United States Expansion

United States Expansionism In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States developed a reputation as an overseas empire and a power country. The United States built this reputation by its involvement of imperialism, which expanded, colonized and competed against other power countries such as Germany, France, Britain and Japan. However, nineteenth and early twentieth century imperialism was not a continuation of past United States expansionism. It is clear that this development was a continuation of social and cultural aspects, but was a greater intent of departure from the ideas of the past for better economic and political intentions. Nineteenth and early twentieth century imperialism presented the same social and cultural aspects of previous expansionism. Josiah Strong advocated the supremacy of the United States to civilize inhabitants from foreign affairs as its responsibility in his book Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (Doc. B). He explains that god has destined the new Anglo-Saxon race, being the U.S. to spread American liberty and Christianity throughout acquired continents. In the 1840’s, the Manifest Destiny supported the idea of westward expansion, it brought belief that God gave a destiny to America to expand its borders and spread the ideal perspective of how America should physically become. Senator Albert J. Beverage explains this perspective in future imperial America was still identified as the chosen people by God and a race to influence liberty through expansion, based from his 1900 speech to congress (Doc E). This was the attitude of the poem “The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling’s poem in 1899 elaborating about the responsibility of America to help develop foreigners around the world. The beginning of westward expansion began by Christian missionaries to convert Native Americans; the United States used political policy to remove them from foreign lands for an outcome of civilized