God's Arbiters

Petitioning Against the “Opium Evil”: Economic Policy as Humanitarian Intervention in Early Antidrug Rhetoric

“…51 According to Susan K. Harris, by 1899, ''many Americans regarded the freedom to buy and sell unimpeded by government regulation as one of the sacred liberties invented during the Reformation and protected by the American Constitution.'' The concept of ''free trade,'' which held that market protectionism harmed trade while less regulation ensured a healthy economy, was a central and founding tenet of U.S. policy.…”

Unclasping the Eagle's Talons: Mark Twain, American Freethought, and the Responses to Imperialism

“…Twain, however, fits less easily into this framework since it considers him as part of a wider Protestant culture, in which, for example, imperialists and anti-imperialists alike shared "a desire to maintain the illusion that the United States was a white Christian nation" or "that the United States was a means toward a divine end, a country established to fulfill God's plan." 7 For a work that centers so much on Twain and the supposed importance of the Protestant worldview, it is unfortunate that Harris entirely omits any discussion of freethinkers and of Twain's relationship to these figures. While Harris acknowledges that Twain did not have a simple relationship with Christianity, he nonetheless had "a profound desire for belief […]."…”

“…While Harris acknowledges that Twain did not have a simple relationship with Christianity, he nonetheless had "a profound desire for belief […]." 8 Twain's sharp criticism of the United States, she continues, "does not suggest that [he] rejected the idea that the United States had been founded on the principles of liberty, justice, and Protestant Christianity. On the contrary; the bitterness of his satire points to the fervency of his belief."…”

“…On the contrary; the bitterness of his satire points to the fervency of his belief." 9 Yet the irreligious nature of Mark Twain's anti-imperialist critique becomes clearer when seen in the context of a freethought tradition instead of the supposedly ubiquitous Protestant one. This article situates Mark Twain's anti-imperialism within the wider freethought responses to these debates about empire.…”

A Church Divided: Roman Catholicism, Americanization, and the Spanish-American War

“…Harris rightly observes that American leaders saw themselves as "God's arbiters" of the Philippines, while Tyrell highlights American Protestants' creation of an international "moral empire." 10 This article builds on their work by focusing on the religious discourse surrounding the Spanish-American War itself. In particular, I argue that the many Catholics who supported the war did so because they genuinely believed that the United States was providentially ordained to rid the New World of the wicked, backward, decaying Spanish empire.…”