Anti American Imperialism

519 Words2 Pages

The year 1898 was a landmark in the transition of the United States from a republic to an imperial power. By the early 1890s, the United States had become the world’s leading agricultural and industrial nation. The country was now able to compete militarily internationally with the other great powers (Ries and Weber 4). It had enough muscle to successfully engage in foreign expansion, otherwise known as imperialism. Many citizens had mixed feelings about the United States becoming an imperialist country. Many farmers and manufacturers were in favor of imperialism so that foreign markets can absorb their growing surpluses (Ries and Weber 4). However, others wondered why the U.S. would want to follow Europe’s powers in imperialism. Supporters …show more content…

There were many prominent figures against imperialism including former President Grover Cleveland, Carl Schurz, Samuel Gompers, William Graham Sumner, and Mark Twain. Many anti-imperialists believed that America’s greatness lay at home, not in some far-away group of islands no one has heard of. Living conditions and increasing political intelligence should be the focus of America rather than extending American rule (Ries and Weber 5). Anti-imperialists were concerned with the fact that the United States had never before acquired territory that could be admitted as a state on equal standing. For example, both Puerto Rico and the Philippines were densely populated by people who were of different race and spoke another language. They were also worried about labor and America looking for ways to avoid the country’s own issues. Imperialism was viewed as a violation of the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution (Ries and Weber 6). They believed that an oppressive government abroad would bring the same to the United States. Anti-imperialists also argued that if the U.S. was meddling in the Far East, then they could not prevent other powers from doing the same in the

Show More
Related

  • Westward Expansion and Imperialism

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout most of the nineteenth century, the United States expanded its territory westward through purchase and annexation. At the end of the century, however, expansion became imperialism, as America acquired several territories overseas. This policy shift from expansionism to imperialism came about as a result of American's experience in the Spanish American War and the Congressional debates that followed the American victory.

    Read More

  • Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt's Imperialistic America

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most predominate justification for imperialism, at least for business America, was to expand its economic interests throughout the world. First off, as the American domestic market for manufactured goods seemed to be shrinking many American business interests started search for ways to keep their businesses expanding; the best way to do this was to rival European imperialism and thus rival European markets (Hewitt, 622-624). Additionally, during the 1870s and 1890s the economy cycle was characterized with booms then busts but it wasn't until the depression of the 1890s did America see its greatest economic contraction; this led political and business leaders alike to search for foreign markets and create them (Hewitt, 623). Furthermore, not only were business leaders looking to sell their goods overseas by acquiring territories as a launch pad into new markets, an example of this was acquiring Guam and the Philippines to have easier access into the Chinese Market, but business leaders also looked to acquire te...

    Read More

  • US foreign Policy 1865-1914, expansionist or isolationist

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the turn of the century, and after gaining our independence, the United States land mass more than doubled through the use of purchasing, annexing, and war. However, the foreign policy of our government took a predominately isolationist stand. This was a national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries. General Washington shaped these values by upholding and encouraging the use of these principles by warning to avoid alliances in his farewell speech. The reasoning behind these actions was that the Republic was a new nation. We did not have the resources or the means to worry about other countries and foreign affairs; our immediate efforts were internal. Our goals that were of primary importance were setting up a democratic government and jump-starting a nation. The United States foreign policy up to and directly preceding the Civil War was mainly Isolationist. After the war, the government helped bring together a nation torn apart by war, helped improved our industrialization, and helped further populate our continent. We were isolationist in foreign affairs, while expanding domestically into the west and into the north through the purchase of Alaska. However, around 1890 the expansionism that had taken place was a far cry from what was about to happen. Expansionism is the nations practice or policy ...

    Read More

  • American Foreign Policy Dbq

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    This period of expansionism clearly demonstrates just how power hungry the United States was at this point in its history. One could say that this thirst for international power, and perceived need to exercise such power, directly led to World War One in the

    Read More

  • The New White Man's Burden

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the course of history, nations have invested time and manpower into the colonizing and modernizing of more rural governments. Imperialism has spread across the globe, from the British East India Company to France’s occupation of Northern Africa. After their founding in 1776, the United States of America largely stayed out of this trend until The Spanish-American War of 1898. Following the war, the annexation and colonization of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines ultimately set a precedent for a foreign policy of U.S. imperialism.

    Read More

  • American Foreign Policy in the 1890's

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    American foreign policy during the 1890s was based on many factors that each acted as an individual justification for our country’s behavior as a whole. Racism, nationalism, commercialism, and humanitarianism each had its own role in the actions America took against other nations.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    From western expansion to foreign imperialism the United States has always been an expansionist country. Early America’s focus was to conquer the natives and obtain western land within North America, but in the latter of America’s history, specifically in the nineteenth and twentieth century, foreign imperialism became the new focus. America’s activity in foreign imperialism was a continuation and departure of the United States’ early expansionism. It was a continuation in terms of manifest destiny, the spread of Christianity, and by the concept of “the city on a hill” and a departure in terms of foreign involvement.

    Read More

  • The Continuation and Departure Trends of United States Expansionism

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    United States expansionism in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century is both a continuation and a departure of past United States expansionism. Expansionism in the United States has occurred for many reasons. Power (from land), religion, economics, and the ideas of imperialism and manifest destiny are just a few reasons why the U.S. decided to expand time and again throughout the course of its 231 year history. Expansionism has evolved throughout the years as the inhabitants of the country have progressed both socially (the Second Great Awakening, the women's suffrage movement, the populist party and the early 19th and 20th century social reformers) and economically (factories, better farms, more jobs, etc.) Expansion changed from non-interference policies to the democratic control of the government as the United States grew in both size and population. Through the use of the documents and events during two major-expansion time periods (1776-1880) and 1880-1914), I will display both the continuation and departure trends of United States expansionism.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States of America has never been content with stagnation. The landmass of the Thirteen Colonies was enough to rival that of the Mother country from which they separated. The forefathers believed that it was the manifest destiny of this nation to eventually claim the expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. By 1890, nearly a hundred years following the original claim of Manifest Destiny, the land that was once open, was now under American control. But no sooner was the Great American Frontier closed, than was the door to East Asian expansion opened with the great gold key of American diplomacy. In a world where imperialism was contagious, and cartographers had to work around the clock to keep up with an ever-changing geopolitical landscape, the United States seized the opportunity to establish herself as a significant world power. With great expansionist minds at her helm, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft the United States began to grow beyond her border to claim stake in this wide-open world. This new expansionism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a different institution than its early to mid nineteenth century counterpart. Still, the drive to exercise the sovereignty of the United State and to propel itself over the world’s stage was the same then as it was in the time of Thomas Jefferson. In order to understand this assertion, attention must be given to three levels of analysis. First, the similarities that exist between the drive and purpose of old and new expansion must be taken into account. Second, the differences in the global political scene must be considered. Finally, there exits differences in the means by which expansion occurred.

    Read More

  • The American Imperialism

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.

    Read More

  • Was American Imperialism Justified

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Spanish American war, many people were divided over the topic of imperialism. Ultimately, many benefits came with the US territory expanding. Not only did the US get bigger, but many aspects of our nation improved significantly. American expansion abroad was justified because it helped the military and economy advance greatly.

    Read More

  • American Imperialism Dbq

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like previous American expansion, American imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was motivated by desire for new economic gains and improvements. However, the social justification, diplomatic and military approach and geographical aspect of imperialist expansionism varied greatly from previous American growth. Therefore, American expansionism underwent more change in this period than continuity. For many years, the American boundaries expanded as people moved, at the governments urging, westward for new economic opportunities and later imperialist expansion was no different. While many factors contributed, economic possibility was a driving factor in the expansionist aspirations.

    Read More

  • Jane Addams Influence On American Imperialism

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the Spanish-American War. This resulted in Spain losing Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Philippines Islands, etc. There was a lot of discrimination as to if imperialism was okay and moral. Jane Addams was an anti-imperialist who believed in peace and hated war. Despite many people approving of imperialism, some went against it and changed the minds of many.

    Read More

  • Imperialism in America

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States became an extremely strong military power due to the decisions at this time. Due to the drive of the development of America at the present time, our nation was a dominant power in World War I in 1916. Furthermore, the U.S. has been a dominant world power for years to come all the way to present day. Finally, the imperialist view at the turn of the century was a movement to stabilize the economy, improve trade among other nations, and offer protection to make the lives of Americans better and easier.

    Read More

  • Causes and Effects of the Spanish American War

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    As shown, America’s rapid change as the 19th century came to a close was supported by a various amount of imperialistic beliefs, motives, and incidents that almost jumpstarted the U.S. onto the world stage. Many of these incidents such as the public’s thirst for expansion, the annexation of several faraway lands, and the build-up of U.S. military forces would not have been possible without the Spanish American War. Moreover, the Spanish American war would not have been possible without the American people. Imperialism was a consequence of the American Democratic experiment, giving the people what they want.

    Read More

More about Anti American Imperialism

Open Document