Imperialism Dbq Essay

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DBQ- Imperialism In the late 19th century many foreign powers were imperializing to unmarked territories in Africa and the Pacific and America would soon join the race. In the 1840’s, America stretched its borders westward to populate more of the country and spread the agriculturally based economy. However, in the 20th century, armed with its new imperialistic strategy, the U.S. set its sights on foreign territories in order to establish trade abroad and govern the economic benefits as well as to protect America’s boundaries. Many of the new expansionism ideals were a continuation of the previous ones in the 19th century whereas some were vastly different. The new Manifest Destiny differed from the old in that it consisted of expansion to foreign areas to improve trade and contribute to the growth of the American economy; however it remained the same in that American citizens believed their reasons for expansionism were justified by God’s given right and that they were even saving the people of the territories by the spread of Anglo-Saxon values. Differing from past imperialism eras, the expansion of the 20th century dealt with foreign countries and the intervention of many foreign affairs (Doc G). The beginning of American expansion into Latin America began with a boundary dispute between Venezuela and Britain in the late 1890’s. A nervous President Cleveland threatened war with the British, who were a potential threat to America’s security with their presence in Venezuela. After this affair, America defended all of the Latin American countries and protected them under the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary. These proclamations gave America the right to intervene in any foreign affair regarding a Latin American or Caribbean country and were the beginning of a paternalistic relationship between the States and the third world countries. Some would

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