Empire Building Research Paper

What was the American concept of “Manifest Destiny” – and why did it affect Canada?

Furthermore, Canada remaining under the archaic British North America Act and not drafting its own constitution meant that the composition of the nation and the government was in the hands of the British Parliament, which denies the Canadians the luxury of dictating the structure and make-up of their own country. Now, one may say that Canada weakened its economic ties with Britain and was therefore no longer economically dependent on them, but the fact of the matter is that all we did was shift our dependence onto another nation, the United States. By 1926, America’s yearly investment in the Canadian economy had risen up to $3400 million (as opposed to $2000 million in 1920) mainly in the exporting of Canadian resources to the United States. In addition to that, American companies built “branch plants”, which were made to avoid having to pay trade tariffs, making this a pretty one-sided trade

Chau’s thesis that the rise and fall of empires was due to tolerance, inclusion, difference, and diversity is shown to be true of the Roman Empire because of the way that tolerance allowed and caused the empire to rise, enter its golden age, and fall. The Roman Empire was a “hyperpower” that lasted from 44 BCE to 476 CE. The empire contained Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe, along with North Africa; thus, there was an abundance of culture from many different conquered groups. Romans wanted to make these conquered nations provinces of Rome. The Roman Empire began (and the Roman Republic ended) with the assassination of Julius Caesar, who wanted to be a dictator. No longer a republic, the lands already ruled by Rome became part of an empire. The government became centralized with a single ruler, the emperor. However, even before the empire, during the Republic, there was also the similar feeling of wanting to conquer other nations was there.

A newspaper in Washington said “we are not prepared for war” (doc D), stating that we are outnumbered, that the American people dreaded the thought of invading Canada, that if we declared war America would ultimately fail. Our foreign policy was another issue on the table, as people wondered whether to try and ally with France and Canada or to go ahead and proclaim war on them, too, in hopes of conquering the British Canada. A congressman says that war is unnecessary, that “A war of invasion may invite a retort of invasion”. If we take Canada as our own territory and expand north, the British could easily gather their grounds, invade Canada and take it back just as easily - and that was if the Americans could beat the British for Canada in the first

America wanted to annex Canada because it had a lot of resources that America would have loved to get there hands on the great amount of resources that America could have used. America also wanted to annex canada because it would have been a huge amount of territory gain for america and it would have made America a super country, it would have been a metaphorical spit in the face to Great Britain.

Upper and Lower Canada were the closest British imperial possessions that were vulnerable to U.S. military and naval power. The rapid growth of their economies in the early nineteenth century, particularly in the timber trade, had transformed them into a significant resource for Great Britain during its protracted maritime struggle against France; this reinforced the American desire to seize them, and fostered a strategy of invasion. To the extent that the British were able to carry the war to the Americans, it was by sea; thus, especially after the summer of 1814, the theater of operations expanded to include the mid‐Atlantic coast and the American territories around the Gulf of Mexico. For this reason, a war that commenced as an invasion of Canada in 1812 concluded in a defense of the city of New Orleans in the early months of

Far from the shores of England, and to a large extent independent from the mother country, Canada remained reliant upon Britain, at least for its military expertise. Although Britain was largely preoccupied with the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, its military support of Canada, especially in the later phases of the war, proved to be decisive in the defeat of the Americans. Perhaps this is only appropriate given that Britain’s policy of impressment of American vessels and sailors was a principal cause of the War of 1812(Black, 185). To be fair though, American expansionist sentiment, embodied in the cries of the War Hawks leading up to the War of 1812, and that later manifested itself in the form of Manifest Destiny contained in the Monroe Doctrine, was also a cause of the war. Also contributing to the start of the War was the growing expansionist sentiment in the United States that was based on the idea of American superiority over Canada(185). This sense of superiority was rooted not only in the ideology of the American revolution, that republicanism and democracy were superior to monarchy and despotism, but also in the comparative advantage in population, manpower, financial and industrial strength enjoyed by America (Creighton,108). To the Americans, Upper Canada was an appealing and exceedingly vulnerable province by virtue of its geography, small population and perhaps even more so because of the composition of that population that included many recent

They did not have enough men or money to fight. In the “U.S. Invasion of Canada,” it was stated that “The standing army had less than 3,000 men; there was no command structure, no logistical framework for supplying armies, and no staff structure to plan or coordinate operations. [...] forces were needed for the regular army; some of the volunteers had little military experience.” The Americans weren't the only ones unprepared, though, in the same document it said, “Britain could only raise limited forces to defend Canada. There were no more than 4,000 British and Canadian regulars, with a varying number of militia and Indian allies of uneven quality. The Canadians could expect little assistance from Britain” (“U.S. Invasion of Canada”). It didn’t matter, though, that the Americans weren’t attacking well in the U.S. invasion of Canada. The article also states that “since the inhabited portion of Canada stretched only 50 to 100 miles north of the border, from the Great Lakes to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, there was not much to conquer. However, American attacks, when they occurred at all, were totally uncoordinated. The United States' first invasion attempt gained less than one mile of Canadian territory and ended in the loss of not only Detroit but also all of the Michigan territory.” This means the U.S. attacks on Canada did not help the United States but hurt them. People wonder what happened in the

Canada, at the time had been ruled by Great Britain. In Document C, a Congressman of Virginia with name of John Randolph complains that the United States principal purpose to going war is to take over Canada. H explains that the United States leaders are rather selfish and greedy and how it seems to be the leading cause of going into war. According to the text in Document C it states, “…if you go to war it would not be for the sake of… Maritimes right” and, “… Canada seems to be their tempting sight.”. This explains that John thinks that all the United Sates only care is for more land. However, this statement is not very true. The United States did care about gaining more land but wasn’t the only matter that led Americans to declare the War of 1812. This would also play into National Pride being something proud American citizens can heroically boast and brag about. Gaining land in Canada can be a major accomplishment for the United Sates and could be a great example of National

If there was expansion in the west, Canada was able to make a railway. The railway would be used to move troops and goods. Expansion to the west also means more farm land and farming rights. There were too many people in the east because of farm land, so they wanted to expand it to the west so more people would go there. The American’s were also thinking about moving into these western lands and take over but if the colonies of BNA were to join together they could stop the attack. Negative people in the expansion to the west were aboriginal people and the positive were farmers and white men.

In the late 1800s the Unites States are on their way becoming stronger and expanding as a nation throughout the rest of the world. In which many of the world powers already engaged in imperial practices. . All of the foreign policies that soon followed from the late 1800s and early 1900s were written in response to ideological shifts. This had leaded the nation into conflicts and long term discussions. The United States wanted too wanted to expand because the nation experience major shift and all influence by political leaders.

War! Yesterday on June 18 1812, President Madison declared war on the Canadas. To quote President Thomas Jefferson, "The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent." Here is why I believe that a victory for us is definitely guaranteed.

World War I was just a stepping stone for the Canadian nation, it was their efforts in the Second World War that Canada really became independent. The short term losses gave Canada long term benefits. Its economic growth, international respect, and political standing gave her recognition and more importantly, it shaped itself as an independent country. Canada was a widespread name after the victory on D-Day.

The history of North America would be awfully different if the United States ruled all of North America. In this alternative fictional timeline I will inform you what would have happened if they did achieve their greedy dream. Firstly, all Canadians and Mexicans would be Civilians of the United States. We would have to follow and abide the law of the most powerful country of the world. Next, the most powerful country in the world would have won many wars quicker and with much less bloodshed and would have dealt with racism much more civilized. Furthermore, I think that this powerful country would potentially attempt to take over the world due to greed.

Ancient Rome, the period between the 8th and 1st centuries B.C. in which Rome grew from a little colony to an emerging empire. "Roman imperialism introduced extremes of wealth and poverty that honed social and economic conflict within the Roman state ." The enormous army and their countless loots, as well as their captured slaves, produced many changes along the countryside such as small farms becoming large plantations, and peasants left without lands decided to journey to Rome and other cities. "Immense wealth inflamed the ambitions of Roman nobles who struggled for personal domination rather than collective rule ." This dominant emergence of power and rule thus led to the conquering and control of other societies. The