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Jason Hobson
April 30, 2014
Hist 1311-011
Dr. Breuer
American Expansion
The idea of an American empire changed dramatically over the period between the 1790s and the 1850s. The drive of the American empire however, has remain constant over that same period of time. The motivation throughout this time was Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism. The changes over the idea of an American empire happened because of population growth, economic prosperity, and the thought expansion was gods will.
Now that the Americans had defeated the British empire, the population of the new country had grown rapidly. From the original thirteen colonies that were started on the East Coast they were forced to move west into land that was not covered by the government. These settlers were forced off the court because the population was so dense on the coast that there was not enough room for them. Many people thought that despite the many accomplishments of early expansion it was done haphazardly. "Early expansionism lacked both the national coordination and the ambition it would later exhibit[.]" ...
The New England and the Southern colonial settlements were united in several areas that created the opportunity for each group of colonies to grow. However, these groups of colonies took divergent paths when it came to the founders’ motives to settle the New World, the importance of religious and social orientation, economic approaches and political developments. These different approaches were ultimately successful beyond the early founders’ expectations.
as population grew, less land was available for children (this led to some people wanting t expand out west)
It was not until the 1700s that the thirteen colonies finally started to flourish on their own. The east coast of North America was soon booming with success. But the Northern and Southern colonies’ did not take exactly the same routes in order to reach success. The Southern and Northern colonies began to show similarities in immigration and social structure and began to show differences in their economy.
United States expansionism in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century is both a continuation and a departure of past United States expansionism. Expansionism in the United States has occurred for many reasons. Power (from land), religion, economics, and the ideas of imperialism and manifest destiny are just a few reasons why the U.S. decided to expand time and again throughout the course of its 231 year history. Expansionism has evolved throughout the years as the inhabitants of the country have progressed both socially (the Second Great Awakening, the women's suffrage movement, the populist party and the early 19th and 20th century social reformers) and economically (factories, better farms, more jobs, etc.) Expansion changed from non-interference policies to the democratic control of the government as the United States grew in both size and population. Through the use of the documents and events during two major-expansion time periods (1776-1880) and 1880-1914), I will display both the continuation and departure trends of United States expansionism.
Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American expansionist ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, the Americans believed that we must expand our borders in order to keep the country running upright. Also, the Americans believed that the United States was the strongest of nations, and that they could take any land they pleased. This is shown in the "manifest destiny" of the 1840's and the "Darwinism" of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Apart from the similarities, there were also several differences that included the American attempt to stretch their empire across the seas and into other parts of the world.
I had learned lots of new things this year and especially this semester in U.S. History Since 1877. This history course required all students to complete twenty hours of service learning or to write a term paper. After considering the two options, I decided to give the service learning a chance because I thought it would be an interesting experience. There were a variety of projects to choose from, but I felt that the Sustainability Project was the right fit for me.
Arguments for and against overseas expansion raised a foreign policy debate in the late years of the 19th century to the early years of the 20th century. People favored overseas expansion because they wanted the American economy to grow. Missioners, who wanted to convert the inhabitants of the new lands, also propelled this new policy, and theories such as the Social Darwinism and the Manifest Destiny made people believed it was right for America to expand its frontiers and help the less fortune. But there were some who disagreed with overseas expansion because they looked at it as a hypocrisy act among Americans, or as a way of subjugating other nations just for America’s benefits. Some others were concerned that making contact with under-developed nations would eventually dilute their racial stock and the strength of America.
The 19th century set the stage for different policies that lead to the extending of America’s power, which is defined as imperialism. Imperialism started for different reasons like the Americans wanting the U.S. to expand or explore the unknown land, or even some feared existing resources in U.S. might eventually dry up. The reason imperialism started doesn’t really matter, but more of what it caused. Imperialism lead to Cuban assistance, the addition of Hawaii and Alaska to America, and Yellow Journalism.
Throughout most of the nineteenth century, the United States expanded its territory westward through purchase and annexation. At the end of the century, however, expansion became imperialism, as America acquired several territories overseas. This policy shift from expansionism to imperialism came about as a result of American's experience in the Spanish American War and the Congressional debates that followed the American victory.
American expansionism and the missionary movement are closely associated. The progressive movement had energized social reformers in America, inspiring social justice, social change and moral responsibility. America was emerging as a proud, patriotic society and felt empowered by their democracy. Americans believed their nation was exceptional and that they had a “moral responsibility” to bring Christianity and democracy to the world. Encouraged by political leaders, this moral responsibility spurred the growth of missionary work around the globe.
As the United States grew in power, so did her ideas of expansion. The foreign powers were beginning to move out of their continents and seek land in other countries. The United States soon followed. They followed in their founder’s footsteps and tried to occupy lands in the far seas. However, in the beginning, this need for more land was called Manifest Destiny. This idea claimed that God was forcing them to occupy the new western lands. The expansionism that occurred in the late 1800’s was not a result of Manifest Destiny, and thus this "new" idea of expansionism was different from the expansionism ideas of early America. For the most part, the United States’ need for more land was primarily to keep other nations (mainly European powers) out of the western hemisphere. However the United States began to see reason behind change towards the "new" expansionistic ideas.
During the 1800-1900s America was growing rapidly, the population, the income, immigration; especially the western expansion. There was one main issue, travel and transportation to the West was challenging which affected the lives of the American people. With the Louisiana Purchase deal in 1803, America nearly doubled in size and by 1840 almost 6 million Americans had migrated west with hopes of a better life and acres of land, this increased the need for a more connected United States through new transportation methods. Most rivers ran N-S not E-W; wagons were slow. In 1811 the U.S National government opened the first Federally paid road in Cumberland, Maryland to open up the West for settlers. This was controversial because it crossed many states; those that not support it, did not want to pay for it; this resulted in transportation being left up to individual states or to private investors or wealthy individuals. This new national road offered Americans a speedy more luxurious way to travel but did not solve the nation's transportation issues as this road was not suitable to transporting large amount of goods.
It was not very easy for the United States to expand like they had in mind. The division of land had been a rising problem since the Revolutionary war. Two of the main issues during the time of the Articles of Confederation were the pricing and land measurement (Potter and Schamel 1). Throughout the course of over fifty years, the government had tried many different attempts to get people to want to expand to the west. They just didn’t really know the right way of how to go about it. Trying to sell the acres did not go over well, considering the price seemed outrageous for what they were getting. Untouched soil was very hard to start on and be successful from the beginning, which caused some problems with people not wanting to buy the land (Weiser 1). So again, a different political group tried a different approach.
The stage of settlement was mainly emigrants from new England who didn’t identify themselves with the new country. In 1790 over half the white population was English which shared a disgust for non-British settlers. However, with Britain in a labor shortage, the new colonies needed another source to increase population
Imagine that you wake up in a tiny bedroom. You have to be very quiet because there are millions of people sleeping in the same building as you. Your apartment is so small that your room barely fits your bed in it and you have to get dressed while standing on your bed. Outside of your apartment you have to squeeze through halls till you get to the elevator. Since your apartment is on the 2067th floor you have to wait crammed in there with 15 other people until you get off of the elevator and walk onto the busiest street there is. The flow of people takes you right past the place you need to go because you couldn’t fight against the current. You keep walking trying to get back to that building, but it’s a lost cause. You no longer panic, because this has happened to you almost every day since you were born, and would likely happen the rest of your life too. This may