19th Century Dbq Analysis

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During the late nineteenth century, the United States pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism, imperialism. Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s influence or dominance over less powerful nations. Although some believed imperialism to be a proper and legitimate policy for the United States to follow, others argued against it. They went forward with this policy for a purpose of solidifying their world power. As a result, this country looked to overseas trade to monopolize on their raw materials, while encountering conflicts during the process.
Imperialism grew during the nineteenth century for a number of reasons. One of these reasons includes the increasing nationalism in the United States. Nationalism is the devotion to one’s …show more content…

Imperialists believed that America was so great that they needed to help others by giving others our culture. This idea is represented in Document 1 when Reverend Josiah Strong writes, “It seems to me that God… is training the Anglo-Saxon race… to come in the world’s future… with all the majesty of numbers and the might of wealth behind it- the representatives… of the largest libert, the purest Christianity, the highest civilization…” Strong uses God as a justification for this policy, saying God had the intention for the Anglo-Saxon race to be superior. This sense of superiority is also expressed in Henry Cabot Lodge’s statement, “Philippines… will be as unwilling to leave the shelter of the American flags as those of any other territory we ever brought beneath its fold” (Document 6). Lodge is trying to say that once America spreads it culture and ideas among the Philippines, they

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