To what extent was 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? It was in the late 19th century that the United States entered an era of imperialism. Expansionism was very popular during this time period and the United States was not excluded from its rising trend. The country joined the other world powers in expanding their influential grip over the smaller and less developed nations of the world. Small crops of protest did emerge in response to the growing imperialist power, notably the American Anti-Imperialist League, but they had no large impact on the growing policy of expansionism that continued throughout the time …show more content…
The clergyman Josiah Strong claimed that God especially trained the “Anglo-Saxon race” as it was their job to take care of the world’s future in which the whites would eventually emerge as the superior race. This followed in line of thinking with “The white man’s burden” that had been created by Rudyard Kipling. America was expected to continue expanding because of the closing of the frontier in the west. It was naturally expected that due to the “survival of the fittest, America would continue to expand in expressing its dominance. Senator Beveridge also used divine justification in his speech to the congress upon why the United States would not be leaving the Philippines and continue to exercise control over it. He declared that God had chosen them, the white Anglo-Saxons, as his chosen people. He also employed tactics of Social Darwinism when he spoke of how it was their duty to lead the regeneration of the world. Expansionists and imperialists of the time used God and other divine reasoning to justify the intrusions made into foreign …show more content…
Their efforts were not successful on a large scale because of the great momentum the movement had taken up in the end of the 19th century. The political cartoonist Thomas Nast, renowned for exposing the infamous misdeeds of Boss Tweed, created the cartoon depicted in Document A. It shows the great powers England, Germany, and Russia divvying up the world into their spoils bags, which parodies imperialism and shows its viewed immorality. Nast’s drawing is an attempt to detach the United States from similarities to the expansionist nations by showing the injustice of their actions. More blatant in desire against expansionism and imperialism was the American Anti-Imperialist league, who attempted to dissuade the Americans from continuing to pursue overseas ventures, especially in the Philippines. It was their claim that the expansionists were destroying the “America institutions”, the constitution. On these grounds they tried to prevent the further war and bloodshed in the Philippines and other countries that might bear the same fate in the future if America continued to expand.
(Docs A, D) The departure from expansionism was relatively small during this time period while its continuation and progression flourished. It was not in the mentality of the people at the time to stay within ones’ borders and the United States was following the trend of imperialism on its
Many Americans thought occupying foreign countries, like the Philippines after the Spanish American War, was a bad idea because it contradicts the American values of equality found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. (Doc D) However, a majority of America sided with people like Senator Albert J. Beveridge who believed people were chosen by God to expand into China and the Philippines to open more Asian markets. (Doc E) This was a continuation of past expansionism because acquiring land for money Manifest Destiny have been motives for expansionism for
The United States was not interested in having people with different cultures, languages, and religions where an older generation of moralists thought it violate a core principle of republicanism, while a younger generation believed that the United States had a role to uplift backward societies. When the foreign policy changed after 1890, the US became an imperialist nation. After the United States bought Alaska from Russia the US quickly decided to look into overseas. Their plan was to take over other foreign lands and slowly gain an empire, and soon become a world power. The two major causes for US expansion after 1890 were for economic benefits and military control overseas.
James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse by Sam W. Haynes Haynes’ biography of James K. Polk is a little bit different from the traditional biographical book with enumeration of important dates from life of historical figure. Instead the author takes different approach: while recounting development of Polk’s career, he looks at the Polk’s presidency through the lens of expansionism. Though he frames the 11th President as a strong adherent of aggressive territorial expansionism, Haynes also emphasises that Polk’s decisions cannot be separated from the political and social climate of his time. The author renders Polk from one side as the initiator of expansionists political moves, and from the other, as a product of contemporary social beliefs,
In the late 1800s, Europe was scrambling to conquer vast amounts of land. Imperialism had swept the continent by storm, with many countries vying for pieces of Africa and Asia to control. From 1880 to 1900, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy fought for African possessions and by 1900, nearly the whole continent had been split and placed under European rule. There was plenty of motivation for Europeans to conquer the world, and while some supported it, others didn’t. Most people in Europe at this time held ethnocentric views toward the “uncivilized” cultures in the world.
They truly hoped that a war would be enough to turn the tide. Perhaps the most weighty opinion was the one of sitting president, William McKinley. He tried to persuade a decidedly religious group that taking over the Philippines was the Christian thing to do because America would simply be saving them from themselves and evil countries that would do far worse (Doc 3). McKinley had also advocated for the Spanish American War for much of the same reason, it would be saving these poor, repressed people from the despicable Spaniards. There were many that agreed with McKinley.
The concept of Manifest Destiny was not widely accepted and many people in the United States and other countries thought of it as a “flimsy justification” for imperialism. The fact that the United
America wanted to civilize them from the issues that is occurring. According to Document 4, “America is trying to show how the Filipinos that America can make their “dreams” come true erasing their problems with freedom, education, and justice.” The Filipinos wanted the independence, making US leader seizing the opportunity to control the Philippines by showing pull factors. United States didn’t really care about the issues going on in the Philippines. Controlling Philippines allows the United States a mid pacific port for trade purists.
William McKinley in his thoughts on American Expansionism has identified the reasons why America had no other choice but to incorporate Philippines as a part of it. This writing has been lifted from the excerpts of an interview with William McKinley soon after Spain had surrendered in the Spanish-American war. McKinley cleverly talks in this interview about how Philippines just came and fell into the laps of America thereby suggesting the helpless stance of America. He talks about how America’s sole intention and purpose had only been to safeguard its own interests as a country. He had to order that the Spanish fleets in Manila be destroyed because if left unattended, they would have crossed the Pacific and wreaked havoc in the American states
“it was God’s plan that America extend its territory.” (Roden 317) God wants America to take Texas. The Mexicans are “limiting our greatness checking the fulfillment of our Manifest Destiny” (O’Sullivan 323) People are wrongly stopping God’s plan. Later America got Texas, California, and Oregon Territory.(Roden 317)
Before the 20th century the United States was an isolationist nation but around the late 19th century America decided to convert into an imperialist power. They had numerous reasons to shift into being an imperialist nation. America didn’t want to begin imperializing to settle and live in the nations they were taking over, they already had America for that reason, they wanted to adopt these nations for what they had to offer, which was many things. America saw an opportunity to improving their nation and took it. Even if there were many causes for America to imperialize, three of them stood out the most.
And lastly the desire for a new frontier to settle in order to maintain America’s identity and prosperity. All three of the examples: economically, politically/military, and culturally can simply explain why and how America became an imperialist nation in the late
The United States became first place in the world in farm output and and in number of factories. For example, the number of American export tripled wile American direct investments increased as well. Generally, new businesses and economic interest motivated expansionism within the United States. However, the book also states that politics, joined profits, patriotism, and piety played a huge role in expansionism. What do you think the biggest role in expansionism in the 1890's was?
, the United States defended its expansion as a means of enhancing democracy. However, creating new markets and improving the economy were the true drivers of expansion. The most frequently cited justifications for imperialism were advancing democracy and assisting the underprivileged. “The United States has engaged in each of these activities.
Colonialism and Imperialism affected our world both positively and negatively. On one hand, Imperialism has often been linked with racial segregation, manipulation, and hardship. On the other, it has been said that many colonial powers contributed much in terms of schools, roads, railways, and much more. Whether this time period was constructive or harmful, it has played a large part in shaping our lives today. European Imperialism started long before the 1800’s.
How did the United States expand over the years and why? The expansion of the United States was a vital part of America’s history and greatly affects how we live today. America's early days only started in 13 states and then progressively grew to 50 states in total. The time throughout the 1800’s and what happened throughout that time greatly impacted how America expanded land, resources, opportunity, trade, and money. Two of many main causes that evoked American expansion was the amount of opportunity that America could take, the idea of Manifest destiny, and the amount of power that the US had on other countries.