United States Expanionism in the 1800's

1085 Words5 Pages
Bryson Staheli February 3, 2012 History 1700 B-1 Expansionism throughout American History In United States History there has always been a goal throughout the whole nation to expand and grow to the nations’ full potential. Ever since the revolution and gaining independence Americans have focused on expanding the United States borders and using the resources available to aid them in doing so. Many factors contributed to American expansionism, the thirst for power, control, and the satisfaction of owning and conquering, as was the case with all the conflict with the Indians. The mindset of Americans was that they had to expand the United States borders in order for the country to keep running well. 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. In a way expansionism had become sort of a global competition. Other countries were taking territories which were still open for settling. Thomas Nast’s cartoon in Document “A” titled “The World’s Plunderers” shows all the European countries taking up unsettled territories as they pleased. In order for America to keep up with all of the other world powers they felt they needed to outstretch their borders as well. America then turned their attention to territories overseas such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. America had tried
Open Document