Role Of Missionaries In 19th Century American Imperialism

Essay Question # 3 In the 19th century American as a nation became more imperialistic. While other countries were expanding American decided to expand too. One of the influential forces to bring about imperialism was missionaries. Missionaries travelled to other countries to spread the word of god and other civility to other nations. While in these nations the missionaries would get involved in government and roles in society, like teachers. Another proponent in the advancement of imperialism was the Frederick Jackson Turner Thesis. Turners said that people had the frontier to spread westward and it agreed with our democratic system. After a census it was revealed that there was no more of the frontier to be taken. On the other side, the government
wanted to expand so they had more places to market their products. One of the places they looked into was Canada, but the eventually gave up that and decided to look south. They then created treaties with southern countries like Mexico, Columbia, Dominican Republic, etc. The treaty though was reliant on the stability in these nations. To do this they decided to build sea power in order to become a stronger nation. This was reliant on Alfred Thayer Mahan and his book, The Influence of Sea Power upon History 1660-1873. Mahan also supported having bases in Caribbean, Pacific and agreed with annexing Hawaii. Starting in the 1860s Cubans moved to be free of Spain and become their own independent nation. The American press sensationalized the stories of Cubans fighting for independence through yellow journalism. While there was support to fight against Spain but it was full force in 1898. The USS Maine was in Havana’s harbor and exploded. 266 Americans were killed and while there was no evidence the newspapers blamed Spain. This fear and panic of the people rose up in support and finally Congress declared war against Spain. Theodore Roosevelt played a part in the war leading the Rough Riders into battles. With the destruction of Spanish fleet at Santiago Bay, Santiago surrendered. Soon after Spain surrendered and with this Americans helped Cuba gain independence but took control of sugar plantations and set up bases in Cuba. While still in an imperialist state of mind, eyes turned to the Philippines. Soon after war was declared on Spain troops were also sent to the Philippines in order to gain control. When the war ended Spain also gave up the Philippines. Filipino rebels fought against Spain with America during the war but when Americans didn’t leave after war they started attacking Americans. The population fought hard to keep their land and many Filipinos died from starvation and disease because of the harsh guerilla warfare. The fighting slowed and Americans bought best land and worked on the sugar industry. American still had interests in other islands as they continued to grow control of colonies. Not everyone was still sure about America expanding but with yellow journalism making most newspapers in support of the war imperialism continued. While imperialism has slowed over the years there is no doubt that America gained power as an imperialistic nation in the 19th century.