Martinez-Fernandez reading notes (9/11), sourcebook pages 79-108.
Using page numbers at TOP OF PAGE.
| The key question this reading addresses, and one that we'll be covering in caucus, is the degree and ways to which the international environment of the Caribbean differed from the situations in Central America and South America. |
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12--good summary of M-F overall view--stats very significant here--why did trade now seem to have a different effect than what we saw in the Liss reading? Or did it have a different effect? |
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12-14--evolution of pro-Spanish foreign policy by the US--worth reading closely: how much did this change the US approach to Latin America? |
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14-19--skim, but come away with the ability to answer why Britain cared about the Western Hemisphere. Clearly London had different ideological, commercial, and strategic interests than did the US; and also: how much attention should we as students of this period pay to the French and Spanish activities |
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20-21--read very closely: 1848 as critical. Do you agree with M-F? If so, why? And were "commercial benefits for the different regions of the United States" the key to understanding US policy in the Caribbean? |
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22-24--skim: key point is the "sectionalization" of Manifest Destiny |
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25--28--read closely--good summary of filibustering, both its origins, and, more important, its effect on the diplomacy of the region |
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28--"European statesmen viewed the region as a monolithic unit"--important in understanding future course of events in DR |
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28-31--skim, covers events in DR--role of both Spain and Haiti as major rivals to US there, and also the degree to which US Northern commercial interests, rather than Southern slaveholders, shaped US policy--no slavery in the DR |
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31-32--PP starting with "The decade leading to 1852 . . ." very important to get a sense of M-F's argument |
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32-33--read closely: growing intersection between domestic politics and foreign policy toward the Caribbean--we'll be covering this is some detail in class; Pierce and diplomatic corps quite important (see Ostend Manifesto document assignment for today) |
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34-40--skim, as long as you understand the effects of the Africanization of Cuba scare and the Ostend Manifesto |
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40-41: again, we see the issue of race appear, and, unsurprisingly, the Haitian connection as well |
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42-44: skim--details lengths to which US administrations went on racial issue in approaching the DR |
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44-49--read very closely--linkage between domestic events in the DR and international rivalry Haiti, Spain, France, and US |
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49-52--skim: good summary of changing European attitudes toward Caribbean events; more conciliatory attitude by Spain and UK |
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53-57--skip: we'll be doing this next week |
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58-68 (through page break in middle of page): :another key aspect of M-F's argument--what does he mean by "dual colonialism"? This section should be read closely, both to get a sense of how the Spanish empire operated in the Caribbean Basin and to see how he uses the term informal empire to describe the US policy |