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American Imperialism In The 20th Century Essay

870 Words4 Pages

The United States has a lengthy history of overtaking other nations. After focusing on westward expansion for most of the 1800’s, the United States took a turn in the 20th century to expand it’s reaches globally. Americans decided the need for imperialism for many reasons: spreading Christianity, new military bases, and to have foreign markets to sell to. In order to become a more imperialistic nation, the U.S. took to focusing on certain areas to control; starting with Spanish colonies such as the Philippines; while at the same time annexing Hawaii, and finally pursuing the Panama Canal in the Carribeans. The United States was changed early in the 20th century due to the Spanish-American War, where the imperialism of Guam, among others, began. The United States had declared war on Spain in mid-1898 …show more content…

With American interference, it took less than five months to declare victory over the Spanish and grant Cuba its freedom from them. Albert Robertson states that “In the December 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain renounced all claim to Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States for $20 million” (Robertson). America already had a stake in the ground for economic imperialism in Cuba before the official war. Lumenlearning’s article on ‘American Imperialism’ states that “With the abolition of slavery in 1886…. Only companies and the most powerful plantation owners remained in business, and during this period, U.S. financial capital began flowing into the country…..Cuba started to depend on the United States economically” (‘American Imperialism’). Naturally, after the gains of the Spanish-American War, the United States started to convert from an isolationist nation and began to take part in foreign issues and affairs. While American possession of these lands caused the Spanish Empire to crumble, the United States was able to prosper economically and technologically from

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