The 19th and 20th centuries were characterized by the more developed countries of Europe acquiring the land and controlling resources of undeveloped countries. This idea, called imperialism, can be defined as the policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by establishing economic and political authority over other nations. The European powers saw imperialism as their right and duty to exert their superiority, while the indigenous people of the inferior areas resented the Europeans greed and unrightfully taking control. Western European countries and developed a variety of attitudes toward imperialism. Economic factors were a chief motivation for colonization to European countries.
Paine also calls hereditary succession an abdominal practice. He criticizes the people who were in favor of British Empire saying that Britain watched America only for economic well-being. He also says that British don’t deserve American loyalty because they have been attacking American colonies. According to him, the solution to this problem is independence from the British and for that he also proposed the form of Government which had equal opportunities for all. Paine directly appealed to colonies to separate from the British Empire.
The Middle East, East Africa, and Japan did not like the European ways and did what they could to prevent it because they saw Europeans as corrupt and an uncivilized group of people. Places like Russia, China, and the Kongo were willing to accept European ways for various reasons like feeling threatened or doing it to just be more like them. Doc. 1 is from Tsar Peter the Great in 1714 concerning European navies and their dominance over the Russian Navy. He feels somewhat threatened by Europeans navy so he figures that if he can mimic theirs then there would be nothing to be afraid of.
White men were also afraid of the different ideas these peoples were bringing. Most of these ideas were revolutionary, many of these people had came from oppressing countries and wanted freedom, but we saw those ideas as a danger for our government. Attitudes held toward Native Americans, Cubans, and Filipinos were different because for the Indians the U.S tried to “Americanize” and “civilize” them by separating them and out-lawing their tribes, and for the Cubans and Filipinos the U.S just simply denied their entrance to the country and did all they could to get them out of the country. All these attitudes were based on one thing only, the idea of white superiority. These ideas and attitudes held towards these people influenced actions taken during this period tremendously.
They were just fighting because they wanted to reform their government. But for America it was much more than fighting to reform their government. It was about fighting to part ways with Britain. It was about fighting for independence. France wasn’t part of the colonies like America was, America was sick of being treated badly, and unfairly so they decided to fight.
Despite the fact that slavery allowed white aristocrats to maintain power while fattening their wallets the thought of the enslavement of another human being caused Enlightened France to fight over their freedom of these people, even though it would hurt the economy, social, and political order of France. If slavery ended in Europe during this period, the economy would have no doubt been damaged in these nations. According to a report made by Antonie Barnave to the National Assembly’s Committee on the Colonies, he thought that if slaves received freedom then there would have been economic shock. Barnave even thought that slaves should eventually have freedom, but he also thought at the same time if the National Assembly were to give them that now then France would no doubt be hurt economically. This document is not biased, but Barnave’s point of view.
The whole point of America becoming its own sovereign country was Britain’s overbearing control on the colonies. Many early Americans had concerns and feared a government in which, by design, could become too strong. Consequentially, the Democratic – Republican party (later known to historians simply as the Republican Party) was formed with ideas of smaller government and thusly, less control. A semblance of the rivalry between the parties in the United States could be seen in the French Revolution. The Republicans supported the popular forces in the French Revolt and wanted America to assist.
American Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century Imperialism was a highly controversial subject in the Nineteenth century. Many people opposed the fact while others wanted to hit it full force. Imperialism is the acquisition of control over the government and the economy of another nation, usually by conquest [ (Davidson, 2008) ]. The United State became an imperialistic world power in the late nineteenth century by gaining control over the Hawaiian Islands and, after the Spanish American War, Guam, the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico [ (Davidson, 2008) ]. With America wanting to be a power house country, they became just that when they gained control over these countries.
While theoretically honorable, the United States was repeatedly overstepping democratic principles in order to secure financial interests and was, in some cases supporting totalitarian regimes as long as those regimes bowed to the the United States' economic interests. Because of this, the United States needed to find a way to continue its quest for profit without looking like the bad guy. To do this, the United States needed to produce an enemy so evil that the United States would appear justified regardless of the methods they used to fight to defeat it. The United States found this enemy in communism and McCarthy's fanatical rants were the perfect way to spread this fear. Despite relentless investigations with almost unchallenged jurisdiction, however, McCarthy did not uncover a communist plot (Halbertstam, 58) yet did manage to assist in convincing the American people that communists were a threat to the American way of life and the government was justified in any means necessary to defeat communism even if it meant sacrificing "some of their nation's freedoms" (Halbertstam,
It makes you wonder why someone would do this. The answer is simple, “Americans who advocated annexation evinced a variety of motivations: desire for commercial opportunities in Asia, concern that the Filipinos were incapable of self-rule, and fear that if the United States did not take control of the islands, another power (such as Germany or Japan) might do so” ( The Philippine-American War). So again America did not care for anyone but