Dbq Essay On American Imperialism

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.

What role did Imperialism play in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

American Imperialism has been a part of United States history ever since the American Revolution. Imperialism is the practice by which large, powerful nations seek to expand and maintain control or influence on a weaker nation. Throughout the years, America has had a tendency to take over other people's land. America had its first taste of Imperialistic nature back when Columbus came to America almost five hundred years ago. He fought the inhabitants with no respect for their former way of life, took their land, and proceeded to enslave many of these Native Americans. The impact of the 1820's and 1830's on American Imperialism is undeniable. Although the military power was not fully there during this time period, their ideals and foreign

Many historians argue that the U.S. took the moral high ground during the war because they set out to end the suffering of the Cuban people at the hands of Spain, citing the crux of McKinley’s War Message. Although this may be true to some extent, the worst of the rebellion had ended by 1898 as the result of a ceasefire agreement and the departure of General Valeriano Weyler; therefore, American interference was needlessly invasive. Some also point to the Teller Amendment as counter-evidence against the imperialistic nature of the war, but, following the war, the Platt Amendment to the Cuban Constitution transformed Cuba from a truly independent nation into a puppet of the U.S. for enforcing the Monroe Doctrine on Europe’s empires. Moreover, the motive to free an oppressed Cuba fails to explain why the U.S. also took action to remove Spain from the Philippines, where no major rebellion was taking place. Although morality may have played some role, its motivational effect was far outweighed by the imperialism and hysteria factors.

The Cuban people were in need of dire help, their citizens dying on the streets and in concentration camps. The U.S looked from afar, debating whether it was the right thing to do to get involved in a foreign conflict. Despite the majority of Americans wanting to go to war and defend the rights of the Cuban people, whether it was opinion conceived from yellow journalism, political influences or just a humanitarian responsibility, McKinley did not want any part in this war and he fought barrier after barrier to resolve the matter peacefully. When the extensive negotiations failed with the prideful Spanish, and after the Maine sinking, the De Lôme Letter, and increasing political and social pressure, McKinley finally saw no other way to resolve this matter than by war. Kagan believes that McKinley entered this war on an agenda of helping the Cuban people with their independence from Spain and stopping the brutal concentration camps and cruel policies of Weyler and the Spanish. Although I agree with this, I also believe that a secondary motive of wanting to get involved was because Cuba had many “negro” leaders and people living on the island. Politicians didn’t want colored people taking charge of the country so they deemed them unfit to govern themselves as Kagan puts it “[Cuban people] were unfit for democracy and incapable of establishing a stable and reliable

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

Throughout the history of the world, imperialism has played a major role. Imperialism is one country’s complete domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. Imperialism has many positive and negative effects. The Age of Imperialism is considered 1800 - 1914. During this time Europe became a major world leader. European countries set up colonies all over Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and encouraged their citizens to populate them. European imperialism boosted Europe’s economy, and made them a world power. Imperialization had an entirely different effect on Africa, Latin America, and Asia. People of these countries were mistreated, they lost their culture, land, and self respect. The negative effects of

Mckinley was for empire as he was the one to wage war against Spain with the intention to not only to free Cuba but gain control of the Philippines to have an entry point into China. In total the United States acquired Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from the Spanish-American War. Then after pressuring from sugar planters McKinley expanded the empire further, annexing Hawaii. This is what he did in his first term as president and showed no interest in stopping the gaining of United States empire.

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.

What is American Imperialism? It is the influences that the United States makes on other countries. Some of the influences are economics, military, and culture. Expansionism is conquering those countries and taking over the land. Without imperialism and expansionism, our county would not be as big and productive as it is in today 's society.

That they can do better, that they should teach them their ways because their better. - Jose Marti (c. 1892) says, “Cuba’s children … suffer in indescribable bitterness as they see their fertile nation enchained and also their human dignity stifled … all for the necessities and vices of the [Spanish] monarchy.” Marti is insinuating Cuba does not like their Spanish leaders who have enslaved the Cubans and that America could be so much better and do so much more for Cuba. This matters because gaining these small countries like these through the cultural leadership that Mati insinuates would lead to the economic benefits that American imperialists also wanted. Albert J. Beveridge ("The March of the Flag", 1898) says, “Have we no mission to perform, no duty to discharge to our fellow-man? Has God endowed us with gifts beyond our deserts and marked us as the people of His [favor]?” Beveridge here insinuates that Americans are God’s chosen ones. By being the chosen one ones of someone that powerful (in that time period) they were saying that they believed that they were better than everyone else in fact they were rather saying we are perfect while everyone else does what they do wrong. This is important because this idea that we are better than everyone else led to the start of imperialism and to the other economic, military, and political hopes of

Imperialism, defined by Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, is "the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas"(Merriam-Webster). During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism, extending its political and economic influence around the globe. The United States has become an empire. Although the United States has less power – in the sense of control over other countries’ internal behavior – than Britain did when it ruled a quarter of the globe, the United States now has more power resources relative to other

However, the US did not give Cuba a chance to sort itself out like they should have. Two occurrences pushed the American citizens to take the situation out of the President's hands. The first was a letter written by a Spanish Ambassador, which was stolen by a rebel. In this letter, the Ambassador harshly judged President McKinley's character. The resignation of the ambassador should have been enough to keep us out of the war. While he should not have insulted the President, a mean written letter is not a justified cause for becoming involved in another country's war. The second occurrence was the sinking of an American battleship that Spain was accused of starting a fire that sparked flames on the ammunition.

"American imperialism in 1898 was not a sudden abandonment of anti-colonial tradition but was a logical extension of commercial expansion, something the US had been doing throughout its history" (SparkNotes: The Spanish American War, 1898-1901,: Effects of the Treaty). President McKinley was not interested in wars of conquest or of territorial aggression. His interest in expansion was "to make the United States first in international commerce and as a means to implement its humanitarian and democratic goals" (Faragher, J., Buhle, M. J., & Armitage, S. H. ,2008, Out of Many, A History of the American People, 6th ed., Vol. 2, p. 561). McKinley would eventually be forced to act in a humanitarian effort for the people of Cuba and to protect

he conflict between the USA and Spain began with the issues in Cuba. According to the Monroe Doctrine, Cuba was in the USA’s sphere of interest, but it was controlled by a foreign power – Spain. Also, Cuban revolutionaries were demanding independence from the Spanish and by 1896 there demands by the American public and Congress for intervention in the war between Spain and Cuba, but President Cleveland and his successor, William McKinley opposed taking part. However, in early February 1898, a letter was captured in which the Spanish minister to Washington, Dupuy de Lôme, called McKinley “weak and a bidder for the admiration of the crowd”, which increased Spanish-American tensions. Six days later, the battleship Maine, sent from the USA to Cuba