Mark Twain was America's greatest Anti-Imperialist Writer
Mark Twain made many statements that are very relevant to the present day. Particularly Trump instigating a war with Venezuela.
"I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."
“But now—why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater.”
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
Mark Twain vehemently opposed the U.S. annexation of the Philippines, viewing it as a hypocritical betrayal of American ideals of freedom, a land grab for profit, and brutal conquest under the guise of "Benevolent Assimilation". He became a prominent member of the Anti-Imperialist League, using biting satire, poems, and essays to condemn the war, torture ("water-cure"), and the slaughter of Filipinos, calling it a theft of liberty and a moral disgrace for the nation, demanding the American flag fly upside down to signify mourning.
[The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization established on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area. The anti-imperialists opposed forced expansion, believing that imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just republican government must derive from "consent of the governed". It was dissolved in 1920. It needs to be reborn. ]
To read Twain's anti-imperialist writings get a copy of A Pen Warmed-Up in Hell: Mark Twain in Protest a posthumous collection of Mark Twain's essays, poems, and writings, edited by Frederick Anderson and first published in 1972.
"I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."
“But now—why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater.”
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
Mark Twain vehemently opposed the U.S. annexation of the Philippines, viewing it as a hypocritical betrayal of American ideals of freedom, a land grab for profit, and brutal conquest under the guise of "Benevolent Assimilation". He became a prominent member of the Anti-Imperialist League, using biting satire, poems, and essays to condemn the war, torture ("water-cure"), and the slaughter of Filipinos, calling it a theft of liberty and a moral disgrace for the nation, demanding the American flag fly upside down to signify mourning.
[The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization established on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area. The anti-imperialists opposed forced expansion, believing that imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just republican government must derive from "consent of the governed". It was dissolved in 1920. It needs to be reborn. ]
To read Twain's anti-imperialist writings get a copy of A Pen Warmed-Up in Hell: Mark Twain in Protest a posthumous collection of Mark Twain's essays, poems, and writings, edited by Frederick Anderson and first published in 1972.
