The limits of labels: Jane Addams and her views on self-determination and imperialism, 1899–1923

Despite the vast scholarship on Jane Addams, her views on imperialism and self-determination have not been closely studied. Understanding her views can help to disentangle knotted ideas of anti-imperialism, pacifism, and pragmatism. Using her understudied post–World War I public statements, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) correspondence, and personal correspondence, this article analyzes her responses to a few major issues of the early twentieth century in which imperialism was viewed as a core issue. It argues that Addams remained deeply committed to her core beliefs of pacifism and democracy, but she switched from a grassroots approach to political, social, and economic reform adopted before the war to an internationally centralized supra-governmental approach after. It also argues that Addams's perspective and position on Irish independence and the mandate system differed from her colleagues in the WILPF in more profound ways than previously understood.