Imperialism

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

in its original, and, perhaps, its widest sense, was expressed in the great designs of Charlemagne. Regarded thus, it amounts to a scheme of undisputed sway over an extensive area of unbroken territory-autocracy on a grand scale. In that sense we find imperialism in the traditional policy of the czars of Russia-a policy which is supposed to imply continuous expansion to the E. In connection with the British empire, the word imperialism may, however, be used as combining the interests of all the members of the group-the mother-country, the colonies and dependencies-as distinguished from purely national, colonial, or local concerns. In the United States "imperialism" is used to refer to the policy of "national expansion." The opponents of expansion made the constitutional right of the United States to establish a government over territory acquired by conquest or purchase, a question in the political campaign of 1900; the Democrats holding such government unconstitutional; Republicans affirming that the responsibility resultant from the defeat of Spain, and the ensuing failure of Spanish government, must be met, and a stable government established. On Dec. 2, 1901, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a decision on the constitutionality of the policy of expansion. The broad principles settled by the decision are succinctly stated to be these: (1) The Constitution does not follow the flag till it is planted on new territory by special act of Congress. (2) The extension of the sovereignty of the United States to new territory carries with it all the constitutional guarantees of the enjoyment of liberty, the right to property and the protection of the United States to the people thus affected in securing justice and maintaining public order and promoting peaceful progress. (3) The islands acquired from Spain by the treaty of Paris are "property of the United States" in the strict sense in which that term is used in the Constitution, and, this being the case, Congress can dispose of these islands in any way which it may believe to be conducive to the highest interests of the people of the United States and of these islands.