At the end of the Nineteenth Century, The United States began to realize that they had the potential to become a world power with imperialism, which is the policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. They were the leading producers of wheat and cotton and had developed as an industrial nation, which resulted in great success and increased need of trading with other countries. This being said, the United Stated saw no reason that they should not try to expand to an imperial empire. They also strived to become an imperial empire so that Europe wouldn’t have total control over the whole world. To take advantage of other countries’ wealth, the United States built trading posts all around the world. In the 1890s, it seemed ridiculous for the United States to remain isolationist, so they decided to take their place as one of the world powers, though their military was very inferior to Europe’s. Europe’s army was about five times the size of the United States’, and its navy was ten times bigger.
Along with generic imperialism, America also used some religious imperialism to gain their power and spread their influence across the whole world (Religious Imperialism). Religious imperialism is when the government uses religion as an excuse or a means to gain support to help back their plans of invasion, or by American conservative Christians, who are trying to spread Christianity to all corners of the earth (Religious Imperialism).
A cause of imperialism was the want to annex the Hawaiian Islands for its abundant natural resources and arable lands (Hawaii.) Therefore, America began a program of imperialism in Hawaii by building huge docks, plantations, banks, and stores (Hawaii). The Hawaiians did not like this. The United States soon took over office in Hawaii and established complete control over Hawaiian government (Hawaii). Another example was the Spanish-American war. The war happened in spite of Spain’s agreement for the concessions that America demanded (Spanish American War). The United States wanted the Spanish troops to withdraw from Cuba and wanted it to become independent (Spanish American War). However, Spain resisted America’s demand (Spanish American War). Manifest destiny was a big cause of imperialism. Manifest destiny is the belief that the US had a God-give right to expand its borders. This belief could have later been used to expand all over the world instead of just North America. This would have caused many problems worldwide, like America trying to control the world. One of the main causes, however, was that the Americans needed new markets and raw products. They used this need to exploit other countries
A few positives came from Imperialism. A few examples of this would be the creation of wealth and acquisition of land. A big positive was the technological advances. Weapons evolved rapidly over time. Automatic weaponry was greatly improved with attachments. The creation of fighter jets allowed for quick airstrikes and reconnaissance missions, as well. However, the biggest advance in weaponry was the growing number of nuclear warheads, not only in the United States, but all across the globe. Evolution in communication was a big aspect of our growing technology, as well. The radio, invented by Nikola Tesla, changed the way Americans received information. The radio was first used by the military as a means of communication for Navy ships (Radio). The telephone was greatly improved during the Nineteenth Century, allowing people to communicate across the country (Telephones). This was used for military purposes, as well. Not only did we create new technology and improve what we had, but we also stole technology from other countries.
One reason many were against imperialism was because of the belief of inequality (Rogers). Imperialism creates an unbalanced relationship between two nations, sort of like a parent-child relationship. Because of this, the “parent” country makes the rules and the “child” country is considered subject to those rules because of its dependence (Rogers). If the dependent nation fails to cooperate to the mother country’s satisfaction, then the dependent nation must suffer the consequences. “Past consequences include extreme repression” (the action of subduing someone or something by force) and military intervention (Rogers).