Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917

by Matthew Frye Jacobson

How a new American identity was forged by immigration and expansion a century ago.

In Barbarian Virtues, Matthew Frye Jacobson offers a keenly argued and persuasive history of the close relationship between immigration and America's newly expansionist ambitions at the turn of the twentieth century. Jacobson draws upon political documents, novels, travelogues, academic treatises, and art as he recasts American political life. In so doing, he shows how today's attitudes about "Americanism" -- from Border Watch to the Gulf War -- were set in this crucial period, when the dynamics of industrialization rapidly accelerated the rate at which Americans were coming in contact with foreign peoples.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, United States, Cultural Studies, School, Politics

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Matthew Frye Jacobson, a professor of American Studies at Yale, is the author of Whiteness of a Different Color and Special Sorrows. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Michael Kleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917, Mathew Frye Jacobson explored the American perception of ourselves and the foreign peoples we came into contact with at the turn of the last century, as empire building and immigration expanded our interaction with the outside world. The title comes from a quotation by Theodore Roosevelt calling on Americans to not abandon their hearty roots in the quest for civilization, and to “keep the barbarian virtues” in order to escape from decadence.

Anxiety over civilization and barbarity characterized American culture at the end of the nineteenth century. According to Jacobson, political culture during this period was “characterized by a paradoxical combination of supreme confidence in U.S. superiority and righteousness, with an anxiety driven by fierce parochialism.”

The paradox stemmed from the United States’ economic dependence on an influx of labor from peoples that were considered to be inferior. Popular media characterized these people as barbarian others in need of the fatherly hand of the civilized United States. The labor and resources of the “barbarians” were invaluable in propelling this country to a position of power.

According to Jacobson, the worldwide search for markets drove American colonialism. “A whole range of forces… could unsettle people from their homelands,” he argued, “but the labor market and the laws of supply and demand dictated where they were likely to go.” This search for a marketplace, in turn, drove industrial demand for more and more labor, as new customers were found at home and abroad.

This labor came in the form of immigration from diverse cultures, many of which were radically different from the Anglo-American culture that had been so dominant in the United States. Americans openly wondered if these new peoples could be assimilated, or whether they would ever be fit for self-government. This created an anxiety regarding our national identity, especially since the Civil War had raged only a few decades before.

Unfortunately, Jacobson never gives a voice to the “barbarians.” In a book about national character and identity, it seems unusual to not include the perspective of the immigrants themselves. After all, the immigrants of the 1870s became the Americans of the 1910s. The book portrays them and the overseas peoples as mere pawns (to use his term), subject to economic and cultural forces. Likewise, Jacobson focuses on and criticizes domestic images of foreigners, but he does not present an alternative view to show why those perspectives were incorrect.

With a knack for clear and concise explanation, Barbarian Virtues contributes to our understanding of the national character of the United States at the turn of the last century, but it takes a condescending and political tone. Jacobson does not shy away from promoting a social and political agenda. As he warns in his introduction, “it behooves us to ponder the continuities between [Teddy] Roosevelt’s day and our own,” because he fears that “the civilities of public discourse” might only be a veneer over the same kind of sinister perspectives and activities he thoroughly condemned. In other words, American society has always had this sickness, and Jacobson is the enlightened doctor who has diagnosed the problem.

The originality of Jacobson’s argument is undeniable, and Barbarian Virtues contains vivid descriptions and analysis drawn from a large volume of primary sources. The words of the principal actors in his narrative jump off of the page, and their motivations, hopes, and desires become clear. As to how Americans saw their place in the world, Jacobson provides a vivid tapestry. Overall, Barbarian Virtues is a worthwhile but intentionally provocative study of the dynamics of empire, economics, and immigration, and the national mentality that accompanies a young county in transition onto the world stage.

[Cam's Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The purpose of Matthew Frye Jacobson’s Barbarian Virtues is to call out "striking failures of our national memory" (262) in regards to the ways in which America, a nation founded by immigrants, viewed and treated its incoming migrants. Jacobson also deep dives into how the U.S self-proclaimed to be the nation not only for immigrants to look up to, but also that savior who brought third world countries out of darkness & into civilization. This masterful synthesis weaves together the histories of imperialism and immigration while simultaneously connecting the economic forces that drove them with their cultural implications. Organized into three sections (Markets, Images, and Politics), Jacobson discusses expansionism and “civilization”, assimilation, racism, social Darwinism, and eugenics from the years 1876 to 1917.
What was intriguing to me about this book is this idea that white people, regardless if they were well-studied or not, were convinced that other nations, peoples, and tribes of non-white origins had not socially and technologically progressed. This notion often justified white people's decisions to colonize, Christianize and “civilize.” Jacobson points out that even U.S Presidents held this notion. Teddy Roosevelt, for example, stated the “life of the tribes there reproduces conditions of life in Europe as it was led by our ancestors ages before the dawn of anything that could be called civilization” (116). Such views by U.S politicians often justified oppressive actions against non-white peoples and led to imperialism. The notion that white peoples, specifically Anglo-Saxon Americans, needed to civilize other peoples had roots in scientific racism.
While this book is expertly written, it did fall short in some areas. For example, a deeper discussion of African Americans during this time period was only brought up 17 pages before the conclusion of the whole book. While I understand that this specific time frame was chosen for its “sheer volume of… industrial production [and]... sheer volume of population movements” (6), he still left out an important and top marginal group in this country. As a Professor of African American History at Yale University, one would think he would at least mention the First Great Migration (1910-1940) that began during this time period. Another shortcoming of this author is the lack of proper endnotes. Instead of small numbers indicating where the reader can follow up on sources, he provides page numbers under chapter headings along with brief quotations. Constantly flipping back and forth to find the source can cause frustration and annoyance among readers. While Jacobson might’ve thought the biographic essay would be his saving grace, it is instead an unorganized heap of citations.

[Leih · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Barbarian Virtues,” covers U.S. economic and military scope from the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition up until WWI period. Sociologist signifies industrialization as a turning point in history that changed the global trade market. And as a highly industrialized nation, U.S. immigration rate multiplied —new batch of Americans swarmed into our national borders. But some of the immigrants from the Southern or Eastern part of Europe are looked down upon —Italians, Irish, Germans, Celts, Jews are not like the Anglo-Saxons. Read interesting excerpts about Filipinos, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans in America’s imperial quest which shuffled shipping lanes, naval bases, treaties, and coaling stations. U.S.’s intervening in Cuba through the Platt Amendment, and onto other borders—Puerto Rico and the Caribbean are also discussed. The book will make the reader question, what makes one group fit to self-govern and others not? Do American views on certain groups’ unfit for self-governing make a legitimate argument? Readers can draw their own conclusions whether savagery or barbarianism is a universal theme regardless of our race or if indeed one race presides above the rest of the inferiors.



Go to p.83 of the book:

“Yellow Peril hysteria mounted in the early years of the century, particularly as the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War elevated Japan to new heights of perceived menace in the American political imagination: “Once the war with Russia is over,” predicted the San Francisco Chronicle, “the brown stream of Japanese immigration [will become] a raging torrent.” Chronicle headlines in this period included: “How Japanese Immigration Companies Override Laws,” “Brown Men Are Made Citizens Illegally,” “Japanese a Menace to American Women,” “The Yellow Peril—How Japanese Crowd Out the White Race,” “Brown Peril Assumes National Proportions,” and “Brown Artisans Steal Brains of Whites.” The journal’s editor feared no less than the “complete orientalization of the Pacific coast.”


My criticism: The above paragraph like most throughout the book is fairly written for a non-fiction. Not much grammatical correction is needed throughout the book; however, the writing style can stand to imprint a bit to the reader’s mind to recollect. I shortened the first long sentence and rewrote it with an alliterative consonant sound—s, h. Verbs can affect the gist of the story, so I changed few of them—“mounted,” “elevated,” “predicted.”


My Revision:

Yellow Peril hysteria surged in the first quarter of the century. The Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War hoisted Japan to new hillocks of sensible omen in the American political enterprise. “Once the war with Russia is over,” heralded the San Francisco Chronicle, “the brown stream of Japanese immigration [will become] a raging torrent.” Chronicle headlines during the early years held the following covers—“How Japanese Immigration Companies Override Laws,” “Brown Men Are Made Citizens Illegally,” “Japanese a Menace to American Women,” “The Yellow Peril—How Japanese Crowd Out the White Race,” “Brown Peril Assumes National Proportions,” and “Brown Artisans Steal Brains of Whites.” The journal’s editor feared no less than these nest of common lots: “complete orientalization of the Pacific coast.”

[Matthew Rohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting examination of the intersection of US immigration and foreign policy in the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century. While sometimes a little disjointed, all of the content is well researched and highly engaging as it draws the invisible bridge from our familiar mid 19th century American history of the Civil War era to our familiar early 20th century American history of the World Wars. I really love this periodization from the end of Reconstruction through US entry into WWI and would like to see more histories operating in that space

[Elly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tentative 3 stars. I have to think about this. The content and argument are incredibly important and topical. This 3 stars rather reflects my reading experience. For some reason I found it really hard to read. It's not as though the author uses overly academic language, but I couldn't jell with the words on the page for some reason. I just felt this was hard to get through. I may add more detail later but yea.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is essentially divided into thirds. The 1st and 3rd sections I found interesting, insightful, and well written. The middle section dragged on and on and on and on... Countless examples were given of different authors, etc. that made the author seem pretentious.

[Caitie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this for one of my grad school classes and felt like this was a slog to get through. I feel like the author is all over the place with his thesis. While the information was interesting (at times anyway) there didn't seem to be cohesiveness.

[Arnold T · Rating 5 out of 5]

A part of us history that was a gap for me. Makes me realize that the US narrative that we unwillingly backed into being an empire is completely wrong, and that our current imperialism is by design from further back in US history.

Wonder what a re-write in 2025 would add.

[Becky J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-read.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book Barbarian Virtues: The United States encounters foreign peoples at home and abroad, 1876-1917, Matthew Frye Jacobson rethinks the legacy of American industrial expansion bridging the 19th and 20th Centuries. This new scale of production required new markets, new consumers, and a government ready to support capitalism with its newly modernized military. The desire for economic expansion translated into a foreign policy that gave the United States a string of new territorial possessions that charted a path straight to the vast markets of China. The country demanded a growing influx of workers. Dependence on migrant labor and dependence on overseas consumer markets were two sides to the same coin. Large-scale immigration came social conflict with already established Americans. Jacobson makes a brilliant scholarly argument that Americans had a parochial understanding of the world’s peoples formed largely by national self-deception hiding its deep racial ambivalence. It may have needed indigenous, non-white populations as both immigrant workers in the United States and as consumers overseas, but it considered them as primitive and uncivilized in a visceral way.
Significantly higher wages than in European countries made the hardships of immigration attractive. From coal mining to cotton factories and across a number of industries, first-generation immigrants constituted a large portion of the United States’ workforce. Jacobson argues that businesses leveraged immigration policies to maximize production and splinter worker attempts at solidarity by playing one race, nationality, or language off of another. This had the desired effect of depressing wages and suppressing any potential wage growth by fostering conflict between races. Management simply replaced white union workers who went on strike for higher wages or better conditions with non-white workers. In one example, Jacobson notes that 500 white shoemakers who went on strike in 1870 were replaced with Chinese strikebreakers. There was plenty of proof that the plan was working. Immigrants working for low, even such “low pitiful wages that they undermine Caucasians,” said The Atlantic Monthly.
Arguments against foreign workers were more pronounced against the Chinese but, by the end of the 19th Century, grew to include southern and eastern Europeans and Jews. Jacobson reasons that Americans, exemplifying the dominant social attitudes and rhetoric of the century, may have wanted foreign markets and cheap labor but they definitely did not want its surplus population. Organized groups plotted actively against immigrant labor. White workers actively despised and spurned them for their different customs and habits. Immigrants who adopted white worker attitudes, including unionizing for mutual support, were chastised as belligerent. Those who accepted low wages and poor working and living conditions were called submissive or worse. Popular literature described them in racial terms as savage and heathens “quite beyond the reach of missionary effort.” No effort was given to understanding the economic circumstances and the degree of exploitation they suffered. Anglo-Saxons, the theories stated, were ahead of primitives along a timeline of civilization. The one-sided debate focused on non-white peoples abroad and their lack of fitness for self-government and a public questioning of the morals and character of immigrants at home. So-called scientific tests supported racist eugenic ideas on immigrant inferiority. The results showed them as less intelligent and incapable of self-governing. Immigrants were unfit for citizenship and a danger to the very fabric of American society. Many white Americans, including the nation’s elites, grew to fear the threat of fundamental change in the country from the invasion of immigrant workers through the “terrible little Ellis Island.”
Likewise, Americans may have wanted the Philippines; Jacobson quotes the popular press of the day, but not the Filipinos. The country’s newfound sense of empire was for a path to China’s market and the Philippines were collateral damage on the path to a geopolitical imperial game, which Jacobson theorizes, would become standard fare for United States foreign policy through the course of the 20th Century. It was the moment, he argues, that the nation seized global power. This foreign expansion provided the relevance for Manifest Destiny and the foundation for Wilsonian internationalism, Cold War interventionism, and, one could imagine, failed interventions in the Mideast since the book was published. The true strength of Barbarian Virtues is the reexamining of this largely forgotten period in history. Without understanding the history of racism in immigration and foreign policy, the all too American sense of superiority forming the backbone of national identity will based on historical amnesia and mythology.

[Ailecia Alabama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Frye Jacobson’s Barbarian Virtues is an American studies text that focuses on various discourses surrounding, as the subtitle suggests, the Unites States and its “encounters [with:] foreign peoples at home and abroad” between 1876-1917. In constructing this discourse, Jacobson uses travelogues, novels, court cases and their histories, published works, newspapers, cartoons, and other forms of political and social commentary to construct the United States between 1876 (the date of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia) and the first world war. What we end up with is a vision of the ways in which white people in elite positions in the United States reacted to immigrants and people of foreign lands they viewed as “waste spaces” (by their lack of sign of modern “civilization”).

Jacobson’s new book works well with his older and more well-known title, Whiteness of a Different Color, which looked at the ways in which definitions over race have changed over time in respect to immigrants and which immigrants were viewed as full citizens and which weren’t. Barbarian Virtues for the most parts fills in the historical and social context in which Whiteness of a Different Color was placed. Barbarian Virtues at its core is a “synthetic treatment of immigration and foreign policy” (ix).

Tracing first the ways in which the United States looked for new consumer markets to handle the U.S. surplus of goods and looking at the U.S.’s first failed attempt to tap the Chinese market and them more successful attempt to tap the Latin American market, we begin to learn of some of the U.S.’s imperialist notions in the late-nineteenth century. Jacobson also pays attention to the history of immigration in the United States and the ways in which these diverse people were treated in the popular imagination. Both narratives of the U.S. looking for new consumers in foreign lands and looking for new immigrant workers to produce the surplus, we see the ways in which the American economic system depended on people from outside of the United States to line the pockets of the elite in the U.S.

Jacobson uses travelogues, fiction, and cartoons to show the ways in which foreign people both abroad and inside the United States were held up to changing American notions of who is civilized and able to be assimilated into Euro-American culture and who is not. Then he does this same analysis using scholarly literature to look at the eugenics movements, scientific racism, and other ways in which science deemed some nationalities or races as less than Euro-Americans.

Finally, in the last section, Jacobson focuses on U.S. foreign policy and looks at U.S. expansionism and imperialism and its effects on how the U.S. constructed “foreign people”. He reminds us, “The second piece of public amnesia addressed here concerns turn-of-the-century empire-building, an area even more striking for the totality of its disappearance from popular discussion. Current renditions of U.S. history thoroughly expunge the Philippine-American War and related engagements in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the extent that these warrant not even a paragraph in many high-school textbooks, and scarcely that in many college texts. Not only do most Americans know nothing about the conduct of the Philippine-American War, many do not even know that such a war took place.” (263) In this context, Jacobson reconstructs U.S. immigration and imperialist history to remind readers of how the United State came to be a world economic power. Instead of the popular history that the world handed us our power during the world wars, we see how U.S. policy decisions impacted the ways in which we dealt with the world and all of its people.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say if you've read Gary Gerstle's American Crucible you don't really have to read Barbarian Virtues, but it's a solid study nonetheless. It's mainly about the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in which America was coming into the international scene in 2 ways. 1. By gaining a global empire and millions of new subjects from different races. 2. The influx of millions of immigrants, mostly to work in America's burgeoning industrial scene. There were several inherent conflicts here: the US needed the cheap labor power of these immigrants, but was concerned with their racial impurities and cultural differences. The US wanted an empire to fulfill its manifest destiny, gain access to foreign markets, and compete in the international geopolity, but gaining that empire meant coming into control over millions of racially problematic peoples. Jacobsen explores how Americans dealt with these tensions in pop culture, immigration law, politics, foreign policy, science, and ideas. This was certainly a period in which Gerstle's racial nationalism dominated civic nationalism, and Jacobson does a great job charting its beliefs and practices.

[Jason Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written and well researched historical perspective on the USA's love-hate relationship with its own white nationalism and imperialism. It is particularly important to understand these early years of increasing heterogeneity and industrial capitalism, before the State's more obvious, and egregious, global presence after WWII. More fundamentally, Jacobson forces us to recognize that white nationalism itself was, and continues to be, a colonization of America's non-white citizens.

[Donnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome and thorough. We cannot understand empire without understanding how Americans experienced the cultures and people it came to exploit during this time period. I loved this book.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An informative book written in an engaging manner - certainly worth your time if you're interested in learning more about the people of the US during Gilded Age and early twentieth century.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for school; a class about American empire

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, broad based discussion on American Empire building on perceptions back home.