regulations after the French and Indian War, using the British argument that it is a nation’s autonomy that determines its freedom. Because the colonists are not represented in the English government and do not have a substantial voice, they have reason to believe that they are not equal to the British, as citizens. Because they are not true citizens, they are unaffected by increases in taxation and denounce the stifling acts. Also, the colonies, like their mother country, are attracted by the profits generated by

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558 Words | 3 Pages

Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution inspired millions of free and enslaved people of African descent to seek freedom and equality throughout the Atlantic world. Toussaint and other black leaders of Saint-Domingue helped to lead the only Atlantic slave society which successfully defeated its oppressors. The former slaves were able to achieve freedom and equality by political and military force, when they defeated the advances of French, British, and Spanish troops. In 1804, they created the second independent Republic in the western hemisphere. As Toussaint Louverture’s life story helps demonstrate, the Haitian Revolution was a complex series of conflicts and alliances between different classes, populations, and political interests.

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1349 Words | 6 Pages

During the colonial era of America, Great Britain was able to reek the benefits of this royal colony’s success. This was in large part due to the fact that Britain was able to integrate this society into its imperial system. English leaders understood that the American colonies represented a marketplace for goods, a safety valve, and a place in which competition flourished with other leading empires. One of the most important reasons why Great Britain established colonies in America was to create another form of revenue.

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529 Words | 3 Pages

Other Articles in the constitution were also utilized to aid other enslaved people from other colonies in the Caribbean that sought freedom. In the Haitian constitution of 1816, Article 44 states, “All Africans and Indians, and the descendants of their blood, born in the colonies or in foreign countries, who come to reside in the Republic will be recognized as Haitians, but will enjoy the right of citizenship only after one year of residence”. This clause was cited by Alexandre Petion, president of the Republic of Haiti when he defended the right of several Jamaican men to remain in Haiti in 1817 after they had commandeered a vessel and sought protection and freedom from slavery in Haiti. Haiti’s involvement in this matter set a precedent, where it marked the colony as a free soil nation, wherein all those who were looking to escape from slavery, would be welcomed with freedom. It is important to note that, these extraordinary acts occurred as, “the American Revolution preserved enslavement and segregation of its populations and the French maintained forms of domination and exclusion with their colonies and over their colonized populations”.

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