Many Americans believe that God give them the power and duty to expand territory, strengthen the United States. The motivation of United States launched this war is a debatable subject. The origin and influence The term Manifest Destiny was popular in the 19th century, some Americans believed they had the destiny to expand American continent Territory, from the Atlantic coast to Pacific Ocean. The ideal of territory expansion is already had before the American Independence, but in 1845, The United States Magazine and Democratic Review editor John O'Sullivan published an essay “Annexation”. “…our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions”[2] This essay reveal John O'Sullivan claim United States had a destiny expansion .
Numerous factors triggered America’s climb into both economic and social expansion. For example, high tariffs were placed on America-made products, which then gave the US a stable and protected trade interest. In addition the Spanish – American war of 1898 was a major turning point in USA expansion. The war was based on the grounds that Cuba (a colony of both America and Spain) had been declaring independence from Spain, and the USA having created the Monroe Doctrine, which supported the Cubans fight for independence from Spain in The USA, was to be involved for what can only be described as for their own best interest, due to Cuba having a oil supply. And on February 15, 1898, the USS Maine sank in Havana, in which an explosion caused 266 deaths.
In reality, this was an extension of the United States’ imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th century. To substantiate this, the United States’ interests in Cuba, the invoking of the Platt Amendment and Cuba’s economic and political exploitation must be analysed. Nevertheless, one must first ask, “why would the United States have sought to establish an empire in the specified time period?” To answer this question, one must first examine the ideologies that surfaced during the 19th century in that country. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson asserted that Westward expansion “was the key to the nation’s health.” (History.com, 2009) Furthermore, John O’ Sullivan declared in 1845 that it was the United States’ “God-given right” (Browne & Carter, 2013) to “expand their civilizations and institutions across the breadth of North America” (Browne & Carter, 2013). The above resulted in the former Thirteen Colonies’ acquisition of the entire continent.
The Monroe Doctrine was presented by President Monroe in his seventh annual message to Congress in December 1823. It consists on a policy directed to Latin America in order to protect the hemisphere from European influence since American countries were following a trend of achieving their Independence. This policy has been seen with good and bad eyes throughout the 190 years of application. As we know, during this period a lot has changed and so have the focus of the policy according to the administration in place. Latin American states often see it as an Imperialistic move from the U.S. of which it was used to assert their position of a regional hegemony.
Americans also thought that they could take up land as they pleased. Not only was power and control in the mix, but the need for more land for industrial purposes as well. However, Americans haven’t always had the exact same expansionism purposes over the years, in fact; they have changed quite a bit as time has progressed. American Expansionism between the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth- century shared many similarities with previous expansionist ideas and many differences as well. A major difference in the two expansion eras was that Americans felt the need to start expanding overseas and across the ocean.
Different Paths to Freedom Independence from Spain came suddenly for most of Latin America. Between 1810 and 1825, most of Spain's former colonies had declared and won independence and had divided up into an independent democracy. Emotions had been growing in the colonies for some time, dating back to the American Revolution. Although Spanish forces quickly squashed most early rebellions, the idea of independence had taken hold in the minds of the people of Latin America and continued to grow. Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1807 provided the spark the rebels needed.
Nationalism also helped the push for westward expansion and the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine is a policy of the United States introduced on December 2, 1823. It stated that further efforts by European countries to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would be viewed as acts of aggression requiring U.S. intervention. However, this did not last long and was broken predominantly by the Panic of 1819, which caused mass bank failures, unemployment shot up, and a slump in agriculture. The Panic of 1819 was the first major financial crisis and depression the U.S. faced.
England during the seventeenth had got more countries under their control than their European counterpart especially France, which them to be regarded as Great Britain especially after their unification with Scotland. Great Britain was in America with the claim to protect them from the French, before turning her to one of their colonies. Great Britain has been with colonial wars with France for a long period of time, they see the French as potential rival in the colonial market, especially in control of America. The two countries engaged in a sever years’ War (1756-63), with the victor y of Great Britain but it caused them lots of money, the British government considered the American colonies should contribute to the reduction of that debt, t
Isolationism in America: The United States has frequently been called ‘an empire’, since the end of World War II, the United States have expanded its influence across the globe. Although the US is not an empire, its influence does lie far beyond its borders. But the definition of the US’s influence on the world has always been pushed further and further. This was as a result of manifest destiny, a political belief in the 19th century that is fundamentally the US’s God-given right to expand its boarders to spread democracy, civilisation and Christianity to the world (Williams, 1954). However, around 1920, American foreign policy shifted towards isolationism.
The revolutionary era for the American Colonies began around 1763 after the British removed the military threat of the French from North America during the French and Indian War, which resulted in substantial economic debt for the British Empire. The debt was due in large part to the British desire for victory, as stated by William Pitt, the acting Prime Minister during the war, “No matter what the cost, our goal is to win.”(Straus Notes. Fall 2008). As a result, the British Government adopted the policy that the colonies should pay an increased proportion, if not all the costs associated with keeping the North American Colonies secure from the French, Indians, and other nearby threats. As a result, Parliament and Prime Minister George Grenville passed the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that settlers were not allowed beyond the Appalachian Mountains as well as stationing ten thousand British soldiers strategically along the Appalachian Mountains.