United States Imperialism

Imperialism is defined as the policy of extending a nations authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political regard over separate nations the notion of a globally stretching American Empire with much(prenominal) connotations was first made popular after the Spanish-American War of 1898 with the US annexation of the Philippines. Although previous US elaboratenessism shares m any(prenominal) similarities with this bleak age of expansionism, they also diverged from unity an aboriginal(a) in sev datel key ways.This tonic stage of American expansionism took place through the latter part of the nineteenth century and the aboriginal twentieth century and was quite analogous to the original or conventional type expansionism conducted by the US throughout its history proceeding this snip period in sev periodl aspects. The first of which was the strong belief that ballooning was a destined calling supported by idol.When the US first gained i ts freedom in 1776 span most of the east coast with the exception of Florida and lengthened except minimally into the mainland continent, just now by the late 1800s the nation stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific adding natural states and territory and hit the ceilinging across the entire continent. This comparatively quick and vast expansion was a result of the idea know as Manifest Destiny, coined by columnist John OSullivan in 1845. The idea basically articulated that belief that the unite States was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Pacific Ocean.As a result of such a belief the US judicature activity did everything within its power to make this growth possible. This ranged from the buying of and qualification deals for territories from different foreign powers, like the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France, to the taking of calcium and parts of New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico after the U S Victory in the Mexican American War. This type of belief that imperialism was a necessary duty held true for the new age.This was not exclusive to the US and was wide accredited throughout most of the colonizing European powers as well. People at the meter believed that God had made the white race in the US surplus emphasis was put on the Anglo Saxon race, superior to all others as evidenced by their grander civilizations, numbers, riches, and Christian beliefs. They saw these advantages as evidence that God wanted them to spread over the world imposing their rule on other races and lesser civilizations of the globe when inevitably the worlds yield of unoccupied land was depleted.This was especially the view of missionary minded Americans such as Reverend Josiah Strong, who called for Christian missions spanning the entire globe their ideas stemmed from the affectionate Gospel (Document B). The Social Gospel involved the use of Christian ideals to divine service cope with t he problems of the epoch, many of which were caused by rapid industrialization. This entitled way of mentation again helped inspire the United States to expand as well as convincing its people that such an expansion was rightful and meant to be, and again they did so because of these ideas and quite successfully so.The next ways in which the grey-headed and new ages were alike was in the treatment of the native peoples of the partings that the United States expanded into. During both(prenominal)(prenominal) time periods US policy toward the people already residing in any area newly acquired was biased and insensitive with little to no attachment of the for the good or desires of the natives. During early American expansion the victims of such actions were nearly exclusively Native Americans. As Americans pushed west they came into contact with a incalculable of different tribes inhabiting different parts of the North American continent.The US political sympathies and these Indian tribes began to clash with each other quickly and soon what is widely seen as an un semiofficial extermination campaign began. This campaign carried on for decades until the US had spread a completely across the continent fighting and enfeebling individual tribes until they submitted to US dominance. Even after this Native Americans were tacit hardened unfairly, having to contend with horrific US anti-Indian legislation.For Instance the Indian Removal Act, which took outside(a) Indian land and forced onto plots of land mandated for them do reside in, know as reservations. The most famous of which was the trial of tears, during which the Cherokee people were forced to present the one thousand mile distance from Georgia to Oklahoma below horrible conditions resulting in the deaths of 4,000 Cherokees. Another in adeptice toward the Indian peoples was their excluded from US citizenships and the rights and protections that source with it until 1924 with the passage of the Snyder Act.The treatment of those in the territories and colonies of the United States during this time during the late 1800s and early 1900s in that they again like the Native Americans were subject to harsh arm forces action. This occurred shortly after Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for 20 million dollars. The Philippine people were under the mistaken assumption that after the withdrawal of Spain they would get d have their independence, so as the US began to institute its rule in the dependency Filipinos freak under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo.The US government responded not by granting the Philippines its independence but instead by engaging in an armed conflict called by the American Anti-imperialist League, founded by Mark Twain in 1898, a war of criminal aggression. Although the US eventually won out due to far superior military might the process of doing so many Filipinos were slaughter putting Filipino blood on American hands (Document D). Inha bitants of the new age US imperial holdings were just as their Native American counterparts of the past denied rights and privileges and citizens.It was decided during this period that relation back would be granted jurisdiction over US foreign colonies and territories and control over the civil rights and statuses of those in them. This resulted from the Supreme Court case D beares vs. Bidwell, where a Puerto Rican exporter sued over the fact that he had to pay an import duties on his goods reason that he was not technically importing them seeing as how Puerto anti-racketeering law was a US territory. As Congress never saw add to make grant such inhabitants of the US Empire they were not wedded rights under or protected by the Constitution as US citizens were (Document H).This lack of rights for natives in these lands opened the door to abuses and despotism from the United States government as well as other entities for instance big business, toilsome to serve their own stud ys and desires at any cost. The similarities between both states of US expansionism are represented both in its attitude toward its own expansion and in its handling of the existing populaces in the areas acquired. The more new-made imperial period beginning in the late 1800s was also in numerous key facets a departure from previous US policies and previous expansionism.To begin there was a major difference in venue between the two periods. During the early era US expansion was circumscribed to the North American continent only spreading out and making larger the already existing American nation to the surrounding area. This more often than not consisted of westward extension toward the Pacific Ocean, and the settling largely wooded plain side that was quite relatively scarcely populated with only a number of Native American Indian tribes. However the latter era was a more global form of expansion.Instead of having growth modified to the continent and immediate area the US beg an to obtain colonies and territories thousands of miles away in other parts of the world such as the Philippines, the only official colony, Puerto Rico, and Guam. According to the father of the modern US navy, Admiral Alfred T. Mahan the US had to lead astray looking outward to distant territorial options due to the increasing need for raw materials and other growing production needs, an expansionistic desire form the American public, and the geographic position of the nation between the Atlantic and Pacific (Document C).The sensed need to keep up with the growing colonial bullheadednesss and therefore wealth and power of the European nations was also a driving force rotter this colonizing outward look. The US had fallen behind in this arena as shown in works like Thomas Nasts The World Plunderers, which shows the possessive European nations of Germany, England, and Russia taking land off different regions of the globe. The US is not however represented here among these powerf ul colonizing nations, serving to show how far behind the US was in that way and how it did not play as large or powerful role as these other countries (Document A).These new colonial territories were not made up of under populated state of nature ready for settlement, but instead were populated and held developed native societies with their own customs that the US government had to deal with. This type of new era colonial style interaction is exemplified in events like the Filipino revolt against their American rulers for independence. Not only did US expansion change nice more global, but US diplomatic expansionism foreign policy changed as well.During the initial time of expansionism the US foreign policy was focused on expansion through the gaining of land. While during the later time the US was still fixated on the attainment of land gains they began to also focus on expansion through the expansion of American make for throughout the world. During this time the US became so mewhat less isolationist and introverted and looked to expand art with other nations and sway over other nations rather than real colonial control.The remnant of the United States was according to Senator Albert J Beveridge in the 1900 to use its colonial possession of the Philippines to control the Pacific Ocean, which he believed to be the ocean of the commerce of the in store(predicate). This control over the Pacific would supposedly allow the US open-plan trade with Asia, making it the power that rules the world (Document E). This idea in confide resulted in the institution of the open door policy. This policy nvolved the forceful idea of China by the United States to engage in trading with the US and other European powers. To keep from fighting between these powers separate spheres of warp were set up for each colonial power in which they could trade and conduct business as they pleased. This policy worked well making the US arguably the largest and most important foreign power in the region as shown by the political cartoon American Diplomacy (Document G).The United States also opened up Japan to trade with the Commodore Perrys picnic to the nation in 1853. These types of stoop foreign diplomacy were not only employed by the US in the Pacific but in the Latin America as well with particular regard to interchange America. This was known as the Roosevelt Corollary, President Roosevelts interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine that compulsory the US to interfere in the affairs of countries affected by wrongful conduct and or impotence of the Western Hemisphere not for land but for the welfare of such countries (Document F).The Platt Amendment helped to support and legitimized the Corollary by guarantying US participation in Cuban dealings, both foreign and domestic and appeared to be at the time quite a success. The practice of dollar diplomacy took US influence over the Latin American to a new level by using both political and military authority to safeguard US citizens investments in the regions. This was used when President Taft sent US marines into Nicaragua in 1912 in order to keep safe American business interests.Such policies served to expand American control through increase in indirect influence instead of an increase in land and colonization. The variances between the old and new ways of expansion manifest themselves primarily in the change from Continental territory gains to globally and the shift from a singular expansion assistance on land to a attention on influence base expansion. United States expansionism has undergone changes throughout the years and at the same time stayed continual in many respects.Expansionism from the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century was a continuation of past expansionism in that the religious and high quality driven attitude toward expansionism and the treatment of those already occupying the colonized areas remained the same. However it was a departure from pr evious expansionism because of its more global connotations and its focus on diplomatic influence as opposed to land. It is evident that regardless of their specific differences the old era of US expansion and the new era are their own distinct entities.