Manifest Destiny: The Role Of Imperialism In The United States

Manifest Destiny led the early Americans to the Pacific, but the European Age of Imperialism influenced the United States to start to search beyond its continental borders to grow economically. As demonstrated by westward expansion, economic interests dictated political decision-making. Not only in government, but in the military as well. Rear Admiral Alfred Mahan saw the US Navy as the protector of American sea-trade routes. Without a strong navy, American trade could not reach its full potential. On the other hand, Major General Smedley Butler proposed war was a racket, only meant to benefit business and financial interests, and the masses are subjected to the will of these interests through their politicians. While the press is meant to

At the end of the century, the United States proposed building strategic naval bases across the Pacific to protect trade routes. For instance, James Blaine, Secretary of State under Benjamin Harrison, proposed acquiring Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Cuba to build economically strategic military bases. In the Caribbean, the Puerto Rican and Cuban bases brought the Central and South American markets within reach. In the case of Hawaii, it would allow access to the vast Asian markets, as well as control over their sugar plantations. Despite imposing tariffs on most imported goods during this time, sugar imports from Hawaii were exempted, because American sugar planters dominated the sugar industry. In 1893, these American oligarchs overthrew the Queen of Hawaii, with help from American Marines and the American Minister in Honolulu, to install a pro-American leader. After the American military changed the Hawaiian regime, Sanford Dole, cousin of mogul James Dole, became president. In the blink of an eye, the United States became a capitalistic empire. This event exemplifies the political and economic foreign policy of the United States at the turn of the 19th century, because business interests came to dominate the decision-making of American politicians. After Dole took control of the Hawaiian Islands, Pearl Harbor became home to the first American military base in Hawaii. Isolationists tried to keep the

While the official American position remained neutrality, American businesses entangled us in the affairs of European nations. The American principle of liberty creates the notion that the seas are free and open for trade. But, as Rear Admiral Alfred Mahan foretold, naval might directly correlates to how free and open the sea is for trade. The British Airliner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat, with American civilians and American cargo onboard. Conclusively, the American cargo onboard meant to aid the British war effort. At the time, many knew that American businesses profited from the war in Europe and were openly opposed to joining the conflict. To combat negative opinion on the war, Woodrow Wilson created the Committee on Public Information to put out pro-war propaganda, like the posters which called war bonds, liberty bonds. The government actively attempted to change the conscious of the country. Following his work at the CPI, Edward Bernays would go on to create the Public Relations profession and sell commercial goods throughout the 1920s. Despite opposition to the war, the United State entered the conflict, solidifying our spot as an imperialist with the rest of the European powers involved in The Great