American Imperialism In The 19th Century

In the 18th and 19th centuries, European empires were on the rise, putting America in a tough position. Should America stay with what George Washington told them, which is to not leave the mainland? Or should the country go against him and follow Europe and expand overseas. In the end, America decided to go overseas in 1880 to conquer the small areas of land with the intention of replicating the idea of having an empire. The selection to expand overseas was simply chosen to gain power. It is hard to decline the opportunity to have power and be among the leaders of the world. The decision to expand overseas was influenced by three main aspects; Manifest Destiny, Racism, and keeping the Europeans out of the New World. One primary factor that
In the late 1800’s racism was still a prominent issue in America, even though slavery officially ended in 1865. Lots of people still believed that non-white lives mattered less than those with light skin. This is portrayed in the letters that U.S. soldiers had sent back home to families and friends. For instance, a soldier in Utah tells us the hatred they had for the Filipinos, “The old boys will say that no cruelty is too severe for these brainless monkeys...”(American Soldiers’ Letters Home). The U.S. soldiers believed that the Filipinos were unable to civilize themselves like monkeys. We didn’t lead them to civilization, we controlled them. For example when we beat the Spanish in Cuba, we forced laws into the their Constitution to keep them bound by our rules. Another example was shown through a political cartoon. This cartoon was drawn by Victor Gillam in 1899 and it shows that America has to be like the British and carry the uncivilized counties to civilization on their back. The illustration also shows that America is carrying the countries out of their problems like; oppression, brutality, barbarism, and more. Overall, Americans believed they were far better than other races and they should rule the