Pros And Cons Of Imperialism

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In order to examine the pro- and anti-imperialism arguments, there were several reasons why America must re-brand itself as an imperial country. America strongly believed in cultural supremacy which ranged from race to economics. America’s goal was to civilize the world through ethnocentrism means (PowerPoint class lecture). Imperialism was desired nationally because of industrialization, especially with overproduction at home. Industrialization has caused anxiety for the economy. They needed to increase in productivity to ensure their economic power which means they must gain “…new markets to expand into” (p. 656). The United States took on the role as an imperialistic nation to expand and strengthen economic benefits. Different parts overseas …show more content…

655). This became America’s “powerful rationale for empire” (p. 655) United States “…pursued a commercial empire with great success, followed its European rivals in creating formal colonies” (p. 653). One way America did to impose imperialism is by religion. Religion played a huge role in imperialism. Congregational minister, Josiah Strong, challenged Americans to take the lead in imperialism by fulfilling their God-ordained mission. He strongly believed the imperialism will assist them in “…converting heathen peoples to Christianity in Africa, Asia and the Middle East” (p. 655). By participating in this kind of method, they have become very invaluable to America’s government. Missionaries generally became businessmen in order to impose imperialism in other countries especially Hawaii.
Americans who were against the imperialism felt that it goes against their Christian beliefs by forcing people to “follow suit”. Most Americans were Christians at that time while many other countries practices Catholicism and other religions that are not accepted or supported by Christianity. Imperialism is un-democratic as “…the anti-imperialists rejected colonization as un-American and inconsistent with the nation’s ideals” (p. 666). They felt that colonize other countries should not be America’s goal and in doing so, America’s desire to colonize contradicts its own ideological

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