Expansionism Research Paper

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Recommended: To what extent was the late nineteenth-century and the early twentieth-century United States’ expansionism a continuation of the past United States expansionism, and to what extent was it a departure

The United States expansionism during the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century kept the main objective the same as the manifest destiny during the 1840s; American expansionism, however, was departing from its earlier principle in that, instead of expanding the nation westward across the continental of North America, America sought to extend its civilization to overseas territories, and to influence on other nations culturally, economically, politically, and militarily. With the idea of expanding the nation into a world power, the U.S. looked into extending its power onto foreign lands, such as the islands of Hawaii, Cuba, and the Philippines. Along with becoming an imperial republic, and being able to play a major role in the world politics, America saw its responsibility to bring benefits of its civilization to less advanced peoples in the in world, specifically Latin America and Asia. Conversely, many in the U.S., like the Anti-Imperialist League, argued that annexation would violate America’s long-standing commitment to basic freedoms. However, the Imperialistic Era was a departure from the earlier expansionism, in that the U.S. was now expanding its influence and power overseas, along with its influence on geopolitics and regional economics. American expansion during the late nineteenth century differed from the earlier expansionism in that the nation had now extending its territory overseas, instead of expanding the nation from one coast to another. Earlier, America had gained lands from the Mexican-American War, and territory through purchases, such as the Louisiana territory from France and Alaska from Russia. Now, America had stepped forward on to the world stage of expansion. The first step that the U... ... middle of paper ... ...he inconsistency of liberating Cuba and annexing the Philippines. They insisted that annexation would violate America’s long-standing commitment to freedom (Document D). The Era of Imperialism during the late ninetieth-century and the early twentieth-century was fed by the belief that America was destined by God to be a dominate power in the world. To accomplish this, the nation had to evolve new economic, social and military policies, thus departing from the earlier expansionism idea that believed in only expanding the American way of life across the continent, from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans. Different concepts of expanding the nation, led to new justification, powers and territories. Now that the U.S. had become one of the world powers, it would be a major player in deciding how to resolve regional conflicts and lose the ability to be an isolationist country.

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