In 1898 the United States acquired new overseas territories and expanded its influence in geopolitics. Acquisition and expansion did not go unopposed. Hundreds of thousands of Americans rejected their nation's foreign policy calling it imperialism. These dissenters established the first national anti-imperialist movement. In this book Michael Patrick Cullinane tells the story of anti-imperialist activists who resisted the expansion of American power at the turn of the century. He explores new ways of looking at anti-imperial protest and demonstrates that the movement was not a complete failure.

This book provides a study of the American anti-imperialist movement during its most active years of opposition to US foreign policy, from 1898 to 1909. It re-evaluates the movement's motives and operations throughout these years by evaluating the way in which Americans conceived the idea of 'liberty.'