A Place in the Sun

How are we to judge history? Is it by intent of action or results?  Here is where the interpretations get fun and understanding historiography is important.  For our next consideration to move us towards the end of the 19th Century consider the following:

“European expansion into the rest of the world across the 19^th century was essentially about realizing the fullness of human potential. It was the manifestation of the goals and aims or the humanism began in the renaissance and extended during the enlightenment.”  Use the documents and sources below to help you evaluate to what extent do you agree with the preceding assessment.  Clearly identify and focus on three sources for your commentary with at least two coming from the primary considerations selection.

You should make an initial entry by next Tuesday, March 15^th (Beware the Ides if March) and have two follow up constructive comments about at least two of your classmates’ commentaries by Friday, Mar. 18^th.

Primary Considerations:

William Blake, Preface to Milton, (1804) 

And did those feet in ancient time 
Walk upon England's mountain green? 
And was the holy Lamb of God 
On England's pleasant pastures seen? 

And did the Countenance Divine 
Shine forth upon our clouded hills? 
And was Jerusalem builded here 
Among these dark Satanic mills? 

Bring me my bow of burning gold! 
Bring me my arrows of desire! 
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! 
Bring me my chariot of fire! 

I will not cease from mental fight, 
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand 
Till we have built Jerusalem 
In England's green and pleasant land.

The Colossus of Rhodes

Prince Albert’s International Exhibition 1851: http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/111206/depgal2.html

A Letter from King Leopold to Minister Beernaert:

http://wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/ilrn_legacy/wawc2c01c/content/wciv2/readings/wciv2readingsleopold.html

Kaiser Wilhelm’s A Place in the Sun: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1901kaiser.html

Rudyard Kipling’s The White Man’s Burden: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Kipling.html

Edward Morel’s The Black Man’s Burden: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1903blackburden.html

“The Colossus of Rhodes”

Additional considerations:

Platform of the US Anti-Imperial League:

 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1899antiimp.html

Excerpts from Heart of Darkness: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/conrad.html

George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephan”: http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/

Wilfred Blunt, Britain's Imperial Destiny: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1899blunt.html

Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charge of the Light Brigade: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1880tennyson.html