American Imperialism : America 's Foreign Policy

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s the United States (U.S.) pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism extending its political and economic influence around the world. What is imperialism? Why this policy was adopted and how it was rationalized. The major events that took place and which countries of the world the U.S. became involved due to this policy. Finally, we will see, not everyone supported foreign affairs by the U.S. and in 1899 they founded the American Anti-Imperialist League. I will discuss their view of Imperialism and discuss the outcome of the foreign policy going into the twentieth century.

After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.

As a reaction, William Woodville Rockhill detailed the Open Door Policy in intend to protecting American business chances and different hobbies in China. In September 6, 1899, U.s. Secretary of State John Hay sent notes to the significant forces, such as France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia, requesting that them announce formally that they might maintain Chinese regional and managerial trustworthiness and might not meddle with the free utilization of the bargain ports inside their authoritative reaches in China. The Open Door Policy expressed that all countries, including the United States, could revel in equivalent access to the Chinese market.

In the book, America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the "isolationism" ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.

Between the years of 1930 and 1941 american foreign policy changed how it worked and its goals. They changed because of the threats in the outside world and because of all the absolute need for us to get involved in the war. During this time the world war was restarting in Europe and was leaving no choice except for the United States to get involved in the war. People were dissolving treaties and fighting and the united states could not remain neutral if they hoped to avoid losing their allies. The united states foreign policy changed because of threats and because of the need in Europe.

By late the nineteenth century the world was in an Age of Imperialism. The foremost European powers were all competing and swiftly increasing their territorial claims. Americans have always felt the desire to grow and expand the United States, they ultimately proved that with Manifest Destiny, when they settled from the east to the west coast. The idea of expansion overseas was something not new to the United States. The war against Mexico had allowed the United States to be carried into the Pacific and the issuing of the Monroe Doctrine allowed the United States to expand their sphere influence well beyond the Caribbean and into Latin America. American Historian Howard Zinn (1980) says that the Monroe Doctrine was, “Issued in 1823 when the countries of Latin America were winning independence from Spanish control, it made it plain to European nations that the United States considered Lation America its sphere of influence” (p. 297). Also, the very idea of imperialism is deep rooted and is expressed through that very ideal of Manifest Destiny. Bowles (2013) states that, “Many believed it was God 's plan for the United States to control the continent from sea to shining sea” (p. 8). With the outbreak of the Civil War, the idea of expansion and Manifest Destiny would be nonexistent, but this very idea of expansion outside the continent would return into the hearts of many American politicans and leaders at the end of the nineteenth century.

Numerous motivating factors contributed to US overseas imperialism, but the fundamental underlying cause was the fact that powerful men within the US government, military and business strata craved power, expansion, wealth, and most of all, world dominance. It began subtly, as prominent businessmen like Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan began to realize that US consumership alone would not sufficiently sustain the growing industries, volume of production and produce generated within the US. In order to achieve the expansion and exponential growth of wealth they aspired to, a larger market was needed; a market capable of absorbing the abundant surplus. The solution, they believed, was expansion into foreign markets around the world.

During the 1700’s through the 1900’s empires like France and Britain began to take over land in various continents and turned them into colonies. Although Britain and France saw this as a positive thing, the colonies proved to be difficult to control. Today it is hard to tell if the acquisition of these colonies was more beneficial or detrimental to their respective motherlands. Britain was the first European nation to imperialize. This is because England is an island and was running out of natural resources, and with growing population, there was no way to tell when England would run out of resources. Britain also had the world’s strongest navy. This brought up the idea to imperialize. Some other reasons for imperialism was the desire for

The Spanish war gave the United States an empire. At the end of the Spanish war the United States took Spanish colonies such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and many other islands. The creation of the American Empire leads to the end of the Spanish Empire. The United States wanted to build up the countries so that markets would open up and purchase American goods and to improve the American economy.

During an imperialistic era, America looked to expand its horizons and create more trading opportunities with China. China was a booming resource of trade that every nation wanted a hand in. Thus, the Open Door Policy stated that each nation would have an equal part of China while it would still remain sovereign. It tried to protect China from any nation trying to become too powerful, but in actuality, it had no legal basis. America’s constant interest with foreign nations was a huge departure from its original isolationist exchange

In support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity the statement was issued as circular notes dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay to Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia. The Open Door policy was approved by almost everyone in the United States, and for more than 40 years it was a cornerstone of American foreign policy in East Asia. This stated that all countries should have equal access to any of the trading ports and they could not charge someone more than the other. Within each of those spheres the controlling major power claimed exclusive privileges of investment, and it was feared that each would likewise seek to monopolize the trade. It was generally feared that the breakup of China into economic segments dominated by various great powers would lead to complete subjection and the division of the country into colonies. (“Open Door

John Hay proposed that the best way to avoid conflict in China was to keep an open market for all the nations. Thus, the Open Door Policy was made to maneuver among all countries to secure China. The Open Door Policy became the official United States policy toward the Far East in the first half of the nineteenth century. Although the Open Door Policy of 1899 brought about rebellions, such as the Boxer rebellion, and caused tension between major powers, almost resulting in an outbreak of war, the Open Door Policy was vital to the development of China’s and the United States’ economies. It also brought cultural expansion from foreign influences into China, creating the diverse region that we see today.

American Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century extended from several characteristics of America and American society, including but not limited to exceptionalism and manifest destiny. While these beliefs not only supported and manifested the perpetual effort to exploit and later completely oppress and subjugate the Native American populations within its borders, they also supported the later establishment of reservations and the practice of Native American boarding school education. But, American Imperialism extended far beyond its ever-expanding territory (Yale, 2008, Avalon Project). Rather, evidence existed in many corners of the world, like Asia, Southeast Asia, and Cuba.

Between 1815 and 1824, the United States had a couple major foreign policy objectives. The largest one being the support for the independence movements in Latin America. At this time many countries in Latin America were becoming independent from Spain and Portugal. Since our nation was formed from a desire for independence, Americans supported the desire of these people to be independent from European rule. This caused some fear that European countries would attempt to form new colonies in America.To prevent this, President Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine which stated European countries could not establish any new colonies in the Americas. This statement, backed by the British because of their desire to weaken their european rivals, helped

In the history, strong countries always trying to conquer the small and undeveloped countries in order to gain resources that they need and show their power, that’s called imperialism. This paper will talk about imperialism in Southeast Asia, India and South America, how European power imperialize those areas and how imperialism effect those areas.