Frontier and empire: two of the most defining cultural and historical topics of the early twentieth century. In relation to the United States from the years 1880 to 1920, both of these areas were deeply interconnected. In fact, they challenged the very definitions of democracy and self-determination. The combined lure of the unknown frontier and the opportunity to create an empire carved out and shaped a country from what was once unsettled and unadulterated wilderness. Not without consequences to the land and the people, the desires to explore the frontier and to create an empire affected each other. For the United States, the ultimate goal was to expand and influence the outside world beyond its traditional borders. The frontier in the …show more content…
One of the leading forces against imperialism was the appropriately named American Anti-imperialist League. This group was founded by Andrew Carnegie and William James, two of the most widely respected figures in America at the time. Again, the idea of consent (or lack of consent) was used in the argument against imperialism. In fact, Andrew Carnegie and William James quoted Abraham Lincoln, “no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent … white man also governs another man … that is despotism”. Governments of one country should not govern another country forcefully through absolute power. “… The policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends towards militarism … and against our glory to be free” (Anti-imperialist). To those against imperialism, it seemed that the conquests of the United States in foreign countries, such as the Philippines, were strictly anti-American. The elimination of a country’s right to self-determination flew in defiance of the very principles upon which the United States was founded. How could Americans be proud of a democracy that was built out of the fires of oppression while they themselves oppressed other nations? Anti-imperialists argued that those in favor of imperialism were hypocrites for forgetting their
The United States of America was founded on the basis that we should be a free and independent country from Great Britain and its empire. Rather than simply being a part of its empire, America wanted to become its own country to fend for itself. Great Britain, after the American Revolution, realized that maybe it was the best idea to let America set off and accomplish their own endeavors. After America gained its independence from Great Britain, the Manifest Destiny became a popular idea to follow; it was God’s will for America to expand their land to the West Coast. However, after this was accomplished, Imperialism came about a short time period later. Imperialism is much like the Manifest Destiny, but in a more greedy way. Imperialism is most definitely glorified to seem like a favor America is doing—by becoming an empire—and taking these smaller nations and countries ‘under their wing’ to nurture them and teach them the ways of being a ‘civilized’ person. However, what is the reason for Imperialism being brought about? After claiming from the East to West coast in America, why would they need to expand their area further—other than ‘teaching’ right from wrong to the ‘uncivilized’ people of the world? America’s Manifest Destiny era and America’s Imperialism era definitely have similarities, such as their apparent motives or rewards, but they also have their differences, like their underlying motives and purposes.
The late1890s signaled an imperial expansion of the United States. After the victory of the Spanish American War and the Annexation of Hawaii, the U.S. had successfully expanded its borders overseas. Through the Treaty of Paris 1898, the United States acquired territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. For example, the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba were all obtained from the Treaty of Paris. That same year the U.S. also Annexed Hawaii into the Union. This massive expansion into the Caribbean and especially the Pacific created a political clash between Imperialist and Anti-Imperialist. During this time Anti-Imperialist and Hawaiian political leaders argued that the mistreatment of indigenous people was unethical. On the other hand, Imperialist like Albert Beveridge supported Imperialism. In Beveridge’s speech “The March of the Flag” (1898) he expressed imperialism was the Anglo-Saxon way, because it improved the prosperity of these islands and expanded American borders. Also, he stated that it’s America’s
The significance of Frontier in American History is a thesis paper that was written and delivered by Jackson Turner on 12th July 1893. Turner delivered this paper during a yearly meeting of the fledging American Historical Association that was being held at Chicago. I believe this paper had a lot of impact on the study of American History specifically in colleges and universities. The original paper was informed from twelve sources. Turner wrote this paper and formed the frontier theory following the work of Achille Loria- An Italian economist- who proposed that the key to changes in human society was free land and that America would be the best place to research on this proposal. The other event that precipitated Turners paper was the announcement of superintendent in 1890 census which claimed that there is insufficient free land in US to allow frontier to feature in the census report as had been previously done until 1790 (Turnver, 3).
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.
While the US may have prided themselves in the fact that we didn’t practice imperialism or colonialism, and we weren’t an Empire country, the actions conquering land in our own country may seem to rebuff that claim. In the 19th century, the West was a synonym for the frontier, or edge of current settlement. Early on this was anything west of just about Mississippi, but beyond that is where the Indian tribes had been pushed to live, and promised land in Oklahoma after policies like Indian removal, and events like the Trail of Tears. Indian’s brief feeling of security and this promise were shattered when American’s believed it was their god given right, their Manifest Destiny, to conquer the West; they began to settle the land, and relatively quickly. And with this move, cam...
United States expansionism in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century is both a continuation and a departure of past United States expansionism. Expansionism in the United States has occurred for many reasons. Power (from land), religion, economics, and the ideas of imperialism and manifest destiny are just a few reasons why the U.S. decided to expand time and again throughout the course of its 231 year history. Expansionism has evolved throughout the years as the inhabitants of the country have progressed both socially (the Second Great Awakening, the women's suffrage movement, the populist party and the early 19th and 20th century social reformers) and economically (factories, better farms, more jobs, etc.) Expansion changed from non-interference policies to the democratic control of the government as the United States grew in both size and population. Through the use of the documents and events during two major-expansion time periods (1776-1880) and 1880-1914), I will display both the continuation and departure trends of United States expansionism.
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 the late 19th/ Early 20th century 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.
After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.
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.
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
Imperialism was one of the four contributing factors to the cause of World War One, along with secret alliances, militarism, and nationalism. It is the most important cause of WW1, because it created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, and through imperialism, the three other causes were able to affect the beginnings of the war. Imperialism is defined as the governing of one people by another country, which was a recurring dilemma prior to WW1 due to the industrialist movement. Although not all events that fall into the imperialistic category were about controlling another country, they contributed to the war, and imperialistic events were the foundation of the cause of WW1.
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.
There were two different time periods where Imperialism occurred. The first wave of imperialism, called the 'Old' Imperialism, lasted from around 1500 - 1800. The 'New' Imperialism lasted from around 1870 - 1914. The three main differences that we will discuss today are the differences in economics, politics, and the motive behind all of this.
As shown, America’s rapid change as the 19th century came to a close was supported by a various amount of imperialistic beliefs, motives, and incidents that almost jumpstarted the U.S. onto the world stage. Many of these incidents such as the public’s thirst for expansion, the annexation of several faraway lands, and the build-up of U.S. military forces would not have been possible without the Spanish American War. Moreover, the Spanish American war would not have been possible without the American people. Imperialism was a consequence of the American Democratic experiment, giving the people what they want.