20th Century American Expansionism

Manifest destiny is the U.S.’s idea that god wants them to expand all the way to the ocean. They did, but they set their eyes on Hawaii, Cuba, and the Philippines. At the time, Cuba was under Spanish control. Cuba wished to be independent from the Spanish. America had interest in Cuba due to economic interests. Not every American wanted to have Cuba join, neither did Cuba want to join. The Spanish were doing cruel things to the natives. The U.S. went to war against the Spanish. Americans did not appreciate that troops had to go to war to free another country. Hawaii before annexation was a harbor for ships. The U.S. wanted Pearl Harbor for the Navy. When American settlers came, they devastated the economy there. In addition, they brought diseases

To what extent was late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century United States expansionism a continuation of past United States expansionism and to what extent was it a departure?

The United States has always believed in manifest destiny, A term coined by John O’Sullivan. the belief that the expansion westward was both inevitable and justified the purchase of the Louisiana territory by Thomas Jefferson from the French in 1803 was a major deal that could not be ignored. Imperialism is enlarging a nation's authority over weaker countries using economic, or military promise. While not being exactly the same it is evident that westward expansion and imperialism are very similar with the United States expanding vastly in a range of imperial ways such as supplementing help from the U.S. military, and legal organizations into the gained territories and colonize them with nonnatives.

During the 1890’s, the United States began building and advancing their economy, as well as focusing more independently on becoming an even more powerful nation. Not only did the Americans begin to create a stronger national military and navy, they also began to look overseas towards the Pacific Ocean for resources and territories; this is when America began to look less like a national power and more like an imperial power. There were many reasons as to why the United States began to expand between 1880-1929, two of which include the military opportunities countries abroad had to offer, such as Pearl Harbor, as well as the domestic and political objectives the U.S. felt obligated to fulfill. Although, there were many important reasons for the United States to began to expand, the most significant reason for the expansionist foreign policy was the economic resources and opportunities other foreign countries had to offer the U.S.

Manifest Destiny is a term for the American expansion that the united States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast.

With the late 19th century came a great change in the ideas of expansionism in the United States, but also a continuation of its ideals. The idea of imperialism, where the United States would extend its power around the globe, stood in contrast with the original Manifest Destiny ideal of the 1840s and 1850s when America was expanding west from ‘sea to shining sea.’ However, the inherent social and cultural sentiments were still present in the late 19th century expansionism, though the economic and political purposes had changed.

In its infancy, the territorial expansion of the United States was inevitable. Many factors played into the expansion. However, none other played a bigger factor than the belief in Manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is the belief that a county has God’s blessing to expand to as far as it can. This belief is what led to the huge territorial expansion of the United States, but did this country have the right to expand solely because of its beliefs. However manifest destiny led to huge territory gains for the young county.

During the years surrounding James K. Polk's presidency, the United States of America grew economically, socially, and most noticeably geographically. In this time period, the western boundaries of the Untied States would be expanded all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Many Americans in the 19th century believed that the acquisition of this territory to the west was their right and embraced the concept of "Manifest Destiny". This concept was the belief that America should stretch from sea to shining sea and it was all but inevitable. Under the cover of "Manifest Destiny", President Polk imposed his views of an aggressive imperialistic nation. Imperialism is the practice of extending the power and

It is hard to read anything about the history of the United States without coming across the term “Manifest Destiny”. Manifest Destiny is a term, which was first coined by John L. Sullivan in the summer 1845 issue of the Democratic Review. “Hence it was carried into the debate on the Oregon question in the House of Representatives and proved to be such a convenient summing up of the self-confident nationalist and expansionist sentiment of the time that it passed into the permanent national vocabulary.” (Pratt, 798). The term voiced the idea that God had destined America to spread westward to the pacific. “It meant expansion, prearranged by Heaven, over an area not clearly defined.” (Merk, 24) Expansion westward seemed perfectly natural to many Americans in the mid-nineteenth century as they saw it was their destiny to expand their thriving country. This attitude that it was Americas destiny to expand helped fuel the drive to push west and begin the removal of Native Americans. Manifest Destiny is an extremely important aspect of American History and has ultimately helped to shape The United States into the successful country that is today.

Late nineteenth century and early twentieth-century United States expansionism was a continuation from past United States expansionism because of the reasoning and purposes behind the expansion. In both time periods the purpose of acquiring more land was to do according to God’s will, gain more power, and improve the U.S. economy. Religion can be found at the core reasons of why many people choose to act upon a variety of things in their lives. A prime example of this prior to late nineteenth-century would be Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States has a mission to spread its ideals, such as freedom and liberty through territorial expansion, all justified under the idea that this was God’s will that must be

During the years surrounding James K. Polk's presidency, the United States of America grew economically, socially, and most noticeably geographically. In this time period, the western boundaries of the Untied States would be expanded all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Many Americans in the 19th century believed that the acquisition of this territory to the west was their right and embraced the concept of "Manifest Destiny". This concept was the belief that America should stretch from sea to shining sea and it was all but inevitable. Under the cover of "Manifest Destiny", President Polk imposed his views of an aggressive imperialistic nation. Imperialism is the practice of extending the power and

Manifest destiny was the widely held belief that America was destined to expand the entire continent. Once the country touched the Atlantic and the Pacific, Americans started looking overseas for territory to expand to. This expansion took the form of American intervention in other countries in order to bring democracy, but in reality this expansion was for America’s own gain. In 1898, Spain declared war on America due to America’s intervention in Cuba’s war for independence. The war was not only fought in the Caribbean, but also in the Pacific, which led America to be involved in the Philippine Revolution and in turn the Philippine-American War. After America won the war, it gained several new island territories around the world, which led people to believe that the war was fought due to America’s interest in the territories and not due to the fact that

Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean; it has also been used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions.

The United States experienced a period of growth and maturation during the twentieth century. Now, this is not to say that this was the only period of growth, but it was a significant time during which the United States began to establish its military force at an international level. By establishing itself during the twentieth century as one of the world’s largest superpowers, America grew to be respected by most of the world’s nations. America also grew to become much more active in foreign affairs, even in ones that had no relation to the nation. The United States began to look for chances to expand their country, as well as opportunities to benefit financially from these territories. Imperialism is the word that best describes the foreign

Expansionism is defined as a way to extend territorial and to influence ideologically across a country's borders and allies. This expansionism was practiced by the United States and the Soviet Union until the Cold War came to an end. Moreover, through expansionism during the Cold War it was the idea of striving to gain more land by expanding further and occupying more land in order, to gain power and sovereignty. For example, in the Cold War some attempts to gain land was on Russia and striving to expand communism into the rest of the regions. However, the United States tried to stop this expansionism from occurring through the parts of the world and did succeed despite their failed attempt to stop it from China.