Map of the United States Showing the Area of the Country When Its Independence Was Acknowledged by Great Britain, Together With the Subsequent Acquisitions of Territory.
- Title:
- Map of the United States Showing the Area of the Country When Its Independence Was Acknowledged by Great Britain, Together With the Subsequent Acquisitions of Territory.
- Alternate Title:
- Territorial Growth of the US
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893
- Date:
- 1884
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1090.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_1090_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1870 - 1899
- Subject:
- Imperialism
- Measurement:
- 35 x 51 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This map is from a book published by James G. Blaine in 1884, when he was the Republican candidate for president. Blaine's focus was not on the specific geography of expansion; his book explains (646) that the map "will exhibit within small compass the expansion of free institutions, the growth of population, and the increase of material wealth with which the Republic has been blessed." Blaine "wanted the United States to fulfill its national destiny by achieving economic and political hegemony in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Rim." Crapol 1999, 134. After losing the presidential election, Blaine served as Secretary of State from 1889-1892, encouraging the expansion of U. S. power in the Pacific during the period leading up to the Spanish American War.
This map was typical of the period. From the middle of the 19th century, through the fervor of the Spanish-American War, and until the first stirring of World War in Europe, territorial expansion was one of the defining themes of America. The notion of "manifest destiny" supported the acquisition of territory, first across the continent, and then abroad. Maps reflecting and reinforcing those views were "standard fare" in American textbooks, atlases and other works. Schulten 2012, 58, 187-88. The collection includes a number of examples of this “American Imperialism;” see Subjects > Imperialism.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Blaine, James G. 1884. Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield. With a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860. Norwich, Connecticut: The Henry Bill Publishing Company. Vol. I.
- Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.