Causes Of Imperialism In The 1800s

The 1800’s was a time of American expansion from the quaint east of the North American continent, in which the majority of citizens resided. Americans began to migrate to the west, creating the country known today as “The United States of America”. They then looked toward distending into the rest of the Western Hemisphere including the islands of the Caribbean and parts of Pacific Asia. Big businessmen, government officials, American military, and the presidents of this era began to invade and take control of these territories and implemented their power, thus creating the term imperialism. The reasons behind this extension was primarily to rebuild a struggling U.S economy and gain control. There was much debate on whether not America’s …show more content…
Instead of the democratic principles our nation adopted, America became militaristic in nature. When the United States entered into these territories, they became almost police-like and took away the freedoms that they promised these people (Doc 6). A country founded on liberty should not rob that from others. America was unjust and took away the rights of these people. Instead of allowing them to govern themselves and keeping a neighborly relationship, America became the police and took government control of this land (Doc 8). Throughout these years of imperialism the United States goal was to shy away from such practices, as they have suffered these same hardships from Europe, yet they became their own enemy. The alleged rights and freedoms that they granted the natives were not actually true. For instance, the situation in Puerto Rico. America granted this area a territory of the United States, giving them citizenship and common wealth. However, they do not posses the basic rights of the citizens in the rest of the U. S such as the right to vote for the U. S president. The United States went against their values of democracy, liberty, peace, and independence, becoming utterly hypocritical and tyrannic. For these reasonings, America’s actions were not justified during the age of American Imperialism. America wanted the powerful title, …show more content…
They did not use the newly claimed lands to benefit its inhabitants but for their own selfish uses. American officials truly did not care about the citizen living there, solely the use of their land (Doc 5). In areas like the Caribbean and Pacific Asia, they cultivated their tropical fruits and established factories on their acreage and sold these products in American markets (Doc 1). The american economy was struggling in the 1890’s and the only way to boost this recession was to expand worldly and create markets in various parts of the world. Various types of people expanded this business, without a care to how it will affect the people. Americans ruthlessly harvested their land and put the citizens to work in their factories in order to create a fast cheap product. Subsequently, those who built the Panama Canal were not americans alone, they were also locals from Panama, the West Indies, and parts of Asia. Not only was this land for markets but for naval bases and and coal mining, as stated in the Platt Amendment of 1903. The United States established railways, steamship lines, and markets in these areas to the people they thought were too inarticulate and backwards to have rights and formulate intelligent decisions of their own (Doc 3). America’s business practices were anything but equitable in these countries solely for the benefit of economical