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

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

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