In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s America started expanding abroad to try and enlarge our borders. However this expansion ended up creating more problems for the US. In the end America lost more than they gained all due to American imperialism. Imperialism is when a bigger nation takes over a smaller or weaker nation. When America did this they thought it would make them stronger but it ended up making then weaker and causing them to lose the allies they once had before they imperialized the smaller nations that once trusted them. First, America annexes Hawaii. They did this so they could build good naval bases and they wanted to protect the sugar planters in that area. An added bonus was that America got a stop in the journey across the pacific. Next they bought Alaska from Russia because they wanted to stop the expansion of trade and Alaska’s land was also rich in natural resources. America also took over Japan and China. …show more content…
One of those people being Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln said that our nation is not just about our great army or our forts but it’s about liberty for all people,everywhere not just here in America and by expanding America lost thought of that. He also said that the people who take away freedom from others don’t deserve the freedom they have. Secondly, the US didn’t want any different cultures or language other than our language and culture however, they got Hawaii,Alaska,China and Japan which all ahve differnt languages and cultures. Lastly, by expanding they broke the trust of some of the nations and drained them of their liberty and freedom that Americans claim is what the US is all about. After American’s expansion, Americans started realizing that the imperialism was wrong and eventually half of the smaller nations got the freedom back. America since then has been a safe place for people to have
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
During the war of 1812 an important issue was that the British had continuously harassed and attacked many American ships carrying out goods to trade, therefore interfering with the American economy (Doc. B). It’s the same situation with the expansion issue from 1800 to 1855, the people who are opposing expansion are holding back any and all potential economic explosions that could happen with the expansion of the United States. Another reason the supporters of expansion had a greater influence on the idea of territorial expansion was that these people pulled out the patriotism card. Document G recognizes how the pro-expansion people said that riches and happiness would come from the new expansion, how wealth and happiness were patriotic, therefore, necessary for the United States to
In the 1800’s, America was eager to expand their territory further west. An example of this in history is the Mexican-American war of 1846. In hopes to prevent the United States expansion into Mexican territory, Mexico allowed Americans to settle in the Tejas region. The Americans abused this privilege so they fought for independence. The Americans won and Texas remained its own country for nine years before the United States wanted to annex Texas.
Imperialism is the practice of a nation attempting to use force, diplomacy, or other methods to expand its influence beyond its own borders. When the United States became a more powerful country, it started to want to expand its influence, especially in places where doing so would be advantageous to the country. The early 1800s saw the start of these initiatives to increase our political and economic might, as well as that of our European competitors. The Kingdom of Hawaii was one of the first territories that the United States sought to colonize. The island was a desirable option for the United States due to its geographical location as well as the abundance of natural resources including sugar cane and pineapple.
Imperialism was a controversial idea that a nation can extend its power outward through means of diplomatic or military force. This often results in a shift of power from one major force currently in control to another. The people of that nation under control conflict may also experience wars, rebellions, or cultural destruction. Looking at some of these events, we see some positives and negatives of imperialistic action taken by the United States, and how it affected the nations imperialized by the United States. For starters, let’s look at Hawaii’s annexation.
The economic interest for America was to support the industrial boom of the 1800s the U.S. needed. The United States had limited raw resources and to make more money for new markets. The only way was industries nations by taking non-industrialized nations to use their raw materials and expand markets. America wanted to annex the Philippines
Those three reasons being, economy, military, and culture superiority. One reason that America saw to imperialize was their economy, with all of this newly achieved land there were many new ways to improve their economy. A big reason imperialism helped America’s economy was all of the resources other nations had to offer. For example, Hawaii had sandalwood. Sandalwood had a lot of value in China, according to History.com.
At the start of the 19th century, America was already expanding its territory. In 1803, the United States of America had bought the Louisiana Territory, it was bought from France which had made the country two times larger. In 1819 Spain had given up their territory of Florida to the United States. President Monroe issued the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823, its main purpose was to warn the European countries to not enter the Western Hemisphere. In order for America to achieve its goal of becoming an imperialist nation they had conquered other countries economically, culturally, and with a strong military in the late 1800’s.
As America became a great power, it has continued its legacy of territorial expansionism through neo-imperialist policies. Aside from acquiring land and expanding American territory, the United States has established policies that have allowed direct and often indirect military and political control, economic exploitation, and the introduction of American ideals. The U.S. has justified this form of colonialism by claiming that it is for mutual economic pursuits, the spreading of democracy, and the establishment of stable governments in developing countries. Despite America’s noble causes, American imperialism has caused many repercussions. The United States should cease to be an imperialist power as it is economically damaging to countries under its rule, costly to America, violates the fundamental American principle of self-governance, and exacerbates social and political situations in countries America has tampered with.
America had a booming population and they needed more land to satisfy the growing nation, even though america was a young nation we needed to grow. America was willing to sacrifice many things to be able to expand. 2,000 Americans died on the Oregon Trail in search of new land (SOU). We also did many things to keep the power to only whites. We had limited civil rights to only pure whites (Crash Course).
Was American expansion justified during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s? This was a debate that Americans fought over then and still now fight over now. There were two types of people some were for expansion and others were against expansion of the U.S. Both sides of the story will be well explained in this essay. First, this will explain the people for expansion’s side.
The United States of America has never been anything but an empire. The first European settlers came to the land as a colony and even after gaining independence, did nothing but push west while murdering and displacing millions of natives. All that mattered was the country gaining and keeping power. The mindset of the American
Imperialism means that one country controls all political, economic, or cultural life in another country or region. Europe successfully did this in the Americas and established colonies in South Asia, Africa, and China. Although this would seem like a substantial amount of power, Europe did not gain much influence until later on. Once Europe recognized their own growing control, they embarked on what is now called the “New Imperialism”. Many components played into this seemingly rapid success, but one significant reason was that of the
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.
The Dutch grabbed rich territories in Asia to gain control over the profitable spice trade. They also set up colonies in South Africa and North America. The French acquired colonies too, including present day Canada, which was particularly valuable for it’s fur. The British in the 1600’s took over the Dutch territory in North America and in 1763 they took Canada from the French. Despite their loss of the 13 American colonies after the Revolutionary War in 1783, the British continued to acquire new territories.