American Expansion In The Late 1800s

Many countries expand for overall growth as a nation. The United States has expanded numerous times. During the late 1800s throughout the early 1900s the United States expanded once again. The United States not only gained territory, but also gained trade with Japan and China. To convince Japan to open trade with them, Matthew Perry sailed all the way to Japan. He said he would give them one year to think about the proposed question. After the one year was over he sailed back to Japan in hope of an answer. The answer was yes, therefore opening trade between the United States and Japan. This was a great accomplishment for the U.S because up until then Japan had been in trading isolation.
The United States also wanted to trade with China because
Some thought all this expansion was unjustified. Others thought just the opposite. American Expansion was however, clearly justified. We were helping our foreign allies to become stronger nations. Just as Theodore Roosevelt said “ All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous.” We expanded, not because we just wanted to claim more land, but because we wanted to help other countries and make our overall world a safer and stronger world. Again it is said that “ It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains any project as regards to the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare.” ( Document D ) What was trying to be said was that the United States is not expanding because we want to take more land or become wealthier. It was because we were trying to help the others around us. Finally, all this expansion was done to connect the Unites States with other countries. “The ocean does not separate us...the ocean joins us, electricity joins us, boats join us.” ( Document E )This quote is a fine example of expanding and using tools to create more allies of the neighboring