In the twentieth century, the United States of America held the position of one of the largest navies in the world, had a tremendous, extensive international empire, and the right to call itself a major world power. To acquire this reputation, America both went through a continuity of the past and a change in their expansionistic motives. Its imperialistic actions included a rapid and extensive colonization and expansion, and competition with many of the world’s largest and strongest world powers. This role of an imperialistic power was not immediate, however and was the result of much continuity and change of the past. While the United States expansionism of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries had a clear social and cultural continuity, its political and economic motives were changed. The American imperialistic social and cultural values very much continued on from previous expansion and demonstrated the same justification for expansionism as in previous time …show more content…
All throughout history, America did not have much care for other people when they sought out land. Americans would gladly risk their reputation and even war for the gift of gaining land. The Native Americans were a prime example of this, as Americans had massacred and chased them away from their homeland solely for the purpose of expansion. Manifest Destiny had advocated and influenced this action, saying that they were predestined by God to expand from coast to coast. This belief in America’s right to land continued. As reinstated by Senator Albert J. Beveridge in his speech to 56th congress in 1900, the American people were the “chosen people” and “thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in