"Gentlemen, we must speak more loudly and more honestly! We must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races. . . . They have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races. . . . In the history of earlier centuries these duties, gentlemen, have often been misunderstood; and certainly when the Spanish soldiers and explorers introduced slavery into Central America, they did not fulfill their duty as men of a higher race. . . . But, in our time, I maintain that European nations acquit themselves with grandeur, with generosity, and with honesty, of this civilizing duty."
—Jules Ferry, French politician, speech before the Chamber of Deputies, 1884
Which of the following nineteenth-century rationales for imperialism is most directly reflected in Ferry's speech?
- The belief in a "civilizing mission," which framed imperial conquest as a paternalistic duty to bring cultural and technological progress to non-European societies.Answer
- BThe scientific validation of natural selection within human societies, proving that weaker racial groups were biologically destined to face extinction.
- CThe adaptation of early modern mercantilist principles to secure exclusive trade monopolies and accumulate gold and silver bullion from colonized territories.
- DThe desire to establish economic spheres of influence through indirect control rather than direct political annexation and territorial administration.