Joel Poinsett and the Paradox of Imperial Republicanism: Chile, Mexico, and the Cherokee Nation, 1810-1841
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Date
2008-06
Authors
Freed, Feather Crawford, 1971-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis examines the intersection of republicanism and imperialism in the
early nineteenth-century Americas. I focus primarily on Joel Roberts Poinsett, a United
States ambassador and statesman, whose career provides a lens into the tensions inherent in a yeoman republic reliant on territorial expansion, yet predicated on the inclusive principles of liberty and virtue. During his diplomatic service in Chile in the 1810s and Mexico in the 1820s, I argue that Poinsett distinguished the character of the United States from that of European empires by actively fostering republican culture and institutions, while also pursuing an increasingly aggressive program of national self-interest. The imperial nature of Poinsett's ideology became pronounced as he pursued the annexation of Texas and the removal of the Cherokee Indians, requiring him to construct an
exclusionary and racialized understanding of American republicanism.
Description
viii, 122 p.
Keywords
Poinsett, Joel Roberts, 1779-1851, Cherokee Nation -- History