What Was The Influence Of American Imperialism In The Early 1900's

Cuba “held an economical potential that attracted American business interests and a strategic significance for any Central American canal” (Goldfield, Abbott and Anderson, p 638). Cuban rebellion “erupted again in 1895 in a classic guerrilla war… [and] American economic interests were seriously affected” (book pg638). The Spaniards started confining the locals to concentration camps “where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease” (book pg 638). This gained a lot of publicity throughout America as journalist’s were reporting the harsh treatment, which helped persuade our nation to intervene. Furthermore, this led to growing tension between Spain and

Intervention in Latin America, mainly Cuba, also led to the Spanish-American War. When the American naval ship, the USS Maine, exploded in the Havana Harbor, President McKinley immediately decided to go to war after being labeled a coward by yellow journalists. This is a prime example of how incidents in Latin American countries forced presidents to act rapidly and without much thought, causing America to form a bold and aggressive foreign policy.

In the late 1890's, the United States experiences imperialistic feelings rise again. The country as a whole feared our resources running out, so there was an increase in foreign trade. The intellectual justification for the idea of the New Manifest Destiny was social Darwinism, or survival of the fittest. In Latin America, the United States sided with Venezuela against Britain over border disputes; we were willing to go to war with Britain on the matter and we were protecting our own interests there. In 1898, France and Britain annexed Hawaii to the United States, which was an

Even though the United States Originally thought about the idea of expanding its economic, military, and culture beliefs on other countries during the 1840’s, known as the Manifest Destiny theory, it did not take foot until the Age of Imperialism during 1890’s. Reasons for this is because of the destructive forces from the Civil War, as well as the industrial revolution (Small Planet, n.d.). The United States was currently trying

After the Civil War, the United States struggled to keep up with other countries in the world. While figuring out how fix the corruption in the American government, the other countries were practicing imperialism. Imperialism is a policy by which strong nations extend their political, military, and economic control over weaker territories. Realizing that we needed to make a change, the United States started working towards the goal of practicing imperialism as well. To do this, our first few targets were Hawaii and Alaska. In 1867, we sought to buy Alaska because they had resources that we wanted, such as lumber and minerals. This was known as Seward’s Folly after the Secretary of State William Seward. In 1898, our desire of Hawaii was fulfilled when they agreed to annexation. However, this was not without struggle. King Kalakaua of Hawaii wanted the white planters to vote, but when he died, his sister, Queen Liliuokalani reversed his decision. She took away the power of whites, which eventually led to her being overthrown with the help of the United States Marines. The Hawaiian people opposed annexation, but when Mckinley became president, Hawaii was declared American territory. Sanford B. Doyle, a white plantation owner who asked for the annexation, became the first governor of Hawaii. This addition into American territory drastically influenced our economy.

The Spanish-American War in 1898 was a point where American’s demonstrated their power and true colors. America wanted to free the Cubans from Spain, but it was not purely out of the interest of the Cubans. America was in it for the Philippines. Spain had control of the Philippines, and the Philippines were located in close proximity to China. The issue here was that the Philippines was not interested in having the U.S. around and rebelled against the American forces (47) .The U.S. wanted to capitalize on the economic struggles in China and the Philippines was

For one to fully understand why the U.S. was an imperialistic nation, they must first understand the definition of imperialism. Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means. During the decade of the 1840’s, the U.S extended its power through obtaining

Spain treated Cuban revolutionaries horribly and yellow journalism-exaggerated news articles about the happenings in Cuba- emotionally affected Americans and swayed them in considering to help Cuba. The final draw that convinced the United States to intervene and go to war was the sinking of the military ship, the U.S.S Maine. The Ship exploded in Cuba and blame was put onto Spain. After the war ended, Cuba gained independence and the United States gained the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. The war established that the United States was now a world power and furthered the U.S’s expansion overseas to the Caribbean, Central America and Asia(Document

America’s imperial moment arrived when they freed Cuba from Spanish rule. America had to do what was necessary to keep Spain at Bay. President McKinley cautiously lobbied to Spain that they stop destroying American property in Cuba. Since Spain was unwilling to compromise, in 1898, McKinley sent over the battleship Maine, to show that the United

The United States imperialized Hawaii and Cuba’s economic, military, and cultural in the late 1800’s. Imperialism states for a policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker territories. During this time different countries were trying to control the weaker nations. Cuba was a territory of Spain. Cuba wanted their independence later given by the American-Spanish War. Hawaii was also becoming a territory of the United States during this time

Annexation of Hawaii: America had relations with Hawaii because of the Sugar Trade. After the Civil War money opportunities began to grow. In 1890 congress passed the Mckinley act that raised the tax on the sugar and made it more expensive. This put Hawaii in a depression. The sugar planters went to America's military and in 1893 the marines , without the approval of the president, marched onto the island and the American minister of the islands raised the U.S flag. The queen was forced to step down from her throne.

During the Spanish-American War, more people were becoming Jingoist imperialists who wanted the US to assert its global dominance. Hoping to further US business interests and expand the Navy’s resources, American merchants, businessmen, and imperialists wanted to invest in Hawaii, Samoa, and especially Cuba. Jingoists wanted Cuba because of its

Before the Spanish the US had no political reasons of interest to become engaged in conflict within the Caribbean region. To draw attention to their campaigns, US politicians, like Albert J. Beveridge, began to declare that it was America’s God given right to go to Cuba and take control; although this was not the

Of course this argument cannot have only one of these options as the sole option, there is never a silver bullet. But there can be one of these that makes more sense than some of the others depending on the circumstances. There are many different thoughts about why Great Britain continued practicing imperialism in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The three main ideas are most commonly known as economic, strategic, and social Darwinism theories.

expanding it boarders in the early and mid 1800’s. Throughout the world in the 1880’s there was a large need for countries to gain places where they could get natural resources. Almost every Western European Nation was in need to imperialize. Examples of this were the scramble for Africa, and the spheres of influence. The cartoonist Thomas Nast depicts this in his cartoon “The worlds plunder” which appeared in Harper’s weekly in 1885. America’s need to I imperialize was similar to that of Europe. The way the U.S. went about gaining markets was no different then what they had done before to gain land. The U.S. looked to fighting to gain land and when they saw the Cubans wanted independence from Spain the U.S. looked to help Cuba to get land in return. Throughout the war there was yellow journalism to gain support from the American population. Also when the USS Maine got bombed the American immediately blamed it on Spain. Years later it was found the explosion happened internally and Spain couldn’t have bombed it. The U.S. easily defeats Spain and in return for helping Cuba the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, The Philippines, and Guam. After Cuba Got there independence the U.S. wanted to keep their influence in Cuba so they passed the Platt amendment which made Cuba a protectorate and gave the U.S. a naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also would not let Cuba Make a treaty Without The U.S. The U.S. Justifies their actions for helping Cuba and gaining