ipl-logo

American Imperialism In The Mid And Late 1800s

907 Words4 Pages

During the mid and late 1800s imperialism was alive and well in the United States. It was not enough for America to have acquired massive tracts of land throughout the late 1800s, such as Alaska and Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The idea of imperialism and the Monroe Doctrine called for more land and limited European intervention in the Western Hemisphere. Ultimately the imperialistic eye of the United States had to eventually turn to Cuba, an area under Spain’s control that represented tremendous opportunity to fuel the growing imperialist machine that was America. The Monroe Doctrine could not tolerate Spanish control over Cuba, forbidding European intervention in the Western Hemisphere. This factor, coupled with the United States’ desire …show more content…

The United States was in no way justified in going to war with Spain politically because its true motivations were simply to destroy Spain’s presence in the Western Hemisphere and develop an even more hegemonic power in the Western world. Like many other presidents, McKinley wanted to implement the Monroe Doctrine. McKinley and Congress began the Spanish-American War simply to gain popularity with the American public, for they were sympathetic towards the idea of war, and to help the United States gain control of the Western world. Adherence to the Monroe Doctrine in no way justified going to war with Spain, as Spain had nothing to due with motivating the conflict politically and it began simply due to hegemonic ideals held by political …show more content…

It is true that Spain was treating Cubans exceptionally harshly. However, after the United States took control of Cuba, it did little to ameliorate the treatment of the Cubans, although before and during the war the U.S. government had promised the American public and Spain that it would. The true drive for taking Cuba away from Spanish control was to guarantee implementing the Monroe Doctrine ensuring America’s hegemonic expansion. America’s true motivations can be seen in the Platt Amendment truly giving any freedom the United States had promised Cuba into the hands of the American government. The fact was that America was not ridding Cuba of an oppressor. Instead, America was just replacing the Spanish oppressor with

Show More
Related

Siege Of Baler Research Paper

1186 Words | 5 Pages

American journalists reported what was happening and Americans became enraged at Spain. The Yellow Press exaggerated what was happening in Cuba, which made Americans more man than they probably should have bee. Spain decided to give limited sovereignty to Cuba, but the USA did not agree with this; the USA said Spain should fully withdraw from Cuba. President William McKinley did not want to go to war, but a large portion of America wanted to help the Cubans. On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States of America.

Read More

Ap Us Expansionism Dbq Analysis

447 Words | 2 Pages

Toward the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the United States was becoming an increasingly powerful nation and world power. The country was competing with other nations also expanding. Their motives for expanding were to gain land and resources. While there was a slight departure from past expansionism, the United States mostly continued as it had been in the previous years. In order to accomplish expansionism, the United States needed to acquire foreign territories to increase their global presence.

Read More

Comparing Douglas And The Spanish-American Civil War

722 Words | 3 Pages

The Spanish-American war commenced with the Wilson- Gorman Tariff, 1894. The American tariff on sugar imports hurt the Cuba's economy that was manufactured sugar. Angry nationalists (insurrection) revolted against the Spanish Colonial regime. Therefore, Spain sent General Weyler to Cuba to deal with the situation.

Read More

American Expansionism Dbq Essay

1671 Words | 7 Pages

A vast majority of the history of the United States was marked by an age of expansionism. This era was particularly pronounced throughout the 19th century; such events may include the acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the annexation of Hawaii and purchase of Alaska, all of which are the hallmarks of U.S expansionism. The main motives were of a multitude and varied, but there is one particularly strong motivation in this conquest. The acquisition of economic opportunities was a common belief among many of the people of the U.S. and among its leaders. This idea fueled and garnered this idea of expansionism and directed the course of history in its conquest.

Read More

American Imperialism In The Late 1800's

338 Words | 2 Pages

Imperialism was a big impact on the late 1800’s leading into the early 1900’s with counties like the British, Spanish, Russia, and Germany pushing to gain more land in different counties. This would lead to an arms race and the buildup which would lead into World War 1. Many different alliance were made if another country would attack another other countries would help with the fight. This would keep peace till the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Essay On American Imperialism

392 Words | 2 Pages

Essay One: Imperialism Flies circle great black lumps as the moist air ravages the corpses. Dried blood soaked into the ground after faceless soldiers brutally destroyed its owners’ lives. These were the stories in the newspapers, the movies, and the films. Horrified by these crimes against humanity, the American public was spurred into action against the Spanish oppressors. the United States invaded Cuba in 1898 to pursue humanitarian efforts.

Read More

The Imperialistic Mentality Of The American Government After The Civil War

221 Words | 1 Pages

The imperialistic mentality of the American government after the Civil War, led to some degree to the Spanish-American war that would render a great acquisition of land for the United States. However, imperialism would not be the sole factor that led to the war against Spain, but also the sympathy felt by the American government towards Cuba’s efforts in fighting for their independence; additionally, the United States would seek to protect its commercial interests (sugar) in the island. Therefore, after invoking the Spanish to secede from their brutal practices towards Cuban rebels and attain a peaceful end to the situation, the United States arbitrarily sent a navy ship, “The USS Maine” to monitor the area.

Read More

How Did The American Culture Influence The Us Government In Cuba

569 Words | 3 Pages

Indeed, the sugar plantations of Cuba were well known. Those plantations were a great source of revenue which increased the attention of the USA government into Cuban’s affairs (OWNO, N.d). Moreover, the Panama canal was also one of the elements that made Cuba be an interesting country in the eye of the American government. The access to the Panama Canal would only be benefic for the USA because it would allow them to also have maritime control over the area (OWNO, N.d). In other words, the strategic emplacement of the island of Cuba as well as its climate was part of the main reasons of the Americans interest on that island.

Read More

Essay On American Imperialism In The Late 19th Century

474 Words | 2 Pages

United States Imperialism in the late 19th century was very selfish time. Many people in that time, debated about whether are not benefiting our country was the right way or the wrong way. The motiving factors that impacted our imperialism are economic, military, and cultural. These factors impacted the American Imperialism from 1890-194 by having control over weaker territories meeting our expanding needs.

Read More

Independence And Reenactment During The Spanish-American War

402 Words | 2 Pages

During the Spanish-American War, the Spanish ruled over Cuba for approximately 400 years and finally, Cuban rebels declared independence. Also during this time, Americans had expansion fever so we decided to help Cubans overthrow the Spanish. However, Americans used yellow journalism to create reenactments of the war to show citizens back home what war was like, but sometimes the reenactments were lies. The war started because the United States’ ship, the Maine, mysteriously exploded in one of the harbors of Cuba and we blamed it on the Spanish with no proof.

Read More

The Spanish American War Summary

343 Words | 2 Pages

Spain was dead set on not leaving Cuba and going back to Spain. In a sense America and Spain would have settled this issue quickly if the Maine

Read More

Reasons For American Imperialism In The Early 20th Century

744 Words | 3 Pages

Before the 20th century the United States was an isolationist nation but around the late 19th century America decided to convert into an imperialist power. They had numerous reasons to shift into being an imperialist nation. America didn’t want to begin imperializing to settle and live in the nations they were taking over, they already had America for that reason, they wanted to adopt these nations for what they had to offer, which was many things. America saw an opportunity to improving their nation and took it. Even if there were many causes for America to imperialize, three of them stood out the most.

Read More

What Caused America's Imperialistic Past?

778 Words | 4 Pages

Through examination of current and past textbooks, and comparing how they describe what caused America’s involvement in Cuba, one can be seen how America has slowly come to terms with its imperialistic past. Shortly following the Spanish American War, Americans chose to overlook the mistakes their country had made during the war. They insistently held on to their belief that America was the heroic force of the war, freeing defenseless Cubans from the oppressive rule of Spain.

Read More

Spanish American War Causes

928 Words | 4 Pages

There were many important causes and effects of the Spanish American War. In the 1880’s the U.S. wanted to achieve manifest destiny and so they expanded out west and took control over the Native Americans. There were four different motives that the United States could’ve used to imperialize: political and military interest and economic interest were mostly with trading. Humanitarian and religious interest, to help those that you have allied with or to spread religion and the rich help those who were “under privileged.” Lastly, social darwinism, the idea that you are superior than someone else.

Read More

American Imperialism In The 19th Century

718 Words | 3 Pages

At the start of the 19th century, America was already expanding its territory. In 1803, the United States of America had bought the Louisiana Territory, it was bought from France which had made the country two times larger. In 1819 Spain had given up their territory of Florida to the United States. President Monroe issued the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823, its main purpose was to warn the European countries to not enter the Western Hemisphere. In order for America to achieve its goal of becoming an imperialist nation they had conquered other countries economically, culturally, and with a strong military in the late 1800’s.

Read More

More about American Imperialism In The Mid And Late 1800s

Related Topics

Open Document