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Was The American Expansion Justified

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In the late 1800’s America started to expand across the world. America went to areas like Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. The U.S. wanted to expand and tried to annex many countries. Many people wonder if the American expansion was justifiable or not. Alaska, a piece of land bought by the U.S. was called “Seward’s Folly” because when William Seward bought it America thought that there was nothing there. Not until after William 's death, people started exploring and finding a lot of natural resources. It was just what the U.S. was looking for. The population was increased during the Klondike gold strike in 1896. Another piece of gained by the U.S. was Hawaii. One reason for the annexation of Hawaii was because America needed a place to stop along the way to Asia. It allowed the U.S. to trade with Hawaii and take control of the sugar farmer’s crops. Also, establishing a mid-Pacific fueling station and naval base became a strategic imperative for the United States. …show more content…

An excerpt from an Anti-Imperialist league platform said “We do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We go there to conquer, not to redeem…” When America gained more land, we tended not to give the people who live there much freedom but tried to make them more like us. The people of the newly claimed land had to follow the same religion and same government. Another excerpt from the Anti-Imperialist league platform said “We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism. America was violating the core principle of republicanism. America was starting to turn into a militarism type government by forcing other land with its

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