Asia Pacific Dbq

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The Asia-Pacific experienced monumental change throughout the nineteenth century and saw the United States establish itself as a prodigious power. This paper will outline the three main driving factors behind America’s pivot towards the Pacific and analyse the various developments that occurred during this period. Firstly the quest to expand trade and exploit economic opportunities in the Pacific will be investigated and how it incentivised thousands to travel across the ocean. Secondly the desire for a geographic and strategic advantage in the Pacific will be examined and how America achieved a crucial physical presence within the region. Lastly the doctrine of manifest destiny will be discussed and how this underpinning ideology guided America’s foreign policy …show more content…

High levels of immigration and a growing fertility rates cultivated a rapid growth in population. Through the use of water-based transport and the construction of railway lines, a west-ward demographic shift occurred across the continent. The Californian gold rush gave the final incentive for communities to settle along the Pacific coast and facilitated the formation of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Due to these developments, the US was ready and willing to engage with an area that had been largely untouched. These events nonetheless weren’t the reason America endeavoured to involve itself in the Pacific, however they did speed up the process. It also made it easier for the United States to set up ports, military bases and participate in trade with Asia-Pacific nations. From the years 1838 to 1842, Lt. Charles Wilkes set out to explore potential trading ports within the Pacific. This was largely done out of an eager interest to trade and practice commerce with the ‘Far-East’. Japan emerged as a great regional power due to its booming economy and technological advancements. In 1853, the US entered Japan not to acquire territory, but to establish trade relations. Kevin C. Murphy

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