Source Sets / World History
How did people argue for and against imperialism?
Arguments for empire from Lugard and Macaulay meet critics, cartoons, and the debate over U.S. expansion after 1898.
Teach it
✓ Lesson readyA ready-to-run lesson for this set: Gallery Walk: For and Against Empire. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.
1. Hook: look closely 3-5 min
Show: In "Uncle Sam's Barber Shop," Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines getting haircuts with Uncle Sam's swords (1898) (Charles Lewis Bartholomew, 1898, Library of Congress)
Ask: In this cartoon, Uncle Sam is a barber and his customers are Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. What is he doing to them? Is the cartoonist for or against expansion?
2. Main activity: Gallery Walk: For and Against Empire
Grouping: Pairs walk the room; 7 stations posted on the walls
Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
- Seven gallery posters (print the evidence cards in the Lesson Plan Doc on full pages)
- Sticky notes in two colors
- Gallery recording sheet
- Set up 3 min
Post the seven sources around the room. Explain the two sticky-note colors: one for arguments FOR empire, one for arguments AGAINST. - Walk 20 min
Pairs spend about 3 minutes at each poster and leave a sticky note. - Sort 8 min
Move the notes to the board under two headings: For and Against. Then add a third heading: Who made the argument (imperial power or colonized people)? - Discuss 7 min
Ask: Which arguments were economic, which were about culture, and which were about rights? - Exit ticket 5 min
Students answer on a slip before leaving.
Take a stand: Which arguments mattered most in the debate over empire?
- Arguments for empire: Supporters such as Lugard pointed to trade and new markets, and officials like Macaulay claimed to bring Western education.
- Arguments against empire: Critics such as Morel described abuses of Africans, anti-expansionist cartoonists warned against U.S. empire, and Tilak called for Indians to resist with a boycott.
3. Pacing options
15-minute bell-ringer
- 3 min Hook: Uncle Sam cartoon
- 8 min Compare Lugard and Tilak: an argument for empire and an answer to it
- 4 min Exit ticket question 1
Full 50-minute lesson
- 4 min Hook: cartoon
- 3 min Set up
- 20 min Gallery walk
- 8 min Sort
- 7 min Vote and discuss
- 5 min Exit ticket
- 3 min Buffer
4. Exit ticket
- Pick one argument for empire and one against. Which was stronger, and why?
- Tilak called boycott a political weapon. Why might a boycott work against an empire?
5. Differentiation
Support
- This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
- Give pairs a list of the seven speakers and their countries.
- Start at the two cartoon stations to build confidence.
Extension
- Read Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” (1899), which Morel was answering, and compare the two.
- Find out what happened to the Philippines after 1898 and when it became independent (1946).
Suggested sequence
- Lugard: The Rise of Our East African Empire (1893)Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 minBritish colonial officer Frederick Lugard's case for empire in East Africa.Ask: How did imperialists justify taking African land?Open with this source to frame the question.
- Macaulay: Minute on Indian Education (1835)Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 minMacaulay's argument for teaching Indians in English.Ask: How did colonial education serve empire?
- The Black Man's Burden (1903)Document · Fordham University · Progressive Era (1890-1920) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 minA response to Kipling's 'White Man's Burden' criticizing imperialism.Ask: How did critics answer the language of 'civilizing' empire?
- Treaty of Paris (1898)Document · Yale Avalon Project · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 minThe treaty ending the Spanish-American War and transferring Spanish colonies to the U.S.Ask: Did the U.S. become an empire in 1898?
- In "Uncle Sam's Barber Shop," Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines getting haircuts with Uncle Sam's swords (1898)Political cartoon · Library of Congress · Progressive Era (1890-1920) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 minLibrary of Congress print: In "Uncle Sam's Barber Shop," Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines getting haircuts with Uncle Sam's swords (1898).Ask: How did cartoonists debate U.S. imperialism after 1898?
- The dream of the anti-expansionist (1899)Political cartoon · Library of Congress · Progressive Era (1890-1920) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 minLibrary of Congress print: The dream of the anti-expansionist (1899). 1 print : chromolithograph. | Print shows the dream of an "Anti-Expansionist" where Admiral George Dewey, General Elwell S. Otis, a sailor, and a soldier come ashore in the Philippines to offer their weapons and the Amer…Ask: How did a cartoonist mock opponents of U.S. expansion in 1899?
- Tilak: Address to the Indian National Congress (1907)Speech · Fordham University · Progressive Era (1890-1920) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 minBal Gangadhar Tilak's call for self-reliance and boycott of British goods.Ask: What tactics can a colonized people use?Close with this source before writing.
Culminating writing prompt
Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “How did people argue for and against imperialism?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.
Printable writing sheet (make a copy)
Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.