Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
American Literature (immediately or eventually), expansionism and democracy could be perceived not as contradictory but as complementary. It is precisely through the domestication of conï¬ict, in fact, that expansionism becomes the great antithesis of both colonialism and slavery. Thus the United States is an ââempire of free men,ââ as Zachary Taylor memorably exclaims in the opening words of his ââFirst Annual Messageââ as president in 1849.4 In Calhoun and Websterâs Senate debate, ethical and legal questions about land seizure are circumvented by the premise upon which the debate relies, for pro- and anti-expansionists alike: Oregon is not out there but in here, already part of the United States. The ââsingle questionââ remaining, then, concerns constitutional jurisdiction: how will Oregon now be administered? 5 The battleground is thus not the material land but a documentâthe Constitutionâand the players are not rival claimants to the land but two Americans defending the documentâs integrity. Likewise, in the oï¬cial discourse on expansion, the conquest of North America is typically dramatized as the process of U.S. self-deï¬nition. The conï¬ict between self and other is thus reï¬gured as an internal struggle.6 With the subject changed from territorial conquest to domestic issues of constitutionality, slavery,
American Literature – Duke University Press
Published: Mar 1, 2001
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.