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Spanish American Imperialism

Decent Essays

America’s expansion overseas was a positive part of American history because it showed other countries that the United States is a world power. Before the Spanish American War, European Countries had control over many different countries in the Western and Eastern hemisphere. Imperialistic nations were not showing other countries how to develop democratic traditions. America decided that we needed to step up and help these countries grow economically and form democracies. Also, the United States needed to protect our ability to trade, protect the lives of American citizens, and properties of American citizens. By trading and getting involved with other countries, the European countries will stay out of the Western Hemisphere, and the U.S will …show more content…

For example, “Many people embraced the belief that it was the United States' "manifest destiny" to expand its borders and become a world power.” After we expanded west of the Mississippi river, many Americans believed that in order to fulfill our “manifest destiny”, we had to expand our borders past America and expand in other countries. “Imperialism is the policy or action by which one country forcefully gains and keeps control of another country or territory.” This is what America needed to do in order to show other countries we are world power. By imperializing in other countries, “ it allowed the nation to secure international trade routes and foreign investments, but it also bolstered its global reputation as a world power.” It allowed us to trade goods with other countries, and we showed other countries that we are a world power. Imperializing also let us show other countries that we have a strong military. “Most often, countries use military means to gain economic and political control in other countries.” By using our military, we gain political and economic control in other counties. This benefits America because we can show other countries that we are a powerful country because we are expanding our borders and taking over other …show more content…

New land and territory was gained during imperialism in America. For example, “In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.” The Spanish American War persuaded congress to take over Hawaii. It then became the 50th state in America. Imperialism also expanded our economy. “Economically, the United States is one of the world's most highly developed and productive nations. No other country equals the United States in the production of goods and services.” As a result of imperializing, our economy is very strong and the most successful. This was a very positive effect on America because it shows the rest of the world that we are a powerful nation. By imperializing, we grew as a nation and also helped other nations imperialized . By doing this, we were able to trade with the counties we helped and our economy became stronger. Also, it created more jobs for American citizens because we needed more people to manufacture the goods we were selling and trading to other countries. Imperialism also helped us make alliances with other countries such as Great Britain and France. This is a positive effect for America because if we are ever in trouble, our alliances will step up and help us. All in all,

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