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JINGOISM

JINGOISM, in American usage, a term for the blatant demand for an aggressive foreign policy. The word is probably derived from a music-hall song popularized in England during a crisis with Russia in 1877–1878:

We don't want to fight, but, by jingo, if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men and got the money too.

By March 1878 "jingo" was a term of political reproach. In the United States it has been directed toward those who have advocated the annexation of Canada, the seizure of Mexico, expansion in the Caribbean or the Pacific, or a bellicose interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beisner, Robert L. From the Old Diplomacy to the New, 1865–1900. New York: Crowell, 1975; Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1986.

Stanley R. Pillsbury/D. B.

See also Foreign Policy; Monroe Doctrine.