Compare And Contrast Imperialism

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According to Webster’s dictionary, expansionism is a policy or practice of expansion and especially of territorial expansion by a nation. While imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. These are two different definitions defining two different things. As expansionism came to an end around 1870, imperialism was just getting started. Competition with other countries, making these countries a military and economic interest rather than taking them over, and the need for new technical advancements all demonstrate that imperialism is not a continuation of prior expansionism. One of the main things that was different between …show more content…

As Amerian expansion came to an end in 1870, imperialism was just getting started. It was a way to get economic advantages, strengthen the military, and increase the nationalism in our country. American expansion was a way to use the ideal of manifest destiny, where God wanted us to expand from east coast to west coast. Imperialism was different from expansionism because of the competition between countries. There was the threat to get on top during imperialism that wasn’t there during expansionism. There also the the competition between races that was handled differently during imperialism. While expansionism was happening, the US annexed many different US states. Imperialism wasn’t like this. We did not want to annex the countries but make them an economic and a military interest. Finally, imperialism is not a continuation of american expansionism because of the technological advancements in the era. They created many different transportation to boost trade and military power and created new weapons to demonstrate the United States military power. American expansionism’s name is what it is. America expanding. Imperialism is countries trying to get on top to compete with the rest of the