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Manifest destiny westward expansion introduction and conclusion
Manifest destiny 20th century
Essay about how ideas of manifest destiny motivated expansion from 1830 to 1905
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Through presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, America’s ideology was changing, and the desire among the people to impact other countries with that ideology was strong. From 1898 to 1914, the United States expanded its international role dramatically, in order to grow the country both economically and politically using those same principles. Ever since the creation of it’s government, the United States had ideals and goals to follow for the interest of the people. During the Civil War and Reconstruction for example, American goals centered around freedom, and during most of the 19th century, American goals centered around industrialization. The difference between the interests of America before and after the 19th century, is that after, …show more content…
The desire to expand was alive in the minds of Americans much before then, and continued long after Manifest destiny was used as a justification to annex Texas, New Mexico, and California in the 1840s, and again in the Spanish-American War of 1898 (Foner, 230). In the Spanish-American War, America was fighting against Spain, which marked the first time they faced a European power, and although highly motivated by the principle of manifest destiny, America had other reasons to expand its control. The Cuban struggle for independence became a particularly important one, during the war against Spain. In light of Cuba’s need for independence from Spain, help from the United States would seem to be beneficial to both countries, especially since Cuban sugar was desired by the US. Fighting between the Spanish and Cubans threatened the stability of Cuban sugar production, which aggravated business owners, and when the Spanish bombed the American Battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, the U.S. population called for action. They were desperately wanting to expand their country, and they …show more content…
In the start of the war, President Wilson proclaimed American neutrality because of a division of opinion within the country. British-Americans sided with the Allies, but German-Americans, as well as the Irish, opposed Britain, therefore sided with the Central powers. The downfall of this neutrality was that the war was hard to avoid, and when the British ship Lusitania was attacked by Germany, killing 124 Americans, the US had to ensure its dominance as a world power. (Foner, pg 581) But before 1914, President Wilson set the stage for the upcoming war by preaching idealist goals and democratic values. A perfect example of Wilson’s love for democratic values is shown in his first inaugural address in 1913. “Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the way of strength and hope...This is the high enterprise of the new day: To lift everything that concerns our life as a Nation to the light that shines from the hearthfire of every man’s conscience and the vision of the right.” (Kaufman, pg 48) In this speech, Wilson is expanding on the Roosevelt Corollary, which was a principle of President Roosevelt’s soon before, that stood for America’s
As the Reconstruction Era ended, the United States became the up and coming world power. The Spanish-American war was in full swing, and the First World War was well on its way. As a result of the open-door policy, England, Germany, France, Russia, and eventually Japan experienced rapid industrial growth; the United States decided to pursue a foreign policy because of both self- interest and idealism. According to the documents, Economic self- interest, rather than idealism was more significant in driving American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920 because the United States wanted to protect their foreign trade, property and their access to recourses. While the documents also show that Nationalistic thought (idealism) was also crucial in driving American foreign policy, economic Self- interest prevailed.
In Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay, he talked about how he thought the West was where true American character was formed and that the West was the birthplace of democracy. However, in my perspective I don’t only feel that Turner was inaccurate in his analysis, but also very racist and selfish. I believe that Turner wanted to justify why taking over the West would be so necessary and beneficial to Americans. He stated several things in his essay that were obviously undermined by many primary sources in Hollitz’s book. At the time Americans took on the ideology of Manifest Destiny, which basically was the belief that Americans were destined to expand from coast to coast in North America despite the fact that there was people already occupying land on
In the book, America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the “isolationism” ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.
American taking part in imperialism gained its motion from both economic and cultural justifications that stemmed from America's history of expansion; American imperialism only varied slightly in the first few generations of presidents as we will explore sampling from Theodore Roosevelt's presidency on into Woodrow Wilson's presidency. American's previous western expansion became the breeding grounds for American imperialistic justification. Though cultural justifications were used to keep the public interest in support of imperialism economic justifications were viewed as more important throughout the history of imperialism, even in uniting the similarities of Theodore Roosevelt's and Woodrow Wilson's imperial agendas.
Throughout the 20th century, successive presidents pursued foreign policy in different ways but with one objective and that is to make America the most powerful nation on earth. Despite the challenges of each administration during this century, presidents found a way to put American at the frontline as the undisputed super power. President Taft pursued an aggressive foreign policy by introducing dollar diplomacy which was meant to encourage U.S. investments in the Latin America and the Caribbean. He used government officials to promote this policy in hope that it will create markets for American products in the region. President Wilson made a promise to the American people that he will focus on domestic policy agenda and rarely will his administration
Through Manifest Destiny, the U.S. conquered many new territories. Ever since the U.S. became its own country, they always wanted more land. They thought that the Manifest Destiny gave them the right to expand and conquer more land. The United States were offered a deal known as the Louisiana Purchase which doubled their size. Even after they received this land, they were thirsty for more. They wanted to have Texas as their own. After Texas got their independence from Mexico, President Polk annexed it. Polk had his eye set on California next. But before he could get California, he had to deal with border dispute in Texas, leading to the war with Mexico. So, did the United States have a good reason to go to war with Mexico? The answer is simple, the U.S. was not justified into going to war with Mexico. This is proven through the Manifest Destiny, border disputes, and an American viewpoint on the war.
Between 1895 and 1920, the years in which William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson reigned in the presidents, the United States struggled for not only justice at home but abroad as well. During this period policies such as Roosevelt’s Big Stick diplomacy, William Taft’s Dollar diplomacy, and Woodrow Wilson’s Moral diplomacy were all used in foreign affairs in hopes of benefit for all involved. However, it would be appropriate to say that self-interest was the most important driving factor for American policy and can be exemplified through economic, social, and political relations.
On the other side, Wilson was determined to revise the imperialist practices of earlier administrations, promising independence to the Philippines and making Puerto Ricans American citizens. But Wilson's own policies could sometimes be high-handed. His administration intervened militarily more often in Latin America than any of his predecessors. In the European war, American neutrality ended when the Germans refused to suspend submarine warfare after 120 Americans were killed aboard the British liner Lusitania and a secret German offer of a military alliance with Mexico against the United States was uncovered. In 1917, Congress voted overwhelmingly to declare war on Germany.
When World War I broke out in Europe, Woodrow Wilson announced that the United States would stay out of European affairs and remain neutral. Wilson was aware that the United States had no interest in the matters that did not directly affect the interests of American citizens. He hoped that the United States would remain neutral and continue to trade with warring nations. The American view of neutrality meant we were entitled to safely and freely trade with either side at war as long as it was out in the open seas. The United States hoped to stay out of the way because war was viewed as wasteful, irrational, and immoral.
Behind the scenes of Manifest Destiny, what really transformed the country was the ability to move products across great distances and the Erie Canal was a huge turning point for economic growth in America. Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal was the engineering breakthrough of the nineteenth century: Its four waterways would connect manufacturing and eastern ports with the rest of the country. Farmers could now ship their goods, they could move out, come down the Hudson River and this way of commuting became a part of a global economy. This Moment would bring about the thought of expansion which will become the fuse to enormous economic growth that will ultimately in the next century, become the belief of manifest destiny. The nation that both reflected the pride which reflected American nationalism, and the idealistic image of social perfection through God and the Church caused the nation to separate.
people wanted (Doc 1a). Wilson wasn’t very strict on his neutrality though. As WWI continued exports to Germany decreased as they greatly increased for Great Britain (Doc 1b). The U.S. still favored Great Britain and its allies and were not very neutral in trade. It raises the question if Germany was wrong to sink merchant ships. In response to the destruction of passenger and merchant ships Wilson wrote notes to the German leadership and made strong protests against their actions (Doc 2). Germany promised to stop the attacks, but later broke their promise leading to the U.S. entering the war. As stated before Roosevelt also supported neutrality. His actions before the war (WWII) were more drastic then Wilson’s. He put trade embargo’s on Japan fearing their increasing aggressiveness toward other nations and their possible threat to the United States and stationed the U.S. fleet at Hawaii (Doc 7). Roosevelt believed the best way to help European nations was to act as a beacon of liberty and restr...
...lists wanted to do was to make the nation better and stronger, which was all in the best interest of the U.S.. 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.
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
In 1898, in an effort to free Cuba from the oppression of its Spanish colonizers, America captured the Philippines. This brought about questions of what America should do with the Philippines. Soon, controversy ensued both in the American political arena as well as among its citizens. Throughout its history, America had always been expansionistic, but it had always limited itself to the North American continent. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, however, there emerged a drive to expand outside of the continent. When America expanded to the Philippines, the policy it followed was a stark break from past forms of expansionism. Despite much controversy, America followed the example of the imperialistic nations in Europe and sought to conquer the Philippines as an imperialist colony that they would rule either directly or indirectly.
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.