A New Form of Expansion Before the start of the Spanish-American War of the late nineteenth-century and World War I in the early twentieth century, the United States had encouraged expansion as being a way of gaining power. For example, the Frontier thesis, conveyed that it is through the expansion of new lands that humanity would continue to progress. Also the United States portrayed its impatience to expand through Manifest Destiny: the desire to expand from sea to sea with the goal to own and cultivate as much land as possible. However, as the late nineteenth and early twentieth century appeared, America experienced a change. It grew from an ambitious, power-seeking country, to the beginnings as the wealthiest and a superpower. America, it seemed, became a country that helped the world, not itself, through expansion. Though the path of the United States' expansion was nonstop in its plan for Manifest Destiny; through trade, foreign policy, and social class evidence, it can be confirmed that in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth century, the "new world-power" was looked upon as a dependent source to 3rd-world countries and the United States' reason for its departure from its continual past of expansionism, was to maintain order and promote individual country constancy. To keep order, the United States misused their right to economical power. Although the U.S hoped for logical foreign policy, they seemed to abuse their economical power at the same time, by looking out for the "growing production of the country" (Doc C) and it's promotions that "enables a country to extend its influences outward" ( Doc C). The a... ... middle of paper ... ...her hand, as the immigrants began to enter the American work force, Roosevelt used his "Square Deal" to declare that he would use his powers as a president to safeguard the rights of the workers. Within America and throughout foreign countries, the efforts of expansion by the United States proceeded to continue their old goal of maintaining Manifest Destiny and expanding their economic power globally. Yet, they began to form a new course of expansion which leads to the support of world wide stability and order. Their way of thinking for achieving this was not obtained by believing to become a world superpower, yet brought upon the United States by the foreign masses of underdeveloped countries, which relied on them for political, economical, and social stability in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Expansion of a nation was nothing new in terms of history. The fighting, buying and selling of land in North America was a common event during the 1800s. The United States had started expanding in 1803 with President Thomas Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana Territory whose borders where not clearly defined. After the War of 1812 with the British, the northern border of this territory was defined at the 49th parallel. Then in 1819, Spain sold its claim to Florida to the United States. The United States wanted to continue to expand itself westward to the Pacific Ocean, a territory then owned by Mexico. The acquirement of this territory occurred after the Mexican War. How the territory was acquired by the United States is the topic in question.
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.
During the years surrounding James K. Polk's presidency, the United States of America grew economically, socially, and most noticeably geographically. In this time period, the western boundaries of the Untied States would be expanded all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Many Americans in the 19th century believed that the acquisition of this territory to the west was their right and embraced the concept of "Manifest Destiny". This concept was the belief that America should stretch from sea to shining sea and it was all but inevitable. Under the cover of "Manifest Destiny", President Polk imposed his views of an aggressive imperialistic nation. Imperialism is the practice of extending the power and dominion of a nation by direct territorial acquisitions over others, and clearly America took much of this land by force rather than peaceful negotiations with other nations. Polk acquired three huge areas of land to include: the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico under the Mexican Cession.
As one of the most prosperous nations, the Unites States desired to protect and manage “their” portion of the world. In the early 1800s, James Monroe created a plan that adhered to the isolationists’ point of view in America. This plan became known as the Monroe Doctrine. Time passed quickly and as the United States acquired more land, Theodore Roosevelt revolutionized the plan with the Roosevelt Corollary. Roosevelt’s ideas altered the way foreign affairs in the Western Hemisphere were handled.
Imperial expansion in 1860-1914 is often referred to as new imperialism, considering the first flush of territorial acquisitions that occurred in 15th &16th century. This expansion is deepening of the process of colonisation by Europeans in Africa and Asia, Japan in East Asia, and the United States in Central America and Asia. It was an aggressive extension of overseas territories, a ' White Man's Burden', establishing half a century of political and economic domination. This essay attempts to outline the sources and responses of this process.
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 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.
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.
Manifest Destiny was the belief that started and caused the westward expansion and led to many wars between all different types of people and the different countries that owned the land. The expansion allowed for lifespan to increase, the economy blossomed, and the main goal was accomplished which was getting occupation of America from ocean coast to ocean coast.
... put translations in its imperial bureaus.” In the end of the 19th century, the idea that the United States had a special mission to uplift "backward" people around the world also commanded growing support. During the late 1880s, American foreign policy makers began to display a new assertiveness. The United States came close to declaring war against “Germany over Samoa in 1889, against Chile in 1891, over the treatment of U.S. sailors; and against Britain in 1895, over a territorial dispute between Venezuela and Britain”. With this new political flex, the United States began to embrace the idea of imperialistic policy, transforming the nation. The United States concentrated on three main objectives when it came to the concerns of foreign policy. They desired to build a Canal in Central America, be a dominant role in regards to the Caribbean trade and annex Hawaii.
One of the first foreign policies in the twentieth century was the Roosevelt Corollary. This policy asserted U.S. authority to intervene in the affairs of Latin American nations; an expansion of the Monroe Doctrine. Also known as the cornerstone of American foreign policy, the Monroe Doctrine was the first time the United States had declared their own foreign policy without following the foreign policies of other countries. The doctrine declared that we (the United States) “are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power” (Out of Many Pg. 765), meaning the Western Hemisphere was to be closed off to further European colonization and that the U.S. would not interfere in the internal affair of European nations. The Roosevelt Corollary, however, was an amendment stating that the United States of America was the superior culture, and Roosevelt wanted to spread value and influence in Latin America and keep the Europeans out. President Roosevelt was very fond of the West African proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far.” Throughout his presidency and the Roosevelt Corollary, the president used the “big st...
In “There is no True History of Westward Expansion”, by Robert Morgan, he argues that history is inaccurate, history only names the famous people or actions which happened in history. He accurately states in his text that history is made up of heroes, villains, and also average citizens. This viewpoint is true because the more that is examined about history the more that is discovered. Other texts give support , such as,“Thomas Jefferson’s America, 1801” by Stephen Ambrose, “Reporting to the President, September 23- December 31, 1806” by Stephen Ambrose, and “American Progress” by John Gast, to Morgan’s idea that history is not made up of just hero and villains.
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.
The Westward Expansion was a turning point on United States becoming a continental agricultural and manufacturing power. United States wanted to explore and settle into the West after the Louisiana Purchase as the result of the War of 1812. Many pioneers and families moved west between 1816 and 1821. The land was purchased by the federal government to sell it at a very high price to the farmers. The farmers were willing to purchase land with the increase of American agricultural products. The state bank collapsed and all the farmers that were depending on it had all their land values go down. The Panic of 1819 greatly affected the western settlers who purchased land for crops. Most made it through the Panic and followed the conquest heading West.
The ‘Accelerated Growth’ excerpt from Blockman’s and Hoppenbrouwer’s Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1550 puts forth an underlying assertion that there is casual relationship between popular agricultural innovations, political organisation and cultural & social expansion in the medieval period. The relationship being inferred is that as a result of vast population growth in the period, greater need for forms of social order and authority also grew, and thus, as a result a whole new culture and social order of courtly behaviour, knighthood and a new state of peasantry were born.