The turn of the nineteenth century brought along several economic and political changes in America. These new ideas cultivated the creation of several urban societies and industrialization of the work process. However, a new approach to foreign policy became a turning point in America’s history. After the Spanish American War, The U.S. received new territorial claims, opening up a road to imperialism. The new expansionism ideals and tactics presented a great departure from U.S.’s former techniques. Americans broadened the concept of “Manifest Destiny”, focused on obtaining resources, and supported war, just to acquire land for personal gain. Thus, there are only a few similarities between United States’ new imperialism and early expansion. …show more content…
However, the few aspects that imperialism was influenced by helped America become a stronger nation. The concept of “Social Darwinism” and “survival of the fittest” was continuously accepted, when the U.S. expanded to the Pacific. Josiah Strong stated how expansion became “the final competition of races”. (Document B) In the past America had to cope with Britain, France, and Spain to acquire land, but now the competition would only intensify. America also gained land such as Alaska through means of purchase, which it has done previously. For instance the U.S. was involved in: Jefferson’s purchase Louisiana Territory from the French, the purchase of Florida, and "Gadsden Purchase". Furthermore, there were some groups who opposed imperialism and addressed how expanding was promoting cruelty throughout the world. The Anti-Imperialist League viewed controlling the Filipinos as “criminal aggression” and betrayal of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. (Document D) This perspective proved how some Americans were trying to protect their original values, and became unwilling to depart with old approaches to expansionism. One of these Americans was Senator Hoar who didn’t want America to be seen as a …show more content…
Roosevelt, a former Rough Rider whose victory at San Juan Hill gained him fame and political prosperity, adopted an aggressive foreign policy. Even though Roosevelt propelled domestic reform under the federal government through his New Nationalism, his Big Stick Policy opposed American traditions. When seeking to construct the Panama Canal, Roosevelt was turned down by Colombia to obtain rights of the isthmus. As a result, he supported the Panamanian rebellion in 1903, solely to get permission for the canal once Panama received its independence. Going to such an excessive extent, was a degree no president had gone through before, depicting how the imperialist ideals were breaking America from its former approaches to foreign situations. Additionally, when the President enacted “The Roosevelt Corollary” he created a larger separation between new and old expansionism. Under this corollary, U.S. would serve as the “police power” in the Western Hemisphere, giving America superiority over certain nations and as Roosevelt declared “all question of interference by this Nation put to an end”. (Document F) Despite the fact that the corollary was an extension of the Monroe Doctrine, it gave U.S. an expansionist power which it had never controlled before, changing the perspective of American imperialism. The U.S. would now monitor and “tighten ties of a civilized
Roosevelt shaped the legacy of expansionism that he inherited from McKinley into a new imperialism. Roosevelt's reinterpretation was dedicated to the idea of order in world affairs, rather than occupation or colonization, eventual independence for undeveloped or developing nations once they had conformed to the American model of government, and a world in which international disputes would be settled by negotiation instead of war. The new world order that Roosevelt envisioned was broad in that it would open foreign markets to American values and products.
Throughout the course of history, nations have invested time and manpower into the colonizing and modernizing of more rural governments. Imperialism has spread across the globe, from the British East India Company to France’s occupation of Northern Africa. After their founding in 1776, the United States of America largely stayed out of this trend until The Spanish-American War of 1898. Following the war, the annexation and colonization of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines ultimately set a precedent for a foreign policy of U.S. imperialism.
In foreign affairs, the "white man's burden" helped to justify Roosevelt's "New Imperialism" in foreign policy. Uncivilized nations would gain eventual independence once they had conformed to the American model of government and democracy. Roosevelt's corollary to the Monroe Doctrine set up the U.S. as policeman in the western hemisphere. Under TR, the U.S. empire extended to include the Philippines, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. He also oversaw the building of the Panama Canal, a tremendous feat that enhanced U.S. commerce immeasurably.
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.
A reason America wanted to expand was because they wanted their economy to thrive. After the Spanish American war, Hawaii became extremely important to the US for business uses. Eventually, Hawaii and the US signed a trade treaty which allowed Hawaiian sugar to be sold in America. Soon after, President Mckinley decided to annex Hawaii because there were a lot of factors about Hawaii that could benefit America. The annexation of Hawaii allowed America to create more naval stations in order to protect it’s world trade. The growth of America’s economy was partly because of Hawaii's goods. The economy of the US would not be as successful as it is today if we did not expand our borders. The US had the most advanced economy, but that didn’t stop them from trying to achieve more success which leads to my second evidence. America needed new markets to sell US-made goods as well as raw materials like sugar and oil. So America’s plan was to trade with China and expand their trade routes. America didn’t want to risk the chances of losing trade opportunities with Japan, Africa, China and other nations so they had the intention of expanding abroad. Furthermore, the US was able to have a successful and wealthy economy by expanding
Expansionism in the late 19th/ Early 20th century 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.
At the end of the 19th century the growth in population and in production led many people to look outward. By expanding, America would ensure that there would always be access to foreign markets for America’s surplus products to be sold. To fuel America’s industrial economy, people found expanding very beneficial. Overseas territories offered a cheap labor force allowing American goods to be made at a lower cost and were full of natural resources and raw materials, which could be very useful in American manufacturing. These foreign territories could serve as possible coaling stations for the battleships, or as military basis. Many businessmen found very advantageous this idea because they saw it as investment opportunities. They were willing to use their surplus capital to invest in the mines of Philippines or to start producing in Hawaii because they knew this would give them higher returns that investin...
Imperialism is when a mother nation takes over another nation and become its colony for political, social, and economical reasons. Imperialism is a progressive force for both the oppressors (mother country) and the oppressed (colony), majorly occurring during the late 19th and early 20th century. It had more negative effects than positive effects due to its domination to other nations.
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.
Immediately following the war with Spain, the United States had both the political will to pursue imperial policies and the geopolitical circumstances conducive to doing so. But the way in which these policies would manifest was an open question; was the impulse to actively remake the world in America’s Anglo-Saxon image justified? Hence, there were several models of American imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century. In the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Samoa, the United States asserted unwavering political control. In Cuba, and later throughout most of the Caribbean basin, the economic and political domination of customarily sovereign governments became the policy. Ultimately, the United States was able to expand its territory
The United States, as a young nation, had the desire to expand westward and become a true continental United States that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Various factors, strategic and economic, contributed to the desire to expand westward. According to John O’Sullivan, as cited by Hestedt in Manifest Destiny 2004; "the U.S. had manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence to the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" (¶2). As Americans ventured westward to settle the frontier, their inherent superior beliefs, culture and the principles of democracy accompanied them. America’s ruthless ambition to fulfill its manifest destiny had a profound impact on the nation’s economy, social systems and foreign and domestic policies; westward expansion was a tumultuous period in American History that included periods of conflict with the Native Americans and Hispanics and increased in sectionalism that created the backdrop for the Civil War.
The major American aspiration during the 1790s through the 1860s was westward expansion. Americans looked to the western lands as an opportunity for large amounts of free land, for growth of industry, and manifest destiny. This hunger for more wealth and property, led Americans conquer lands that were rightfully someone else's. Manifest destiny and westward expansion brought many problematic issues to the Unites States verses the Indians that took the Americans to the Civil War.
The U.S tried to play a role in worldwide politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. With promising markets developing in China, the U.S needed a path to Asia. It’s overseas expansion was the key to this path as they could use the island nations they had taken and use them as “stepping stones” for a path to China. This brought upon resistance through whether the U.S had overstepped its boundaries and pushed too hard for this path. Document 6 shows this anti-imperialist view in which William Jennings Bryan proclaims that the acquisition of overseas territories such as the Philippines was the action of an Empire and that a Republic can never be an Empire. His views are influenced by the inherent Nativism present in society. It is an opposed view in which the U.S was hurting itself in its goal for world power rather than help itself. Document 2 reinforces this ideal, with William Graham Sumner bashing at the U.S’s attempt to become a colonial power much like Spain was in the
To what extent was the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth century United States expansionism a continuation of past United States expansionism and to what extent was it a departure? For almost 100 years since its birth, U.S. foreign policy was based on expanding westward, protecting U.S. interests, and limiting foreign influence in the Americas. However, after the development of a huge industrial economy, the U.S. started to focus on the rest of the world. This happened because it needed worldwide markets for its agricultural and industrial surpluses, as well as raw materials for manufacturing.
The concept of aggressive expansion sometimes also, somewhat ironically, called American Imperialism is being recognized as a phenomena of the 19th century by most historians. However some credit its start with the first colonization of the Northern American continent. For example the historian Paul Kennedy wrote; "From the time the first settlers arrived in Virginia from England and started moving westward, this was an imperial nation, a conquering nation." (P. Kennedy, 2002) Meaning that even the Western expansion should be considered an act of aggressive expansion which makes sense considering the land was already inhabited by Native Americans. While true that the Early US foreign policy is described as isolationist in its behaviour to other recognized nations, the reason for it is the view of western expansion as a discovery, not conquest. This is due to the difference in culture, specifically the concept of ownership of land, between the Indians and the white colonists. This “exploration” is the main reason for the later changes and cultural acceptance of aggressive expansion; there of course were other contributing factors, such as Manifest Destiny, Louisiana Purchase and the developing Nationalism, which will be analysed in the next part of this essay. The presented terms are frequently used as an argument to explain the US cultural mind-set in the 19th century and its continued tradition. While the concept of conquest can still be found even in today’s US, it was a partial failure in the 19th century. This paper will analyse the individual cultural concepts that developed in this time period and will answer what was the cause for its failure, and what the consequences were.