Imperialism

• Prior to the 1890s, most U.S. territorial expansion largely occurred within the continent of North America
• Examples of U.S. territorial expansion within North America


  • Louisiana Purchase in 1803
  • Monroe Doctrine to limit Europe's influence in the Western Hemisphere
  • Indian Removal Act forcing native people out of their land
  • Mexican-American War
  • Manifest Destiny belief
  • Indian Wars from 1860 to 1890
• The 1890s marks a turning point in U.S. history, as the United States is becoming a global power
• Closing of the frontier


  Perception that the frontier had ended, as stated by the 1890 census and the end of the major Indian Wars
• Frederick Jackson Turner published "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" in 1893, arguing that the frontier was closed
• Advocates of expansion took the idea of the closed frontier to argue for American expansion abroad
• Reasons cited by imperialists for American expansion


  • Economic opportunities
  • Racial theories
  • Competition with European empires
• Imperialists argued that Americans were destined to expand their culture and institutions to peoples around the globe
• Economic opportunities as a justification for expansion


  Desire to open up new markets abroad for manufactured and agricultural goods, access to cheap raw materials, and to help fuel the Industrial Revolution
• Economic downturns such as the Panic of 1893


  Could be overcome more quickly by having foreign markets for trade and raw materials
• Competition with European empires


  The need for the U.S. to compete with countries like England, Germany, France, Russia, and Japan who were acquiring colonies and influence
• The U.S. Navy was extremely weak and needed to be modernized and expanded to protect American interests abroad
• Alfred Thayer Mahan


  Argued that the U.S. needed a powerful navy and naval bases to secure foreign markets and become a world power
• Strategic locations for naval bases


  • Guantanamo Bay in Cuba
  • Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
  • Panama Canal
• Ideological reasons for expansion


  Applying the concept of "survival of the fittest" to justify colonizing and uplifting "inferior" peoples and spreading superior civilization and Christianity
• Individuals advocating ideological expansion


  • Reverend Josiah Strong arguing Anglo-Saxons were a superior race
  • Political cartoons depicting Uncle Sam as uplifting "inferior" countries