Overseas Expansion Essay

There were many reasons for the United States to expand overseas, but the strongest by far was to improve the economic stance of the country, and to a lesser extent to better the political standings of the nation. As the United States began to overproduce, all hope seemed lost to become a world power until the thought of overseas expansion came up. After the closing of the frontier, America scrambled to find new sources of revenue. Political powers began to argue whether or not to take up an imperialistic state of mind for the country or to stand their ground and take the chance of being left behind.
The United States ventured overseas into new markets in large part to advance the economic position of the country. Senator Albert Beveridge

declared that, “American factories are making more than the American people can use; American soil is producing more than they can consume” (Zinn). Due to the overproduction of products in factories, a lot of money was lost in the process of storing and creating a commodity that was never going to sell.

Because of this, many businessmen and merchants looked to overseas markets to sell their product. The closing of the American Frontier played a significant part in factories overproducing items because the population wasn’t growing as rapidly as it had been before. Upon reaching the conclusion that America needed to expand overseas to better its economic position, the argument of which territory to take control of. Hawaii was seen as the best choice. Because of the current sugar trade that the US and Hawaii shared, it was seen as a foothold in the process of taking over the chain of islands. As explained by Howard Zinn, “A turning point in U.S.-Hawaiian relations occurred in 1890, when Congress approved the McKinley Tariff, which raised import rates on foreign sugar. Hawaiian sugar planters were now being undersold in the American market, and as a result, a depression swept the islands” (Zinn). This underselling of sugar allowed Americans to receive this crucial material at low cost, and in high quantities. Although it sent Hawaii into depression, in a way this helped the United States loosen the grip that the royal Hawaiian family held on the islands. Eventually, the American sugar farmers in

Hawaii attempted to overthrow the queen and at the same time, requested that the US armed forces provide protection. After overthrowing Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii was free to export sugar to the mainland without being undersold due to being turned into a US territory. This sugar trade with Hawaii set America on the path to becoming a world power due to the new economic positioning they obtained. Not only did The US’s relation with Hawaii grant them steady imports of sugar, they also now had access to a crucial refilling station on the route to China. The newly available route to China reopened the door to foreign trade. With the freshly acquired refilling station in Hawaii opening up trade to China and other countries in southeast Asia, America’s expansion overseas truly led them to a powerful economy.
Another reason for expanding overseas was to better the political prosperity of the United States to create a feeling of physical security.

Although not as crucial of a reason, it still played a necessary role in the expansion overseas. As Henry Cabot Lodge explained, the world powers have begun “... rapidly absorbing for their future expansion and their present defense all the waste places of the earth… As one of the great nations of the world, the United States must not fall out of line of march” (Schlesinger). Nearly all land the was available had been seized and captured and little remained for the US to obtain. World powers were outpacing America because of their imperialist techniques. If America didn’t act fast, all land would be controlled and it would be impossible to defend against powerful countries attacking from nearby islands. If the United States didn’t expand overseas and take control of foreign countries, there would be no safety. According to Arthur T. Mahan, a naval officer and historian, “... It should be an inviolable (unbreakable) resolution of our national policy, that no foreign state should henceforth acquire a coaling position (station) within three thousand miles of San Francisco...For fuel is the life of modern naval warfare; it is the food of the ship; without it the modern monsters of the deep lie” (Mahan). If America doesn’t take control of territories at least 3,000 miles off the coast of San Francisco, it will put the country in

jeopardy because an enemy would have a strong refueling station en route to an attack. If it were possible to take control of all islands in the pacific along with Cuba and Puerto Rico, the US would be physically safe from naval attacks. Given the current political position of the United States compared to other world powers, the expansion overseas and creating a sort of forcefield of territories to act as refueling stations would create a strong feeling of physical security.
Some may say that the US ventured overseas for ideological reasons, but this was simply a feeling of white supremacy used to convince taxpayers to support the expansion. A large part of this ideological thinking was the White Man’s Burden, or the task that white colonizers believed they had to impose their civilization on less advanced territories. They believed that it was their responsibility to spend their time and money to help people who were of inferior genetic makeup. In reality, the White Man’s Burden was an excuse for imperialism, but because the US didn’t like that term, they created a new one that made them appear to be doing good. Also, due to the feelings of Manifest Destiny in the late 1840s, many American politicians believed that upon controlling all land from sea to sea, that was time to expand overseas. This was seen as the New Manifest Destiny. The New Manifest Destiny was essentially the belief that it was America’s manifest destiny to expand its rule overseas to neighboring islands and territories. The belief in social Darwinism, or the feeling of superiority over other races because of the level of civilization and education level a society held. Social Darwinism and White Man’s burden go hand in hand as an excuse for imperialist actions. Americans believed that because other racers somehow had a worse genetic makeup, it was their obligation to raise them up to a higher level. Ultimately America’s expansion overseas was not fueled by ideological reasons, rather this was an excuse to make imperialist advanced on other territories.
From the late 1890s to the early 1900s, American merchants and businessmen believed that the US needed to expand overseas to repair its current economic state and to a lesser degree, to solve the political dilemma facing the United States and at the same time to create a feeling of physical security. The betterment of the US’s economy was in large part the only reason for expanding overseas because of the overproduction of products by factories. Also, there were political reasons for expansion including the need of a sort of safety forcefield that would be made up of surrounding islands. Many would argue that American expansion was fueled by ideological thinking, but that was merely an excuse for imperialistic actions.