Expansionism overseas in the 1800’s became a very indispensable factor to the United States we know today. The issue of acquiring overseas territories in the 1800’s was very controversial because many citizens felt it was “un-American” because the U.S itself went through that with the colonization of Britain. However, the government did not consider that when taking into account the interest that came with taking these lands. Economically the Philippines gave the United States potential access to Chinese markets and they also saw advantage of the cheap raw materials in Latin America. Militarily, because the merchant ships were unarmed and carried all their products therefore its required military presence for protection. Also the United States found they competing against France, Germany and Britain, which had the largest navies in the world. The U.S also felt that their presence in the pacific would give them power of the port of Hawaii which was used a refueling stop for ships headed to Asia. Another very important factor with the expansion overseas was the culture that being taken to them. Many Americans felt superior to other people in the work because the Christian religion made them morally better than everyone else. Due to that fact, missionaries were sent o these countries so they can covert and adapt to the culture and become more “American and white” and this led to the boxer rebellion in china.
Economically the United States was trying to override the rest of the world. Back then and even today people around the world see the United States as a country with money and a land of opportunities. Industrialization in the late 1800s increased the need to trade with other countries. Nothing was dependent on man but instead...
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...t to the climax, which later on they did. Even though most of those territories were lost the U.S still managed to keep the relationship it has with other countries.
The United States and the issue of acquiring land overseas was not at all something easy to do. From being a weak nation to becoming more economic, militarily and morally superior whom they did accomplished. Even though this concept of expansionism overseas was displayed as a good thing it was truly a hard task to accomplish. Many other countries were willing to go to war with the United States for the territories but even then the U.S still came out reigning successful. Trade was really the main reason for this, to try and find a new way to have open markets and develop allies with other countries, which ultimately and even still is imperative to have in order to have a lot of income for the country.
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.
After the long lasting process of imperializing the Philippines, the overall impact was significant in all areas such as economically, socially, and politically. Yet, not only did this impact the Philippines, but also for the Americans in a small way. Economically, American imperialism helped the Philippines become an independent export, and the Americans influenced a more advanced economy for the Philippines, while also opening connections to resources for themselves. This was a result of the economic expansion after the 1909, in which the U.S. became one of the Philippines most dominate trading partners and encouraged free trade. Other advancements included higher employment rates, and stronger transportation systems. The overall economic
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 ...
From the years 1800-1850 the nation was full of battles and prosperity. Territorial expansion was a cause in most of the battles, but also gained prosperity for the nation. There were many impacts on national unity between those time periods, but the main impact was territorial expansion. This is true because of the Louisiana Purchase, the purchase of Oregon territory, and the Mexican War.
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.
The departure from previous expansionism (up to 1880) developed alongside the tremendous changes and amplifications of United States power (in government, economics, and military.) The growth in strength and size of the United States' navy gave the country many more opportunities to grow, explore, and expand both in size and money. The better range and build of ships allowed the U.S. to enter the far-east "trade and money" lands of the Philippines (eventually a territory) and China. Because of the huge production of agricultural goods and the need for outputs and markets for these goods, the United States needed to find other places for shipping, trading, buying, ...
The United States began as a group of 13 colonies controlled by Great Britain. These colonies won their independence in the American Revolution and became a unified country. Since that moment, the United States has been continuously expanding its borders. The Northwest Territory was gained as a result of the American Revolution, the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France, and the lands of California, New Mexico, and Texas were gained after the Mexican-American War. All of these gained lands helped expand the borders of the United States and develop the country into a global force. Expansion into the western lands of the United States became a growing trend in the early 19th century and continued to gain popularity amongst Americans. These lands promised a new start for some people, and for others, an opportunity for great wealth. Western expansion also created conflict between Americans. Competition for the best land, debates over slavery, and conflicts with Indians began to emerge with the increased expansion. The benefits and conflicts associated with western expansion defined the area and its role in America.
The major American aspiration during the 1790s through the 1860s was westward expansion. Americans looked to the western lands as an opportunity for large amounts of free land, for growth of industry, and manifest destiny. This hunger for more wealth and property, led Americans conquer lands that were rightfully someone else's. Manifest destiny and westward expansion brought many problematic issues to the Unites States verses the Indians that took the Americans to the Civil War.
Throughout history, the United States had come off as a stubborn nation that would take what they wanted at any cost. This was prevalent in both cases of expansion as the Americans risked war and national safety for the sake of gaining land, or even merely for proving a point. During the early years of expansion, the Americans had pushed aside the Native Americans and whoever else inhabited the land they wanted. They believed that the land was rightfully theirs and that everyone else was merely squatting on their territory. This idea continued into the early twentieth century as the Americans looked to the oceans for new territories to their kingdom.
A reason America wanted to expand was because they wanted their economy to thrive. After the Spanish American war, Hawaii became extremely important to the US for business uses. Eventually, Hawaii and the US signed a trade treaty which allowed Hawaiian sugar to be sold in America. Soon after, President Mckinley decided to annex Hawaii because there were a lot of factors about Hawaii that could benefit America. The annexation of Hawaii allowed America to create more naval stations in order to protect it’s world trade. The growth of America’s economy was partly because of Hawaii's goods. The economy of the US would not be as successful as it is today if we did not expand our borders. The US had the most advanced economy, but that didn’t stop them from trying to achieve more success which leads to my second evidence. America needed new markets to sell US-made goods as well as raw materials like sugar and oil. So America’s plan was to trade with China and expand their trade routes. America didn’t want to risk the chances of losing trade opportunities with Japan, Africa, China and other nations so they had the intention of expanding abroad. Furthermore, the US was able to have a successful and wealthy economy by expanding
During the late 1800s and 1900s in various societies, imperialism played a major role. Imperialism consists of a country's domination of an economic and cultural life in another country. Within the 1800s and 1900s, Europe became a large-scale global leader. Europeans set up colonies all over the world, specifically Africa, India, China, and Japan. Imperialism is viewed through two different major points such as the imperialist and colonialist.
In 1898, in an effort to free Cuba from the oppression of its Spanish colonizers, America captured the Philippines. This brought about questions of what America should do with the Philippines. Soon, controversy ensued both in the American political arena as well as among its citizens. Throughout its history, America had always been expansionistic, but it had always limited itself to the North American continent. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, however, there emerged a drive to expand outside of the continent. When America expanded to the Philippines, the policy it followed was a stark break from past forms of expansionism. Despite much controversy, America followed the example of the imperialistic nations in Europe and sought to conquer the Philippines as an imperialist colony that they would rule either directly or indirectly.
It was not very easy for the United States to expand like they had in mind. The division of land had been a rising problem since the Revolutionary war. Two of the main issues during the time of the Articles of Confederation were the pricing and land measurement (Potter and Schamel 1). Throughout the course of over fifty years, the government had tried many different attempts to get people to want to expand to the west. They just didn’t really know the right way of how to go about it. Trying to sell the acres did not go over well, considering the price seemed outrageous for what they were getting. Untouched soil was very hard to start on and be successful from the beginning, which caused some problems with people not wanting to buy the land (Weiser 1). So again, a different political group tried a different approach.