Racism is defined as the theory or idea that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture and, combined with it, the notion that some races are inherently superior to others. It is difficult to establish the origins of racist thinking, but certainly one of the most influential of such thinkers was the French writer and diplomat, Joseph-Arthur, comte de Gobineau, who published his four-volume Essay on the Inequality of Human Races in the middle of the 19th century. He taught the superiority of the white race over all others, and, among the whites, of the Aryans as having reached the heights of civilization. Before Gobineau, in 1808, James Cowles Prichard, an English physician, formed his own race theory. He maintained that the human race had originally been black and whiteness was a latter development. In support of his position, Prichard was convinced that domesticated breeds become lighter in color, and !
             he thought civilized life had ha a similar effect upon the whites. Where people are still to found in the savage state; they are invariably dark in color. Prichard's theory and the Darwin theory of evolution were the basis of many social scientists accepting the theory of social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is the theory that persons, groups, and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection, as Charles Darwin had perceived in plants and animals in nature. Social scientists concluded that the weak, or uncivilized, non-European cultures will diminish, while the strong, superior, Anglo-Saxon race will ultimately grow in power, and influence the weak. During the Spanish-American war in 1898, Americans used early race theories to justify war, expansion, and imperialism over weaker nations. Americans were convinced that they should take over smaller nations because they were the superior race. These ideals were widely accepted until the famous 1...