Throughout American History, imperialists and anti-imperialists ideals have opposed each other, but each for a valid reason. The imperialists were for expanding the United States and for spreading their ideas of government. The anti-imperialists wanted to play it safe and prevent any conflict that could have risen. It is also existent in today's world with modern day conflicts about the current imperialistic values. The views of American Imperialism were similar about the concerns for racism, but the views also differed because some believe the US was strong when others do not. During the Imperial Era of america there were two different viewpoints to imperialising America. Though most of the ideas differed, some of the concerns were …show more content…
One of the main ideas that Imperialists believed in with the expansion of the US would strengthen the country. President William McKinley, once said, “That we could not give them back to Spain-that would be cowardly and dishonorable… That we could not turn them over to France or Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable” (Document 3). He is saying that expanding overseas would strengthen the power of the US and make the US seem not cowardly or weak. Though if an anti-imperialists were to of given an opinion of what expanding overseas would do to the strength of they would say that it would weaken the US. In many propaganda posters (Document 7) it would depict the US as being fools and spreading out too thin and making the US weaker. Sequentially, in William graham Sumner's speech he states, “that we must send fleets and armies to kill them if they do it; that we must devise a government for them and administer it ourselves” (Document 2). McKinley is saying that in expanding overseas it will cause other countries to create an image of the US as the bad guys of the world. Another opposing idea of the two groups is military
According to Teddy, imperialist concepts consisted of securing as many ports and colonies as was possible, to reinforce America as a world power in both military and trade areas. At the close of the short-lived Spanish-American War, the U.S. Government had a new problem on its hands. The powers, that be, could not agree on how to resolve serious issues involving newly acquired colonies. Supporters of imperialism wanted to keep the Philippines, under U.S. control,
Within the years 1800 and 1855 an issue that was making waves in the United States was whether the country should expand in size or not. Multiple events such as the Mexican-American war and the idea of “Manifest Destiny” lead to a growing discrepancy between the supporters and opponents of expansion. Although the opponents had some valid and understandable concerns with expansion, the supporters overall had a better argument. To start off, trade was a reason that many people supported the expansion of the United States. The supporters claimed that the expansion could lead to a route to Asia and that the United States trade would flourish and the economy would boom and everyone would have their fair share of the success (Doc. F).
Those who were pro imperialist argued that the US had built itself up and it was now their duty to help others and expansion could help America internally, but anti imperialists
Imperialism was a controversial idea that a nation can extend its power outward through means of diplomatic or military force. This often results in a shift of power from one major force currently in control to another. The people of that nation under control conflict may also experience wars, rebellions, or cultural destruction. Looking at some of these events, we see some positives and negatives of imperialistic action taken by the United States, and how it affected the nations imperialized by the United States. For starters, let’s look at Hawaii’s annexation.
Two main arguments, Imperialism or Anti-Imperialism, arose from the ashes of the war to spark new ideas on what the U.S. should be viewed as. On one side there are the pro-Imperialists who believe the United
Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century had joint many similarities and differences to the prior American standards. American citizens believed it was time to expand land territories in order to keep The United States at the top. American citizens had so much pride and spirit it was thought that the United States was the strongest and finest nation on the globe. Many Americans wanted a strict foreign policy, while others desired to remain neutral and not get involved in any crisis. Former
The reason there was an argument for the imperial expansion on the plus side the US got more resources and is able to make more goods that can be traded with other countries. The US would also become bigger with the imperial expansion. The bad side that some people saw was the US was getting to big
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.
And lastly the desire for a new frontier to settle in order to maintain America’s identity and prosperity. All three of the examples: economically, politically/military, and culturally can simply explain why and how America became an imperialist nation in the late
As America became a great power, it has continued its legacy of territorial expansionism through neo-imperialist policies. Aside from acquiring land and expanding American territory, the United States has established policies that have allowed direct and often indirect military and political control, economic exploitation, and the introduction of American ideals. The U.S. has justified this form of colonialism by claiming that it is for mutual economic pursuits, the spreading of democracy, and the establishment of stable governments in developing countries. Despite America’s noble causes, American imperialism has caused many repercussions. The United States should cease to be an imperialist power as it is economically damaging to countries under its rule, costly to America, violates the fundamental American principle of self-governance, and exacerbates social and political situations in countries America has tampered with.
Was American expansion justified during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s? This was a debate that Americans fought over then and still now fight over now. There were two types of people some were for expansion and others were against expansion of the U.S. Both sides of the story will be well explained in this essay. First, this will explain the people for expansion’s side.
”According to the quotation, the expansion was carried out in order to advance civilization and subdue foreign powers that dominated the United States. During the imperial era, the United States produced justifications for its actions, but these justifications frequently did not correspond to the real circumstances in the country. “Merchants began to publicly endorse imperialism because they hoped that the acquisition of new territories would provide new markets to offset the loss of revenues caused by the new round of European tariffs.” The quotation discusses the real justification for people's support of imperialism.
Anti imperialists had the better arguments than imperialists. Imperialism violates the peoples rights to vote/ the declaration of independence. White business leaders forced king kalakaua to amend Hawaii's constitution limiting voting rights to only wealthy land owners. Congress also proclaimed Hawaii as an american territory, although Hawaiians never had the chance to vote. Imperialism goes against ideals of self government for an example the military controlled Puerto Rico until congress decided otherwise.
Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, Americans used the theory of manifest destiny to justify their conquests for new territory. Later, Social Darwinism was added to the mix, which made Americans even more big-headed. Both of these theories caused Americans to believe that the United States was superior to other nations and that all lands were theirs for the taking. However, there were also many differences between the two expansionist periods because some people supported imperialism while others were highly opposed to the idea.
In being an anti-imperialist the worrisome is not that one opposes the idea of expansion of religion, commercial, and constitutional. It’s that with the annexing of these tropical islands would come to a result of the American system of self government would be that America might abandon this idea that makes America that nation it is to this point. Three reasons why the U.S should avoid imperialism is because it fails to follow that criteria of the constitution, could lead to tyrants like behavior, and could lead to conflict One argument that can’t be missed is the fact that the constitutions sets forth a principle that states “consent of the governed” after further research this means that to imperialize and annex other islands would violate