American Imperialism Case Study

The United States, during the Imperialism Age, began expanding overseas. Many beneficial factors can influence overseas expansion like how it maximizes profitability, helps better marketing plans for politicians and business owners, and leveraging of expertise which allows more money to come in. The United States during this time was doing what most countries, such as Germany and England, were doing: expanding their land and business and become a big nation power. The more land and business’s you have, the more powerful you are. In the United States’ case, however, was moral idealism or power politics the main motivator for them to expand overseas?
Power politics and moral idealism are also very different. Moral idealism is when you believe,

in spite of whatever happens, that everyone should have rights and responsibilities and that they are universal. Power politics are someone using their political action to increase their power or influence. Moral idealism is a great asset for expansion because it allows oneself to be sympathetic to a country. It helps keep the process humane by allowing the negotiator to put their self in the other nations place. Power politics is also a great asset by allowing the negotiator to think of how it will benefit them and their country.
The United States started expanding in many areas.

One area was in Alaska. William H. Seward purchased Alaska from Russia, using power politics as his motivation. After he purchased Alaska, gold was struck and found 30 years later. Even though it took a while, William H. Seward was able to influence people to move to Alaska. Many people began to become fond of the idea of additional territory for the United States. Another area is the instance with Cuba against Spain, although this done more out of moral idealism with just a little bit of power politics. Theodore Roosevelt, in his Corollary to The Monroe Doctrine, talks about how helping Cuba was defending the Monroe Doctrine. Spain was treating the hard-working people of Cuba poorly. Roosevelt said in his corollary

that:
Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.
Based on this quote, Roosevelt used moral idealism to justify why America should get involved with helping Cuba against Spain. It is also why the United States let Cuba have their independence.
President McKinley also used moral idealism, although he used it to not go to war with Spain. In his address to Congress of the United States, he talks about how our trade has suffered because of the war, how the mills were destroyed along with the houses and the land, and how the people of Cuba were all exterminated by the Spanish troops. President McKinley was able to communicate to Congress how America has been helping the Cubans with the war effort.
Alice Byram Condict wrote about the Americans bringing Christianity to the Philippines.

She paints the reader a description of what different people do and what some of the cities look like there. She then mentions how people in a town in the southern part of Luzon, the people bought a New Testament book that was written in their language. The church, however, was not pleased with this Bible so they asked everyone to bring their Bibles to the church so the priest could examine it. The church then proceeded to burn the books. Alice Condict’s motivation for bringing Christianity to the Philippines was moral

idealism.
Was moral idealism or power politics the motivator for America expanding overseas? The excerpts seem to point more towards moral idealism. However, not everyone was expanding to keep it fair for other people, so power politics is also in the scheme of things. Moral idealism and power politics was used almost the same amount as the other. America expanded overseas, depending on whoever you’re talking about, motivated by moral idealism and power politics.