Analysis of Jules Ferry’s argument on French Colonial Expansion 1884

The industrial revolution was not only a time of great advancement for the west but was equally troubling for the European countries, especially that of France. Jules Ferry, a French statesmen recognized a need for expansion and took it upon himself to go in front of French parliament to argue his position of the need for French colonial expansion. The arguments he made in support of his country were of economical, humanitarian, and patriotic views.
The first of these arguments was economical in nature. Ferry felt it urgent to expand the French colonies because he recognized a change in foreign economic strategies that would directly affect France. He saw that Germany and the United States had put in place trade barrier that made them increasingly difficult to work with. Some countries especially those in the west were not only growing in population but were making technological advances by leaps and bounds. Amidst the continued success and growth of other foreign nations European markets continued to shrink and flood with new products. South America, according to Ferry was a market that they had used for a very long time and now because of the exponential growth of North American industry, Ferry was greatly concerned that North America was going to take over the South American market. Ferry realized that for his country to continue to flourish that something needed to be done.
Ferry also had a humanitarian argument for wanting colonial expansion. Ferry said that as people of a higher race, they have a right over the inferior races. He believed that it was the superior races duty to take on a paternalistic type role and show the inferior race how best to live. He believed that it was their duty as a superior race to civilize underdeveloped African and Asian countries. I think