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Impacts of industrial revolution in U.S.A
American Imperialism 1880-1905
American Imperialism 1880-1905
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During the latter half of the 1800s, the rapid growth in industrialization created the need for businesses to seek out new international markets in order to continue to grow and sell their goods. During this time there was also the popular belief of American exceptionalism; a belief that America had a special mission to spread liberty and democracy all over the world. Together, these two factors helped thrust America into an era now known as “The Age of Imperialism”. From 1890-1914, the United States pursued the desire to expand their territorial possessions, and did so by using their political, military, and economic influence over other countries. While many were responsible for encouraging this ideology, Frederick Jackson Turner, Alfred …show more content…
He is best known for his evolutionary-based sociological theories, which were merged with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, to form a new sociological theory that became known as Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism reasoned that just like plants and animals, people compete with each other in order to succeed in life. Spencer’s theories thus helped explain how those at the top of the hierarchies proved themselves worthy of this status because they competed against the rest and were obviously the best adapted to their environments in order to succeed. His concept was coined “survival of the fittest,” a now popular, well-known term. Many politicians and wealthy people clung to his theory because for them, it justified their own elite status; it explained why they were meant to be at the top of the social, political, and economic class systems and why the weak should be subjugated by the strong. Spencer’s theories, interwoven in the Social Darwinism theory, supported the idea that the best adapted people, those most successful, would most likely reproduce and pass on their superior adaptations to their own offspring. Upper class Americans and politicians’ who desired to extend their political and economic power internationally used this kind of thinking to also support the imperialism movement and to address how to handle their dealings with other countries. They believed that since America was naturally superior, their control over the other countries would actually be in the best interest of human evolution. In fact, they saw it as America’s responsibility to bring industry, democracy, and even Christianity to lesser-developed nations. The combination of all these beliefs and that Spencer’s theories supported free competition, which was believed to be the most effective route to economic progress, helped justify the United State’s movement towards
As the Reconstruction Era ended, the United States became the up and coming world power. The Spanish-American war was in full swing, and the First World War was well on its way. As a result of the open-door policy, England, Germany, France, Russia, and eventually Japan experienced rapid industrial growth; the United States decided to pursue a foreign policy because of both self- interest and idealism. According to the documents, Economic self- interest, rather than idealism was more significant in driving American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920 because the United States wanted to protect their foreign trade, property and their access to recourses. While the documents also show that Nationalistic thought (idealism) was also crucial in driving American foreign policy, economic Self- interest prevailed.
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.
The most predominate justification for imperialism, at least for business America, was to expand its economic interests throughout the world. First off, as the American domestic market for manufactured goods seemed to be shrinking many American business interests started search for ways to keep their businesses expanding; the best way to do this was to rival European imperialism and thus rival European markets (Hewitt, 622-624). Additionally, during the 1870s and 1890s the economy cycle was characterized with booms then busts but it wasn't until the depression of the 1890s did America see its greatest economic contraction; this led political and business leaders alike to search for foreign markets and create them (Hewitt, 623). Furthermore, not only were business leaders looking to sell their goods overseas by acquiring territories as a launch pad into new markets, an example of this was acquiring Guam and the Philippines to have easier access into the Chinese Market, but business leaders also looked to acquire te...
At the turn of the century, and after gaining our independence, the United States land mass more than doubled through the use of purchasing, annexing, and war. However, the foreign policy of our government took a predominately isolationist stand. This was a national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries. General Washington shaped these values by upholding and encouraging the use of these principles by warning to avoid alliances in his farewell speech. The reasoning behind these actions was that the Republic was a new nation. We did not have the resources or the means to worry about other countries and foreign affairs; our immediate efforts were internal. Our goals that were of primary importance were setting up a democratic government and jump-starting a nation. The United States foreign policy up to and directly preceding the Civil War was mainly Isolationist. After the war, the government helped bring together a nation torn apart by war, helped improved our industrialization, and helped further populate our continent. We were isolationist in foreign affairs, while expanding domestically into the west and into the north through the purchase of Alaska. However, around 1890 the expansionism that had taken place was a far cry from what was about to happen. Expansionism is the nations practice or policy ...
In week three, our professor a question in regards to Turner’s thesis asked a question of me. The question that was posed to me was this, “which groups did he (Turner) exclude and why should they be included if we are to provide a balanced accounting”? After going back and reading the thesis again to make sure I had not miss anything, I still felt that Turner was very biased in his thinking. I gave my honest feedback on who I felt was left out of the thesis and was going to leave it at that, however I thought, before I submit let me see what other historians are saying about this thesis and Turner in the field of history. Well, was a I surprised when I was informed this was a leading paper in on the American West. However, I still could
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.
From western expansion to foreign imperialism the United States has always been an expansionist country. Early America’s focus was to conquer the natives and obtain western land within North America, but in the latter of America’s history, specifically in the nineteenth and twentieth century, foreign imperialism became the new focus. America’s activity in foreign imperialism was a continuation and departure of the United States’ early expansionism. It was a continuation in terms of manifest destiny, the spread of Christianity, and by the concept of “the city on a hill” and a departure in terms of foreign involvement.
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.
The United States of America has never been content with stagnation. The landmass of the Thirteen Colonies was enough to rival that of the Mother country from which they separated. The forefathers believed that it was the manifest destiny of this nation to eventually claim the expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. By 1890, nearly a hundred years following the original claim of Manifest Destiny, the land that was once open, was now under American control. But no sooner was the Great American Frontier closed, than was the door to East Asian expansion opened with the great gold key of American diplomacy. In a world where imperialism was contagious, and cartographers had to work around the clock to keep up with an ever-changing geopolitical landscape, the United States seized the opportunity to establish herself as a significant world power. With great expansionist minds at her helm, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft the United States began to grow beyond her border to claim stake in this wide-open world. This new expansionism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a different institution than its early to mid nineteenth century counterpart. Still, the drive to exercise the sovereignty of the United State and to propel itself over the world’s stage was the same then as it was in the time of Thomas Jefferson. In order to understand this assertion, attention must be given to three levels of analysis. First, the similarities that exist between the drive and purpose of old and new expansion must be taken into account. Second, the differences in the global political scene must be considered. Finally, there exits differences in the means by which expansion occurred.
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.
A theory which applied natural selection from Charles Darwin and Spencer’s sociological theories together. Herbert Spencer argued that certain individuals or social groups achieve advantages over others because of genetic superiority. This theory helped justify imperialism, racism, and laissez faire policies. This theory claimed that groups or individuals at the top of the social system belonged there because of their genetic superiority. It is because they have competed with other groups and have adapted well, is the sole reason why they belong in the top of the system. If something were to intervene, such as social and political factors, it would erode the foundation of the natural
Like previous American expansion, American imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was motivated by desire for new economic gains and improvements. However, the social justification, diplomatic and military approach and geographical aspect of imperialist expansionism varied greatly from previous American growth. Therefore, American expansionism underwent more change in this period than continuity. For many years, the American boundaries expanded as people moved, at the governments urging, westward for new economic opportunities and later imperialist expansion was no different. While many factors contributed, economic possibility was a driving factor in the expansionist aspirations.
Social Darwinism and The Gospel of Wealth explain these thoughts. There are some similarities, but many more differences between the two theories. Herbert Spencer and William Sumner were the two that created Social Darwinism. He started with nothing and was able to be very successful.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Imperialism was a popular trend among the large, powerful countries. Imperialism is defined as “The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations”. Imperialism cannot be said as either good or bad, but as a general rule: If you live in an annexed country, imperialism is not good, if your country annexes smaller ones to gain profit, land, and respect, then imperialism is good. The United States was not much of an imperialistic country until we won the Spanish-American war. As a result of this war, we annexed Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.
The concept of Social Darwinism was a widely accepted theory in the nineteenth-century. Various intellectual, and political figures from each side of the political spectrum grasped the theory and interpreted it in various ways. In this paper, we will discuss three different nineteenth-century thinkers and their conception of Social Darwinism. The conservative, Heinrich von Treitschke, and liberal Herbert Spencer both gave arguments on the usefulness of competition between people on a global scale. The anarchist, Peter Kropotkin, refuted the belief of constant competition among members of the same species and emphasized mutual aid.