US Expansion Essay - AP History
DBQ: US expansion
American expansion in the late 19th century and early 20th century held many similarities to that of early American expansionism. The motives for early American expansion held similar to that of the turn of the 19th century in that the United States has grown in the reasoning of Manifest Destiny, the progress of the American economy and an increasing perception of American racial supremacy. Through the course of history, American expansionist incentives have shifted from withstanding foreign influence, to taking on a direct role in instituting democratic control where it deems necessary, most notably American control in the Philippines. Throughout American expansionism, an emphasis on divine right has encouraged the spread of American influence. This principle revolutionized from expansion westward to expanding across bodies of water. Under this thought, Americans were confident that God’s given right was to expand and evangelize Christianity. As Document B reads:
“It seems to me that God, with infinite wisdom and skill, is training the Anglo-Saxon race for an hour sure to come in the world’s future…with all the majesty of numbers and might of wealth behind it - the representative, of the largest liberty, the purest Christianity, the highest civilization…will spread itself over the earth…And can anyone doubt that the result of this competition of races will be the ‘survival of the fittest’?”
Through Josiah Strong’s Our Country: It’s Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (Document B), an element of superiority presents itself regarding the Anglo-Saxon American race as the highest, most pure, form of civilization in a reflection of “Social Darwinism” and the survival of only the fittest, most prosperous civilization. Senator Albert J. Beveridge’s speech emphasizes this confidence reading, “…We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world (Document E).” , ultimately arguing the
American expansion in the late 19th century and early 20th century held many similarities to that of early American expansionism. The motives for early American expansion held similar to that of the turn of the 19th century in that the United States has grown in the reasoning of Manifest Destiny, the progress of the American economy and an increasing perception of American racial supremacy. Through the course of history, American expansionist incentives have shifted from withstanding foreign influence, to taking on a direct role in instituting democratic control where it deems necessary, most notably American control in the Philippines. Throughout American expansionism, an emphasis on divine right has encouraged the spread of American influence. This principle revolutionized from expansion westward to expanding across bodies of water. Under this thought, Americans were confident that God’s given right was to expand and evangelize Christianity. As Document B reads:
“It seems to me that God, with infinite wisdom and skill, is training the Anglo-Saxon race for an hour sure to come in the world’s future…with all the majesty of numbers and might of wealth behind it - the representative, of the largest liberty, the purest Christianity, the highest civilization…will spread itself over the earth…And can anyone doubt that the result of this competition of races will be the ‘survival of the fittest’?”
Through Josiah Strong’s Our Country: It’s Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (Document B), an element of superiority presents itself regarding the Anglo-Saxon American race as the highest, most pure, form of civilization in a reflection of “Social Darwinism” and the survival of only the fittest, most prosperous civilization. Senator Albert J. Beveridge’s speech emphasizes this confidence reading, “…We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world (Document E).” , ultimately arguing the