USA: From Colonies to Colonies – cultural foundations and expressions of expansion.
/US history, Culture, Foreign Policy, International Relations/
Course code: BBNAN03400
Time and place: Mondays 14.15, AMB 208
Instructor: Balogh Beatrix
Office Hours: Mondays 13.30-14.15 Amb 134, or by appointment at trixiebalogh@yahoo.com
Language: English
Purpose: Critical reading of US expansion; getting acquainted with US ideology underlying acquisitions and
exerting influence; reading contemporary reflections, and honing critical thinking skills.
Brief summary: It is a seminar course that discusses the evolution of the United States as an “Empire” spanning a
continent, and stretching way beyond its shores. We are going to explore the path from the original 13 colonies to
the quasi colonies, termed US Overseas Territories, and to the present “imperial politics” in the international
arena. Why has the US expanded westward and beyond? What have been the underlying cultural, economic, and
strategic considerations for annexing new territories or letting them “into a sisterhood of states”?
Does Manifest Destiny, opening new Frontiers, military strategic considerations, or the need for new markets, the
urge to spread democracy, or fighting for global freedom provide better explanation? Is American Exceptionalism,
another metaphoric understanding of expanding control, or some down-to earth explanation is the answer?
Should the roots of imperial quest be found in domestic political-cultural factors or the tenets of International
Relations theories? And indeed, would the same factors explain US behavior in international politics?
Apart from getting acquainted with the historical and diplomatic crossroads of “Imperial stretching” our in-class
discussions will center on the question “why”. Readings include text-book chapters, internet sources, and brief
studies from a variety of authors treating certain aspects of US expansion. It will be our task to then clash these
ideas.
Requirements: class participation, Home assignments, end-term test
Students are expected to prepare for each class and participate in discussions. Bring ideas about the assigned
readings. Complementary - primarily internet-based research - is encouraged. Evaluation and grading is based on
active and meaningful class participation, completion of home assignments (two article summaries: one assigned,
one chosen), occasional in-class quizzes, and an end-term test.
Students may also give a short presentation in class (non-compulsory) highlighting the main ideas of a
recommended reading or the intriguing issues of a specific expansion-move (more details in syllabus). The short
talk should be accompanied by a typed hand-out that contains the key points of the presentation and your
sources.
The draft syllabus below provides an overview of the main topics and questions to be discussed during the course
and indicates some of the recommended readings from which we will select relevant excerpts (usually 5-8 pages
for each class). Further details on the requirements, attendance and grading policy will be provided at the first
class session.
Draft Syllabus
I. Myths of empire
 Introduction, syllabus, assignments, requirements, clarifying terminology, discussing bibliography, PLEASE
bring the printout of the syllabus to the first class.
 A case study: Puerto Rico from colony to statehood (ppt) AND Intro to reading scholarly texts
 Is there an American Empire? – Myth and realities, AND How do myths relate to metaphors? Untying
metaphors I: American Exceptionalism, Global police, Harbinger of democracy and freedom, the
inadvertent or benevolent empire
 Untying metaphors II: Metaphors in Culture and Language, Conceptual Metaphors, ICMs, and derivatives:
Wars, games, family, The Fairy tale scenario, The Global Sheriff, Family Models and FP
II. The Westward Expansion
 The Westward expansion, Pioneers, Settlers and opening new lands –Organizing space
 Wars over territories, Purchases and the close of Frontier
 Manifest Destiny, Frontier, and the Monroe Doctrine – discussion of cultural-ideological motivations for
expansion
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 Non-contiguous territories: Alaska and Hawaii AND State centered realism
III. Overseas Expansion
 The Spanish American War, The underlying metaphors for colonialism
 The underlying IR theories (realism, liberalism, constructivism)
 The emergence of a superpower – World War II and after
 Conclusions (Is there a single organizing force? departure/contiguity, national/international patterns)
Planned dates: Feb 10, 17, 24 Mar 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Apr 7, (Easter Holiday: 14, 21) 28, May 5, 12, 19
Recommended Readings (the reading list may be subject to change):
Caroll, Peter N. and David W. Noble. The Free and the Unfree. A New History of the United States. Middlesex,
England: Penguin Books, 1987, Chapter 7
Eubanks, Virginia. “The Mythography of the “New Frontier” MIT communications forum papers WEB
http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/papers/eubanks.html
Fein, Bruce “The Myths that Made and Empire” The American Conservative, August 2010
Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893 “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” WEB
Hunt, Michael. Ideology and US Foreign Policy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987, Chapter 6, and
“afterword” in the new (2009) edition available online
Lubragge, Michael T. “Manifest Destiny - The Philosophy That Created A Nation” WEB
Munro, John. “Empire and Intersectionality. Notes on the Production of Knowledge about US Imperialism.” WEB
Odom, William E. “American Hegemony: How to Use, it How to Lose it” Monterey Institute of international
Studies, Middlebury.edu
Odom ,William E. America’s Inadvertent Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. Chapters 1, 2
O'Sullivan, John L. on Manifest Destiny, 1839 Excerpted from "The Great Nation of Futurity," The United States
Democratic Review, Volume 6, Issue 23, pp. 426-430.
Patterson, Michael, at al. A History of American Foreign Relations. Volume 2. 6th ed. Chapters 1, 2, 12
Schumacher, Frank. “The American Way of Empire: National Tradition and Transatlantic Adaptation in America’s
Search for Imperial Identity, 1898-1910” GHI Bulleting No 31. Fall 2002) 35-50.
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. “International Relations, Principal Theories” in Wolfrum, R. (Ed.) Max Planck Encyclopedia
of Public International Law (Oxford University Press, 2011) www.mpepil.com
“Milestones: 1866-1898”: “Annexation of Hawaii, 1898” and “The Spanish-American War” From Office of the
Historian, US Department of State. http://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/Annexation_of_Hawaii
Zakaria, Fareed. From Wealth to Power. The unusual Origins of America’s World Role. Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1999, Introduction, Chapters 2,3, 5
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