In the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, the idea of imperialism swept over the world (Lapsansky). Imperialism is the policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. All of the major world powers, such as Britain and France, began forcibly annexing inferior nations into their empires. The United States, not wanting to be considered “less than” the other nations and not wanting to be left behind began implying the same policy to how they ran their country as well. The United States began bringing in small countries using force, such as Hawaii, the Philippines, and Cuba (Lapsansky). Even though our annexation would greatly upset the natives and lead many to rebel, the only concern of the United States was to bring in the countries and as much profit from them as possible. This is due to the idea of the “White Man’s Burden,” and “Anglo-Saxon Superiority.” Within these two ideas, it is believed that the English speaking countries of the world are superior to those of foreign tongue and skin tone and that it was up to us to reach out to these poor native people and h...
Imperialism is defined as a policy to dominant other countries and rule them. Then, these new colonies surrender their markets, industries, and resources to their invaders. “US imperialism, supported by US politicians, was intended to bring profits to US manufacturers (capitalists)…” (lecture4-p13). Although the period of 1890-1910 is usually known as “the age of the US imperialism”, the US imperialism is not limited to that era. Overseas imperialism began during 1890-1910 with the invasion of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, which was an attempt to expand the American’s territory to reach natural resources such as minerals, timber, oil, and land. These new territories could also provide corporations with cheap workers and military bases. There have been numerous other examples of the US imperialism. Starting from North America, the US government took over the Pacific Ocean and found its way into Asia. “A State Department list... shows 103 interventions in the affairs of other countries between 1798 and 1895” (Zinn-12), including Argentina, Uruguay, China, Angola, Nicaragua, and Japan to protect American’s interests in those countries. The same motivation was pursued in attacking Vietnam. According to Zinn, the main reason of the US intervention in WWII was to follow its imperial interests. “For those interests, in the thirties, an anti-Soviet
The United States has always been an empire, taking the land it desires by whatever means necessary. The colonization of the American mainland out from under the Native Americans is the first example of American imperialism. This practice of domination in conjunction with the ideals of manifest destiny helped to spur the expansion of the US in the late 19th century. The rationale for this period of expansion was much like that of colonization 300 years prior, relying loosely on the conquest of lands for political, economic, or religious reasons. This expansion had a price though, leading some to speak out against these expansionary practices (Bello)
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Imperialism was a popular trend among the large, powerful countries. Imperialism is defined as “The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations” Imperialism cannot be said as either good or bad, but as a general rule; If you live in an annexed country, imperialism is not good, if your country annexes smaller ones to gain profit, land, and respect, then imperialism is good. The United States was not much of an imperialistic country until we won the Spanish-American war. As a result of this war, we annexed Guam, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico. This is the point at which the US becomes and imperialistic nation, and though it was a hard struggle to keep these annexed countries under control and eventually gave them all back to their rightful owners. The importance of taking these countries is that we then could have coal stations around the world to fuel our navy, and we got respect from other countries around the war. This respect and intimidation helped the allied powers defeat the central powers during World War II. Ever since the US became the most powerful nation after the Spanish-American war, we have retained the title.
Imperialism has been around since the dawn of time. It is the “grass is always greener on the other side” mentality -- what one has, another wants. By definition, imperialism is a principle of action that extends a country's power and hold by use of militant and/or diplomatic forces. In 1760, arguably the biggest trend of imperialism across the globe started, appropriately named The Age of Imperialism. This trend lasted for many years, even well into the 20th century. The industrialized nations, which are mainly perceived to be of Europe back then, began to take over other countries and even continents. They colonized, conquered, and dominated both socially and economically. This
Imperialism was not a proper, nor legitimate policy for the U.S. The United States lived the majority of its lifetime as a benevolent nation. Implementing imperialism would be the opposite of the basis the nation progressed with. It would destroy the foundation of justice and righteousness that the land possessed. In "Imperialism - Its Dangers and Wrongs," published in 1898 by Samuel Gompers, he argued, "It is worse than folly, aye, it is a crime, to lull ourselves into the fancy that we shall escape the duties which we owe to our people by becoming a nation of conquerors, disregarding the lessons of nearly a century and a quarter of our national existence as an independent, progressive, humane and peace-loving nation." As Gompers explained,
Each individual maintains within his own psyche an idea of who he is, an idea of his essential character which psychologists refer to as his ‘self-concept’. Actions he takes in life which are in line with this ideal of the self serve to further reinforce it, while those actions which fall outside the scope of this model provoke an uncomfortable tension in the mind between what impulse or necessity has caused him to do and this ideal of who he is on a fundamental level. In much the same way that Liberalism conceptualizes the nation as a collective of individuals, people, perhaps particularly Americans, have a strong and guiding notion of who they are collectively
At the end of the nineteenth century, the popular idea for Americans was that American had a manifest destiny to expand their territory. That combined with the industrialist's desire for a new market for their goods. This was called the new imperialism. When it came to the expansion of the Pacific business leader really hoped to extend America commercial bounds across the Pacific to exploit Asian markets. The United States even got some land out of the Spanish American War or the War of 1898. The popular beliefs of the oversea expansions were overall positive for the most part until around after the Spanish American War. They had that popular idea of Manifest destiny to expand the territory, business leaders wanting to extend their commercial
In conclusion imperialism is a vehicle of advancement. This promotion is brought to countries that aren't strong enough to defend them selves. Imperialism advances a countries politics, society and economic value into a powerful money making country. The U.S. might not be actively engaged in an imperialistic type policy, but there are some subtle examples of U.S. policy that do push the envelope. Alfred Mahan, William Seward, Henry Cadot Lodge, Theodore Roosevelt, Josiah Strong, William McKinley were very supportive in the American Imperialism. They have conquered so many states and countries to expand the US. Imperialism has been practiced by many countries for a long time now, and will continue to be used by countries that seek to gain power
Beginning in the 1900’s, United States was altered by global imperialism. Imperialism is a policy that extends a country's power by using military force, and this technique is used around the globe affecting Africa and the Europeans.Throughout history, imperialism and colonization has constantly occurred because every country wants to have the most power and influence. This so called Imperialism spiced the economy because of the industrialization and trade, it created a desire for natural resources, and sparked superiority and racism. Majority of the countries wanted to industrialize and colonize other territories to become stronger.