What Is American Imperialism

1018 Words5 Pages
American Imperialism SCI207 American Imperialism The U.S. trade industry began its global expansion around the late 1800’s realizing up to 40% of income from overseas. A few European countries had already cast their efforts into empire building long before most countries, but with Germany and Japan joining the likes of England, France and Russia, American merchants realized that they would lose financial gains through commerce and precious resources if they did not pursue foreign markets. Already British and French soldiers, merchants and missionaries had begun their conquests of occupying foreign lands and countries like India and Indochina or through building a solid trade with Latin America. Armed with the latest in “technology of…show more content…
Unlike the Europeans who built empires through the conquest of war, many Americans did not wish to control people or lands as the United States very foundation was built on “democracy, Christianity and free-enterprise capitalism”. Instead some wanted to adopt a more civilized approach to “export products, ideas and influence”, and imperialism was justified under the guise of such social values. But because Europeans were quickly conquering new territories with such efficiency using the latest technologies, it drove some Americans to prevail upon extending its political and economic influence around the world. (Davidson, et al., 2008, p.153 -154). American imperialism almost grew out of necessity as the navy had no way of protecting its trade interests abroad. Since the civil war, the naval ships had become archaic and no longer useful with only enough ships available to guard its coastlines. The U.S. Navy ranked twelfth in the world and a Navy captain, Alfred T. Mahan along with “missionaries, intellectuals, businessmen and farmers” began to present their…show more content…
In 1899, Andrew Carnegie and William James founded the American Anti-Imperialist League to oppose the annexation of the Philippines. Many anti-imperialists didn’t have a problem with the trade expansion, but they did see a problem with colonizing the islands. While Imperialists thought having a large fleet to defend the colony was exactly what was needed, the anti-imperialists felt that it was too costly of an endeavor and did not want to be embroiled in “Asian politics” or to have American workers in contention with the racially inferior Filipino’s for work in the job market. More importantly they argued, the “U.S. Constitution made no provision for governing people without representation or equal rights”. (Davidson, et al, 2008, p. 165). An excerpt of the platform for the Anti-Imperialist League succinctly sums up their sentiment: “We earnestly condemn the policy of the present National Administration in the Philippines. It seeks to extinguish the spirit of 1776 in those islands. We deplore the sacrifice of our soldiers and sailors, whose bravery deserves admiration even in an unjust war. We denounce the slaughter of the Filipinos as a needless horror. We protest against the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods.” (Bancroft,
Open Document