American Expansion 19th Century

American Expansion Throughout the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century the United States questioned whether expansion was the next best step to becoming a stronger nation. Expansion was thought to be an act of rescue for other nations while simultaneously benefiting the American economy. Some strongly supported the idea of American expansion because they wanted America to be viewed as a greater nation. Others felt that American expansion was selfish and invasive to other nations. Several documents support the notion that the majority supported the idea of American expansion while other saw it as a selfish act. By expansion the United States meant to absorb other territories in hope to not only expand their …show more content…
Expansion would help the United States be seen as one of the greater nations. Absorbed territories would benefit from expansion because the congress of the United States would help by creating special laws that would manage absorbed territories. Another way the absorbed territories would benefit would be from resources and mass produced products that United States could offer at the time. By bringing together the nations the goal was to enrich themselves, become more powerful and become the model of civilization. Most people saw expansion as a positive progression not only for the United States but for the world. They believed that the United States was the model civilization and that the rest of the world would benefit by becoming just like them or becoming part of them. Henry Cabot Lodge claimed that small states had no future and that the “concentration of people and territory into great nations and large dominions” was the next best step for the United States and others. Lodge also believed that if the United States did not expand the great nations of the time would continue to …show more content…
Taking over territories was seen as ruthless by some because it was inconsiderate to the people inhabiting the conquered territories. The main problem with American expansion was that it was selfish, the true reason for American expansion was not to help other nations but to help themselves become and remain one of the greater nations. For example when the United States decided to adopt the Philippines, America refused to allow Filipino leaders to form their own government. Essentially it was not only to better the lives of the Filipinos but to ensure that the Philippine legislature would not pass any laws that could hurt American business. Much like the domination of the Philippines when America decided to claim Hawaii as a territory it was mainly because Hawaii was at a convenient halfway point between the United States and Asia. Another reason was that Cuba was no longer supplying the United States with sugar and they needed the sugar from Hawaii. American felt superior to other nations. They felt their Christian religion and their form of a democratic government made them a model