American Imperialism Dbq

The last quarter of the nineteenth century is known as the age of imperialism and for most of this period, the United States remained a second-rate power. After 1870, the “new imperialism” was dominated by Japan and European powers. Countries such as Great Britain, France, and Belgium consolidated their hold on their colonies in Africa, and then Germany acquired colonies there also. By the early twentieth century, most of the Middle East, Asia and Africa had been divided among these empires. In the 1890s, America had a major turning point with its relationship with the rest of the world. The United States emerged as an imperial power by the postwar attainment of overseas empire, such as Hawaii being annexed, the United States also acquire the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Guam. Not only did the United States acquired these territories but they also spread racial views to the new colonial possessions.

(Foner, v. 2, p. 534). In 1867, William H. Seward purchased the last territorial acquisition from Russian, which was Alaska, which costed $7.2 million and occupied the Midway Islands in the Pacific.From the Civil War until the 1890s, Americans had little interest in territorial expansion. Most Americans who looked over seas were just interested in expanding trade, not territorial possessions. The United States’ agricultural and industrial production could not longer be absorbed completely at home. Business leaders insisted on the necessity of a great access to foreign countries, “companies like Singer Sewing Machines and John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company aggressively marketed their products abroad (Foner, v. 2, p.