Discussion Questions

July 5, 2006

1. How a country looks at others tells us much about how a country looks at itself.  How does this apply in the case of imperialism and America?
2. The 19th century is the age of the 'new imperialism' globally.  What are the factors which push America to become an imperial power by the close of the 19th century?
3. How does the case of Japan illustrate the intersection of domestic and international issues?
4. What was the 'racial hierarchy' of the Gilded Age and on what was it based?
5. How do the new ideas and attitudes attached to imperialism come to be applied domestically, according to Gilmore?
6. What was the basis on which the Supreme Court upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson?  On what basis did Harlan dissent?
7. What is the basis of the argument on which Clark supported segregation?  What does Clark tell us about the nature of American society in the first decade of the 20th century?
8. To what degree do we have to understand class in order understand race in the Gilded Age?

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