American Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century As a growing nation, the United States felt the need to continue expansion for the benefit of all citizens. Territorial development allows for growth in population and natural resources to produce goods and supply services for prosperity. To acquire or control territories, forcible means would sometimes be used, otherwise known as imperialism. This paper will describe imperialism more intently. Advantages of imperialism will be discussed, as well as some of the disadvantages.
In "Fashionable Anti-Amercanism," Dominic Hilton considers the villainous identity America has taken on by foreign countries. He discusses whether these countries are legitimately angry, or if they have a Freudian complex involving the fear to look look at themselves cynically and discontinue the blame towards America. There is strong focus on anti-Americanism being seen as fashionable and uneducated. Hilton questions whether it would matter what America did, because the discrimination would most likely continue. He uses examples, and quotes to demonstrate the irony of foreigners lack of condolence towards America.
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 .
They wanted to extend their political, military and economic control all over the world. With the booming economy in the United States in the late 1800s, there was a problem with the surplus of goods. Excess production led to declining profits. Americans needed more consumers to buy their products. Industrialists wanted trade to expand into new overseas market where American products could be sold.
This gives them an incentive to colonize areas where there are large amounts of raw material instead of just paying for the materials. After colonization, they now have the ability to take these materials back to the homeland to produce their product. Through imperialism, they cut out the middle man. Large consumer markets are also needed. Imperialism allowed industrialized countries to spread their influence to the weaker countries they conquered.
However not all Americans believed the U.S should become an imperialist country. The Filipinos wanted freedom and annexation violated consent of the governed. Fighting broke out Emilio Aguinaldo appointed himself president of the Philippine Republic. The Filipinos did not fight conventionally; they were not skilled enough in battle, so they engaged in guerrilla warfare.it became a longer and costlier conflict than the one in Spain. The U.S is not justified in annexing the Philippines and fighting a war to keep it because it was just a chance to exploit people and land to earn power and prestige.
Germany became a nation in 1871 through the leadership of Otto Von Bismarck, the “Iron Chancellor”. Bismarck’s ‘Realpolitik’ policy meant that he based politics on diplomacy and alliances. When Wilhelm ll came to power he changed to a more aggressive policy ‘Weltpolitik’; a policy of world power (Cummins, McAndrew and Thomas, 1997, p7). The German foreign minister Berchard von Bulow stated that this policy would “...claim our place in the sun” (Fitzgerald, Pickard and Stewart, 1995, p24). This policy, along with Wilhelm ll’s decision to create a colonial empire, caused rivalry between the major European powers, particularly Britain.
CITATION: Kennedy, Paul M, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economy Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, New York, Random House, 1988, 143-193 SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS The summary of this chapter is that some of the Great Powers are beneficial from the Industrial Revolution leading to major shifts of the global economic balance. Britain is the prime beneficiary. Under the industrial and technological development, the productive and the manufacturing outputs of its own country are substantially boosted. Germany and North America are undergoing the industrial reform which will rise in the future. Those reformers are easy to gain the victory because of the acquisition of new military weapons and it challenges the places of the European Great Powers such as Russia and the Habsburg Empire as the same time.
On the other hand, the anti-imperialists argued that it went against our American democracy and was harmful to the territories we were trying to acquire and our country itself. Even though they had a major difference, they had one similarity in that they both wanted the country to progress and become more successful through overseas expansion, just not using imperialismto justify it. Imperialist thought it was their duty to take over the smaller countries in order to save them from themselves because they were not fit for self government. Behind the imperialists were a plethora of people and they all supported it for multiple reasons. Blacks at the time liked the idea because it gave them an opportunity to serve their country and have perfect unity with the whites as well as patriotic unity for themselves (doc1).
This process was the beginning of imperialism. Imperialism is defined as, “the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly: the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence.” (Merriam Webster, 2002) Industrialization spurred the development of imperialism. As nations became economically superior they began to dominate and control other, lesser developed, nations. At this point, underdeveloped nations had to either begin their own process towards industrialization or remain subservient to more powerful nations. As a whole, agricultural nations were part of the feudal system.