American Imperialism Dbq

As one of America’s earliest substantive positions on foreign policy, the Monroe Doctrine shaped the interactions of the US with foreign nations for over a century. While it possessed four tenets, its central message was clear: No foreign power would ever again be allowed to colonize in the Americas. At the time of the doctrine’s formulation, it was reflective of an anti-colonial sentiment prevalent in the young nation. Moreover, logic suggests that preventing foreign nations from re-colonizing the Americas ensures the security and independence of the United States. Unfortunately, the actions of countless later administrations would reek of hypocrisy and bullheadedness. This paper seeks to demonstrate why the rise of American imperialism is

a stain on its history, and one which we must not seek to repeat.
The Monroe Doctrine, though beginning with a seemingly reasonable purpose, gave way for the rise of a uniquely American imperialism. This imperialism was based on the ideas of racial superiority, territorial expansionism, and the particularly pompous notion that Americans were destined by God to spread civilization wherever possible.
One of the first attempts to use the doctrine was by Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. He believed that Native Americans could be influenced against the United States by foreign powers, as demonstrated through previous alliances between the natives and the British. This was just one of the rationalizations provided for the Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears, in which Native Americans were forcibly removed from the southeast. However, the overarching reason for this forced removal was the desire of many Americans to achieve Manifest Destiny. This was the idea that Americans were provided the mandate by God to achieve full control of the continent.
This expansionism only reached further heights under James K. Polk, who while president had used the doctrine to suit his own interests. However, he originally held a quite different view. In response to the introduction of the Monroe Doctrine in the 1823 State of the Union Address, a young Polk said “... The President has no power to bind the nation by such a pledge”. Nevertheless, when Polk became president, he immediately began to invoke the pledge in his own way; by planning to create a transcontinental, imperialist empire.
In this empire, he sought to include Texas, the Oregon Territory, California, and much of the American southwest.

He also wished to purchase Cuba (which he desired in order to protect slavery). Among feeble justifications for this expansionism were that Britain may have sought to take control of California and Texas, however such a conclusion was never backed by evidence. Polk’s overall message was clear: While European powers would no longer be allowed to assert influence in the Western Hemisphere, the United States would allowed to take their place. Accordingly, it had not solely a right, but also a duty, to do so. Much of Polk’s goals were eventually realized, with the U.S annexation of Texas, California, and much of the Oregon Territory.

America’s enlargement of influence in the hemisphere would only continue under president Theodore Roosevelt, through what became known as the Roosevelt Corollary. This Corollary was created in response to a crisis from 1902-1903, in which Britain in Germany did a naval blockade of Venezuela after the nation refused to pay its foreign debts. Roosevelt’s new foreign policy statement said that the United States had the right to exercise military force in Latin American countries in order to stave off European influence. This shift effectively sought to make America the police force of the western

hemisphere.
Roosevelt makes clear no ambiguity of its intentions towards the Latin American nations, saying “...if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. 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.” With this policy, the intentions of the Monroe Doctrine begin a substantial change. While it was once seen as a clear statement of anticolonialism, the Roosevelt Corollary can be viewed by many as a reversal of this stance. Unfortunately, it would pave the way for U.S imperialism towards the end of the 19th century.