Paul Kramer: Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons Essay

Kramer

History is one of the most fascinating sciences. Statistics, for example, cannot provide an interested person with astonishing facts, descriptions of heroic battles, and biographies of great people of the past. Math cannot do so either. The learning of history can be a rather entertaining process and edificatory at the same time since real-life situations from the past can teach the future generations how to avoid mistakes done in the past so that they could not to be repeated again. Two World Wars of the past century could be the most convincing examples. However, even more significant episodes in the history of the world are worthy of attention. Considering the context and area the article of Paul Kramer, “Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons: Race and Rule between the British and United States, 1880-1910” covers, the paper aims to summarize the contents, identify, and thoroughly evaluate the main argument as well as critically assess its effectiveness and significance.

Summary

The article tends to explore the events and the related historical context of the period from 1880 to 1910. This period is known in the history as the times of tense intercolonial relationships between the British Empire and the USA. The focus of the paper is on the debates about the annexation of the Philippines, the colonialism of Britain and the USA, and “Anglo-Saxon” racism that was presented in the late 19^th century as the excuse for aggressive colonial politics of Britons and their overseas counterparts-partners, Americans. The article includes three sections. The first section is about “Anglo-Saxon” racism issue developed by Americans and Britons to justify the U.S. colonial politics in the Asian region and to level the accusations in national exceptionalism, providing the argumentation of racial exceptionalism (Anglo-American bonds). The second section is about the tensions between Anglo-Saxonist “anti-imperialist” critics who argued that the Philippine-American War and acquisition of colonies overseas were not acceptable, not reprehending though any other forms of the U.S. Empire. Finally, the third section is about the eventual decline of the colonial argument of Anglo-Saxonist concept and the growing popularity of the idea of a national-exceptional colonialism that appeared to be more suitable for the realities of the changing geopolitics. The section also describes the postwar realities on the political scene in Philippines and the intensifying “racial” diversity within the United States social and political environment.

Main Argument

The research seems to have significant depth of arguments and historical analysis as it uses relevant sources and solid background. The main argument is the Anglo-American complicated relationships of 1880-1910. The author demonstrated two different approaches to the evaluation of the issue: the problems of the empire and the role of the emerging racial ideology, considering its increasing role in the foreign policy of the USA. The article emphasizes the influence of the U.S. debates regarding the empire and its colonial efforts overseas influencing the racial ideology that was on the rise in America back then. The main point of the author is that the history of the USA and the process of its race making should be considered in the broader concept of a transnational frame as this part of the American history has been isolated from it for a rather long time.

Effectiveness and Significance

The article is effective in its efforts to bring the information to the surface about the U.S. Empire and its ties with the British Empire of that time. It provides numerous facts and details needed to understand the historical context and relevant political and social background back then. The author did not have the goal to present the events such as annexation and wars as the heroic actions of the great country aimed at strengthening its image on the world’s geopolitical scene. On the contrary, he presented the depth of the controversies and debates regarding the empire ambitions of the United States and criticism regarding the new Anglo-Saxonist racial ideology. The significance of the article lies in the efforts of the author to provide comprehensive, objective evaluation of the events that took place during the three decades between 1880 and 1910. He tried to solidify the conclusions using numerous reputable literature sources. The only possible flaw is the use of a rather complicated language, which sometimes made the process of familiarizing oneself with material considerably lengthy and time consuming. Nevertheless, the article is concise, comprehensive, and interesting to read. It is filled with numerous details and facts that should be interesting to the targeted audience.

Conclusion

Summing up, the paper summarized the contents of the article of Paul Kramer, “Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons: Race and Rule between the British and United States, 1880-1910,” identified the main argument, and thoroughly evaluated it as well as assessed its overall effectiveness and significance. Written in the considerably readable style and using mostly understandable language, the article appears to be the “time machine,” transferring the audience to the times of the empires, wars, and changing geopolitical landscape of the three decades on the verge of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. It has provided effective and significant arguments regarding the power the U.S. empire had back then and described the detailed events of that epoch, constituting the context of the world geopolitics between 1880 and 1910.