Spanish American Imperialism Dbq

When America, as we know it today, was created, it had just freed itself from an unwanted, suffocating European power. The people wanted nothing to do with foreign affairs and their presidents’ policies reflected that. As America moved forward and established themselves as a world power, they began to want more. At the turn of the twentieth century, this want for more hit its peak and because of other circumstances, more was just within reach. America had always prided themselves in staying out of foreign problems and focusing inward, but now a new age was dawning.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the United States had minimal interest in becoming an empire who controlled overseas countries. Instead, Americans decided to just use Manifest Destiny on their own continent as their form of expansion. In the late 1800s, the frontier was announced to be “closed”, so Americans were forced to look overseas in order to expand trade by looking for new markets. After America made the decision to support Cuba in its revolt against Spain during the Spanish-American war, the United States gained its own colonial empire when it defeated Spain in 1898. Once the war ended, Americans had to debate between becoming an imperialist empire or remaining in isolationism.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s America started expanding abroad to try and enlarge our borders. However this expansion ended up creating more problems for the US. In the end America lost more than they gained all due to American imperialism.

The Spanish American war was a product of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis and the urbanization of America. In 1895, a rebellion broke out in Cuba, as Cuban patriots wanted independences from Spain. Through the yellow journalism, reports of Spain’s cruel military tactics lead to a public uproar in the U.S. However, most of these stories were exaggerated as a form to promote war. After an American battleship, the USS Maine, was destroyed, America was “forced” to start war and stop Spanish occupation. The war lasted from April 1898 till August 1898; through this war we took control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the islands of the Philippines. The end result of this war comes to show that the reasoning behind the war has more to do with

Introduction Today, people call the foreign policy in America from 1877 to 1914 as diplomacy in the Gilded Age. This was because there were lots of source to expand into the world. First, there were 50 million Americans in 1880, which could be possible to become the second leading industrial country in the globe. Second, after the Civil War, Americans noticed France and England was not in favor to them, so U.S. pursued the neutral foreign policy with the concentration on inward surrounding and money and power like the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 and the stop to acquire by the sugar interests in Hawaii in 1890 due to out of spirit with America’s non-interventionist tradition. Moreover, economically, America had a significant interest

When comparing Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson’s stance on foreign and domestic policies, there are similarities and differences. One iconic phrase we associate with Roosevelt, “speak softly and carry a big stick,” justly depicts his stance on foreign policy. Roosevelt sought after prestige for America, desiring to stand out among the nations in power and strength. At times, Roosevelt’s foreign pursuit was aggressive and resulted in conflict such as the Spanish-American War, and resistance to Roosevelt’s Corollary. But it did lead to advances of the construction of the Panama Canal, and the absorption of power over the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba and Hawaii.

Imperialism is not a new concept by any means to the human race. This form of movement has not only made many great empires rise to greatness, but have also made many fall (Roman). At many points in history the drive for imperialism was the only aspect some nations had in common (Cohen). Imperialism is simply the expanding of one’s power and influence by the complete taking over of other’s financial markets, industry, and abilities to be themselves.

When reflecting on the two fundamentally conflicting arguments -are foreigners better on their own or do they need our help? “American imperialism” comes to mind. This term denotes the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United States internationally. First propagated during the presidency of James K. Polk, the concept of empire-building in the America’s, developed throughout the late 1800th century. During this time, industrialization caused American capitalists to seek new global markets in which to sell their commodities. In addition, the increasing effect of social Darwinism led to the acceptance that America was superior to other countries and essentially responsible for bringing concepts such as industry, democracy, and Christianity to under-developed societies. The mixture of these attitudes along with other factors led the United States toward imperialism.

A great change United States history was the development of the country as a whole, regarding its magnitude in land mass and overall spread of acquired territory. Also known as the Age of American Imperialism, this significant expansion came about from foreign relations with other nations. Through peaceful negotiations, as well as violent conflicts, the U.S.’s sphere of influence and control expanded across various bodies of water. Increased involvement with world relations triggered a shift in power from one side of the world to the other, which would lead to the establishment of the U.S. as a world power, or an independent entity powerful enough to bring change on a global scale. Foreign relations between the U.S. and other nations during the late 1800s and early 1900s increased and became more complex as their involvement within global affairs likewise intensified. Moreover, major reasons for these increased relations included political, economic, religious, and cultural reasons, and for the purpose of saving the idea of masculinity within American men.

Imperialism was motivated by, “political ambitions… Nation’s will to power… or glory or national greatness,” (Doc 3). Imperialism for many countries is caused to improve the nation’s overall power. Additionally, according to President Mckinley, the U.S.’s involvement of Imperialism in the Philippines, was due to the fact that, “They were unfit for self-government,”(Doc. 7). The U.S. believed that there was nothing else for them to do, but take them over.

During Teddy Roosevelt’s first presidency, he attempted to tie with other governments, making this a political impact on the U.S. Therefore, when he noticed a problem or issue in another country, he traveled over there to stop it before it got too out of hand. He did this in order to preserve America and its people. Roosevelt saw the negotiations about the Panama Canal and intervened so it would help out Americans by connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean instead of

Imperialism is the term used when a country expands its current power and influence through diplomacy or military force throughout other lands and countries that are weaker than their own. Some motives of imperialism is, economic reasons, like industries need resources, and customers to sell to. Another reason would be military factors, and nationalism. Imperialism in the US hasn 't been a failure. The goal was to increase the country 's influence, territory, power, and belief. This was all to compete with other world powers. In the 1800’s-1900’s we weren 't even close to the world power we are today. Through imperialism the united states grew and became one of the strongest nations to this day. The USA prospered because of the amount of success American imperialism brought to the table.

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

A diplomatic decision that was presented to the world at the right time during history. It emphasized United States’ decision to fight against injustice and protect the independent Western nations. President Monroe’s message to Congress, declaring opposition to European colonization in the Western Hemisphere became the cornerstone of 19th century American statesmanship. (The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America). The Monroe doctrine had long lasting effects on the foreign relations and served as a backdrop for important early 20th century events such as entrance into World War I, and the establishment of the League of