Anti American Imperialism

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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

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