The United States: 1865 - 1917

At the end of the 1770’s, the United States was a small nation constituted of farmers. Nevertheless, after almost 100 years, the United States became an expanded country across the continent. During that time, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Oregon, Louisiana and California had already formed part of the United States’ territory, either through acquisition, mediation or annexation. By the time of the 1860’s, the U.S. economy was growing, conduced by modern developments in transportation and communication from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast and an extensive incursion of immigrants that caused a boom of urbanization and industrialization all over the country. Nonetheless, the consolidation of industrial revolutions and massive productions created a large surplus of goods that could not be consumed by the people in the United States. In consequence, the United States had to create a new way to expand their territories in foreign markets, so they could absorb the excess of the U.S. goods. However, in a time when France and Great Britain were “the two major imperialist powers,” the U.S. needed a strategy that would help it to compete on the world stage as a global power. As a result, based on ideological arguments, strategy concerns, and economic designs as its main reasons, the United States entered in a new era where its principal goal was the creation of an Imperialistic Empire. (Goldfield Page 614, Prof. Michael McKeown)
The first reason under which the United States decided to emulate the model of Imperialism was based on its ideological and religious arguments. These started with the Rationales’ beliefs that America’s ideas and institutions were superior compared with any other country in the world. For example, some Americ...

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2 Abbott, Carl, Peter H. Argersinger, Virginia DeJohn Anderson, William L. Barney, Jo Ann E. Argersinger, and Robert M. Weir. "Chapter 22 "Creating a New Empire 1865 - 1917"" The American Journey. By David R. Goldfield. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2009. 611-36. Print.

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