Jules Ferry: The Rise Of European Imperialism

Jules Ferry was a French statesman of the early Third Republic studying law after his father but then getting involved in politics becoming a notable critic of the newspaper Le Temps. He was elected deputy for Paris and protested the war on Germany later being appointed to prefect of the Seine. He had the challenging task of administering Paris during the siege. Jules Ferry was prime minister of France twice and was notably remembered for removing Catholic influence from most education in France and for the expansion of the French colonial empire.
The United States had recently developed into a very protectionist nation. They were a large market that was not importing goods, except at a large tariff to make sure American goods were less expensive
This animosity culminated the War of 1812, a continuation of the American Revolution. France was running out of trading partners because they too were not on good terms with Great Britain who was one of their only other major competitors. France and Great Britain had a long-standing rivalry that went for centuries due to their conflicting interests. They had fought wars over colonies and holdings in the new world, and when the American Revolution occurred, the French viewed this as a profitable investment to weaken the British Empire.
Germany was a competitor too, but did not have the colonial ambitions that Great Britain had. Germany had taken the Alsace-Lorraine region of France during the Franko-Prussian War in 1870-71, and France held them accountable. The hostility towards Germany culminated World War I. England had well established colonies centuries before France became involved. The only other major nation that France was on good terms with and could trade with was Russia. Trade that could be done with Russia was limited because of sheer distance and amount of open water ports that were available
He felt that the practices of Spanish colonialism in the Americas were too brutal, and misguided. “They have the duty to civilize 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 generosity, with grandeur, and with sincerity of this superior civilizing duty.” (Ferry, 1884) In this quote, although he believes that the “superior” races have a duty to civilize the “inferior” races, they also have a responsibility to those races to do right by them. In this case, it most likely means converting them to Christianity and also improving their quality of life by having them adopt a more European way of