The United States expanded a lot after the civil war because of the second Industrial Revolution. The second Industrial Revolution brought economic prosperity and overseas expansion. During the beginning of the 20th century, the main topic discussed was foreign policy. There was a divide in the United States. Some people supported the overseas expansion and some people didn't like to get involved in foreign affairs. Presidents during the time, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, thought and America should expand and spread its good fortune on other countries . There was opposition by William Bryan Jennings and Mark Twain. They condemned imperialism. According to Jennings and Twain, imperialism didn't suit the American identity and violated …show more content…
Yellow journalism and the sinking of an American ship were the two main reasons for the Americans being involved in the war. Some Americans fought the war to bring change at home. Especially, the African Americans fought the war with a hope of equal civil rights (doc 1). They believed that if they risk their life as the white soldiers did, then they might be treated equally. Other American fought the war with a hope that the new nation will prosper with the American help. Teddy Roosevelt, an imperialist, condemned anyone who was against the takeover of the Philippines (doc5). Before becoming a president teddy Roosevelt saw the United States as a parent to the philippines. After becoming a president Roosevelt felt that the United States needs to be an international police. He recommended his ‘big stick’ policy. This included the Roosevelt corollary as suppose to the Monroe doctrine. This included that the United States should intervene in the Latin American problems when its interest is threatened. With this decision, not everybody was happy. Many Latin American poets and writers wrote about standing out together against the americas and criticized Roosevelt’s big stick policy. Theodore Roosevelt didn't care about it much and continues to spread his ideas. William McKinley also supported imperialism. He thought the Filipinos could not govern themselves and they needed the americans to help them become more civilized (doc3). This idea was reflected in some of the “march of the flag” speech. It argued that the United States can take over these territories because they are not fit to govern themselves. After some time the united states annexed even more territories like cuba and puerto
The Civil War, 1861-1865, ended up being so calamitous, with the United States leading up to becoming a World Power in the 20th century. There was a collapse in industrialization, initiating the courage and hope of the Americans. The U.S tried to become this world power by attempting to first make their military stronger, offering trades with different countries, by joining different territories as well as buying different ones; they did whatever they had to do in order to become a world power. Setting up markets for raw material, as well as, keeping the inferior people well acquainted is what the imperialists insisted on building the economy. In addition, they felt as though our military force was not strong enough to overcome the obstacles
A another important foreign policy was Roosevelt’s Big Stick Diplomacy. This was the proposal to negotiate peacefully but to also prove to the other nations that the military is powerful. Roosevelt felt that being prepared for conflict was the most ideal way the United States could avoid war. This idea was summarized by Roosevelt's saying “Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.” Another big achievement of Roosevelt was the construction of the Panama Canal.
During the late eighteen hundreds a few decades after the civil war the United States had fallen into a great depression and was lacking resources and economical power. The need for economical growth was crucial. The united states needed to gain economical power so that we could trade with countries overseas and to show everyone how much power we really had. Social Darwinism started because countries were trying to gain more power this influenced the United States to try and gain more power than most other countries. But “All the united states wanted was for our neighboring countries to be stable, orderly and prosperous.
Should The U.S. Have Annexed The Philippines? When the Spanish-American war came to an end and Spain gave up their power in the Philippines and Cuba, the US showed they had no interest in annexing Cuba but were debating on whether or not they should annex the Philippines. The possibility of annexation pleased some but it also made other unhappy, like Emilio Aguinaldo who wanted the Philippines to be free from colonization.
They greeted the war initiatives in the hope that it would open more opportunities and help recover the economic condition. President McKinley’s objectives, on the other hand, were not for colony, just expansion of the spheres of influence for the sake of trade and commerce. He wanted at least a foothold in Philippines so that he could make Manila Bay part of a chain of bases-Hawaii, Guam, Wake- across the Pacific Ocean that could serve as a stepping stone to China and a center of U.S. power in the Western Pacific. After accomplishing this objective, the United States adopted ‘Open Door Policy’ to China along with imperial power England and Russia. Meanwhile, he adopted big-stick diplomacy in the Caribbean. 2.13 Roosevelt’s Corollary & Big Stick Diplomacy 1901-1909
In the 1930s, the president of Mexico, Cardenas, was in imperialism. He was introduced nationalism and land reformation. The mexicans wanted the British to side with them because the ability of certain workers. In 1938, Mexico nationalised mainly British oil companies. Mexico is part of one federal district and is made up of 31 states.
The Big Stick Policy was created by Theodore Roosevelt in the 1901, His motto was "Speak softly and carry a big stick—you will go far." Another policy was the Dollar Diplomacy it was created by William Taft in 1909. It was to was a form of American foreign policy to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. Another one was Wilson's policy was the Moral Diplomacy. It was created by Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
McKinley felt the Filipinos werent ready to govern themselves so he could not grant them independence. While fighting the Spanish American War McKinley led the Filipinos who were seeking to overturn Spanish rule that possibly they would be given their independence if they helped the Americans. McKinley also felt it would be bad for American business if he allowed another nation such as Germany or Great Britain to have and govern the islands So McKinley allowed himself to be convinced to keep the islands under American control.
The spirit of 1776 was independence and by annexing the Philippines the US took away the independence of the Philippines as well as the Filipino people. Taking away the independence of another colony/nation is hypocritical because it goes against the values of which the US was founded on. The Philippines should not have been annexed because the US could still profit from the Philippines without annexation. “It is not necessary to own people to trade with them,”(document D). The US did not profit from annexing the Philippines, trade wise, because they could still trade with them whether they were annexed into the US or not.
Mark Twain He was against imperialism. He spoke out against what happened in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War before 1899, twain was an ardent imperialist. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, he spoke out strongly in favor of American interests in the Hawaiian Islands In the mid-1890s he explained later; he was "a red-hot imperialist. I wanted the American eagle to go screaming over the Pacific."
Before the 20th century the United States was an isolationist nation but around the late 19th century America decided to convert into an imperialist power. They had numerous reasons to shift into being an imperialist nation. America didn’t want to begin imperializing to settle and live in the nations they were taking over, they already had America for that reason, they wanted to adopt these nations for what they had to offer, which was many things. America saw an opportunity to improving their nation and took it. Even if there were many causes for America to imperialize, three of them stood out the most.
Despite the weakness of the Spanish Crown during the Colonial Period, Spain surprisingly succeeded in creating, establishing, and enforcing (to an extent) a system of political organization in Colonial Spanish America that, while completely taxing in terms of time and distance to travelers, allowed the Crown to persevere for as long as it did. The Viceroyalty System, the main and most powerful system utilized by the Spanish Crown during the Colonial Period, was how Spain maintained control over Colonial Spanish America; despite a few setbacks and riots that occurred during this stage, Spain managed to uphold its supremacy and created a political structure specifically for the purpose of allowing the Crown to maintain imperial control for as
The Spaniards made a big impact in the Americas. They killed many Incas,Tainos, and Aztecs. These populations lost many including their emperors. On the Spaniard 's side they had power by killing Atahualpa and Montezuma they could create colonies and take riched back to their country. The Spaniards weren 't the only ones to look for riches in the New World.
The Big Stick Diplomacy was when Colombia said “No” to building a canal, Roosevelt new that if Panama was an independent country that they would want a canal. So he sent American warships to Panama and scared Colombia away and helped Panama became an independent country. Roosevelt knew that they wanted to break away from Colombia. The warships never fired a shot.
A prominent justification for the increase in this activity is partly due to the Anglo-Saxon notions and the acceleration of the United States’ militia and navy. As Shi explains, the continuation of the white-culture dominance held true in relations with the Philippines, as the United States discriminate against them and labeled Filipinos and “niggers”. Moreover, the prevailing idea during the Philippine-American War was that Filipinos are no better than dogs. Hawaiians were also neglected in their cries for independence, composing an irony as America had once also sought and gained independence. The increase in military and navy strength also led to the concept that America had the potential to become a world power, and Roosevelt noticed this.