How Did America Become A World Power

America Becomes a World Power From its humble beginnings as a territory ruled by the British crown, America grew into one of the biggest major world powers. While the country started out insignificant to the greater picture, in just thirty short years between 1890 and 1920 America became one of the strongest world powers. This was largely through the country’s eagerness to expand across the continent and their growing economic influence due to the Industrial Revolution.

From the beginning of its settlement, America has been eager to expand across as much territory as possible. Americans believed in an ideal known as “Manifest Destiny” which essentially asserted that it was America’s responsibility to expand across North America and spread
Christianity to the uncivilized and savage native people that already occupied the west. Moreover, Americans felt the need to “turn them [the savages] into consumers of American goods.” (Mooney 107) This is only the beginning of America’s growing hunger for economic growth and power.

America’s rise to economic power was fueled largely by the Industrial Revolution.
During the Industrial Revolution, new technology was developed that allowed manufactures to produce more goods for less money. This increased America’s percentage of the world’s manufacturing by nearly seven percent in just thirty years. (Mooney 108) This allowed for inconsistent yet undeniable economic growth for America, bringing them from a second-rate inferior country in the eyes of the more powerful nations, into what would soon be considered a major world power. As America’s manufacturing increased, it often fell victim to overproduction. Because America was producing so many goods, they often found themselves with more than could be sold. This caused a decrease in jobs and a lower income for manufacturers due to the need to sell their goods at greatly reduced prices. Despite facing these mini depressions, America’s economy had grown
strong.
Throughout the Industrial Revolution, European world superpowers such as Britain and Spain were creating empires by annexing territories in surrounding countries. America began to see the appeal of expanding into nearby countries as well. Naturally, America first set its sights on nearby Cuba, which was currently under a violently oppressive Spanish rule. Under the guise of philanthropic concern for the nation of Cuba’s wellbeing, America enters Cuba alongside Cuban rebels against Spain. Americans had grown uneasy by this time, and craved any war. “He [President Theodore Roosevelt] was ready, really, for any war, because he felt that Americans were growing soft.” The Spanish oppression of Cuba provided Americans with the opportunity to satisfy this ever growing need for war. This first spark of conflict strengthened America as a nation by sating this need for war.

After the war in Cuba ended, America was left with the question of what to do with the Philippines.
The United States offered twenty million dollars to the Spanish. “Spain accepted the offer and gave up the Philippines and Cuba in addition to Guam and Puerto Rico...[and in 1898] the United States officially acquired it’s first colonies.” This expansion was a key turning point for America because it furthered America’s power and influence across the ocean.

By this time, America’s focus had shifted to the need for a canal through the Caribbean. When Columbia refused to allow America to build one through Panama, “President Theodore Roosevelt sponsored Panama’s secession from Colombia.” Once Panama gained its independence, the United States built the Panama Canal, transforming the world trade. Because the Panama Canal was essentially under American control, America’s influence over world trade
skyrocketed.

It was during one of America’s relative depressions that World War I broke out among the European superpowers of the world. Because of the growing tensions between countries due to disagreements over colonization of territories, Europe had essentially become a time bomb. When war broke out between the major world powers, America saw an opportunity for immense financial gain. “[As] American investors were betting on the war, there was a direct connection between battle and bank.” America adopted a policy of neutrality in the war, partially in an effort to keep peace at home between Russian-Americans and German-Americans who may sympathize with one side of the war, but mostly to gain the opportunity to ship “non contraband” supplies to both sides of the war. As the United States supplied both sides of the war, its economy thrived. All of the major countries involved in the war focused all of their resources on the war itself, depending on American imports to support them. As America supplied both sides of the war, Britain saw an opportunity to weaken their enemy. “Great Britain, taking advantage if its unrivaled naval superiority, sought to starve the Central Powers into submission by blockading the North Sea.” (Mooney 119) This blockade prevented any imports to Germany, literally intending to starve the German civilian population. America gave in to the blockade and resumed supplying the war only on the side of the Allied Powers. In response to the British naval blockade, Germany began use of what is known as “unrestricted submarine warfare” turning the ocean around Britain into a war zone and sinking Allied and neutral ships alike without any type of warning. The United States issued a warning to Germany to stop unrestricted submarine warfare, which was ultimately ignored. This was the final straw in pulling America into World War I on the side of the Allied Powers.

The United States entering the war ultimately is what assured the Allied victory, for “if the Germans had refrained from provoking the United States, they might have simply outlasted the Allies and won the war.” (Mooney 123) Because the United States joined the war as a prosperous and wealthy country against a war ravaged Germany, they seized victory for the Allied Powers, and forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

Throughout the thirty years between 1890 and 1920 many factors contributed to America’s rise to the rank of a major world power. Ultimately, America’s ambitious spirit of expansion fueled them to attain more political and economic power in the world and eventually overtake even the biggest world powers at the time.

Works Cited
America Finances the War. N.p., n.d. Web. (Media Clip
Colby, Jason M. "The United States and the Caribbean, 1877–1920." Gilderlehrman.org. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. (Supplemental Resource)
Debating the Philippine Insurrection. N.p., n.d. Web. (Media Clip)
Mooney, Matthew. The Growth of American Civilization. 2013 Summer. Print.
Staff, NPR, and Evan Thomas. "In 1898, Satisfying A National Appetite For War." NPR. NPR, 27 Apr. 2010. Web. 08 July 2013. (Supplemental Resource)