imperialism us history definition

imperialism us history definition

The Evolution and Impact of Imperialism in U.S. History

1. Introduction to Imperialism in U.S. History

Although U.S. expansion into the West in the 19th century is usually discussed as an inevitable development motivated by the search for inexpensive land and the movement of people towards economic opportunities, such a characterization overlooks the conflict and racist policy towards American Indians and Mexicans. The late 19th and 20th centuries witnessed U.S. interest in extending its influence and control beyond this continent, and the term imperialism evolved to describe U.S. actions. This development did not proceed without disagreement, as critics came from different perspectives with different critiques. Europeans viewed the U.S. presence with the sentiment of: “mighty, the united, the model republic, [we should] go not abroad seeking monsters to destroy.” The interaction of these attitudes over time in different contexts since 1898 has left an indelible mark upon the international community in the 20th century.

2. Causes and Motivations Behind U.S. Imperialism

Throughout U.S. history, the motives for American imperialism have evolved as domestic needs and international conditions have changed. The main motives behind U.S. imperialism are economic, political, and strategic factors. Examples exist of each of these in the course of American history. America has always been engaged in efforts to gain foreign markets in order to benefit economically from other countries. Early imperialism in the field of commerce meant securing access to valuable territory and workforce necessary for Americans to possess specific places for particular products, as well as special facilities to protect them. Imperialism became a term that was associated only with evil, and Americans lost some fervor they had for expanding the frontiers in fighting for their rights of natives. This meant a break between Americans and isolated status about European colonial diffusion. Within the fifty years since the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War I, the United States was transformed from an isolated nation-state, with a psychedelic interest in equatorial colonial expansion, to a country with a frontier of overseas territorial possessions.

3. Key Events and Territories of U.S. Imperialism

The treaty process: The United States Constitution gives the President the power to make treaties, but the treaty must be ratified by the Senate. When the United States acquires territory through a treaty, the treaty will specify the legal relationships between the United States and the residents of the territory. For example, the 1803 Louisiana Purchase was a treaty, and the 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty acquired the 1810 Republic of Florida. The United States made treaties to annex the independent Republic of Hawaii in 1898, to acquire Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, the Island of Guam, and to acquire the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917. Treaty language for Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands promised eventual self-governance. The treaty process involves some degree of legislative participation in the creation of U.S. laws and has been less controversial than the covenant process. The covenant process involves the United States turning over governance of a territory to the United Nations, which typically can find no other caretaker. This process and its historical record have been highly controversial. For example, the United Nations is still in the process of administering islands in the Pacific. In 2009, the United Nations announced the end of its mandate for Tokelau, an island that chose free association with New Zealand. If the islands reject free association, the United Nations could again assume governance.

The United States began with thirteen colonies along the Eastern seaboard of North America. As the nation grew in population and geographic and political influence, it expanded west and acquired Florida, Texas, Oregon, California, the land between the U.S. and Canada (the 48th parallel), and Alaska. In addition to acquiring territory from other European powers, the United States fought a war with Mexico and overcame Indian claims to United States land. This expansion led to numerous questions and debates about the expansion of slavery, the authority of Congress to control the territories, popular sovereignty, and whether the country would, in fact, be a democratic republic. In addition, the United States obtained territories through the treaty process, the United Nations, and through the covenant process, which involved independence or interminable governance for the former inhabitants of the territory.

4. Impact and Legacy of U.S. Imperialism

To the residents of Porto Rico the surprise prize has been apportioned, not as citizens, but as taxables. It is highly desirable we should have possession of the ports, harbors and waterways of the island to hold as an indispensable appurtenant to our preempted canal zone. They constituted a neutral ground, exempt from tariff barrier, where the freedom of competing fleets might at all times be available as an interested act of circumstance and thereby pave the way for the exercise of the faith that predicated our feelings of amity.

The moral factor in the case was incapacitated for an expression of opinion and that by none other than the generals themselves. It was the time of military rule in the Philippines. Such was the power of the executive that three branches of our government, the Presidential branch, the military branch responsible to the President and the Judiciary hardly recognized as an independent branch, all virtually represented in the same person, could put forth all party pledges and shadow of American policy in the Philippines that any one person, with or without his advice, saw fit to make into a substantive law. Viewing the case in the light of a trust, which I refuse to consider it, and which has been but an evasion of the principles laid down, the trustees under the system were all in the same corps d’armee.

The acquisition of America’s Pacific colonies and exemption from the antiparasite laws reveal one of the most representative results of American imperialism. The economic and historic implications of the colonies were so numerous that for the time being it is inadvisable to raise serious objections against the method of acquisition. Nor can any race so backward be chosen of which we wish to make citizens. To the question of the manner in which our colonies were acquired, if ever I hear it raised, I should choose the language of Vattel, who in referring to the blessings and pains which may be laid on colonists says, “That these regulations should be made with justice, prudence, and humanity.” The Filipinos, by the circumstance of their sudden conversion into American subjects, were not robbed of any political privileges that they had before. Their grievances arise from our denial to them, in common with the American people, the benefits of a just government.

5. Conclusion: Reflecting on the Lessons Learned from U.S. Imperialism

Once imperialism has been deconstructed, we can then consider economic expansion, expansion manifesting itself in military conquest, and cultural imposition as mechanisms by which the United States inserted itself within the international community. Comparing and contrasting attempts at territorial and military conquest with the United States’ expansion beyond European boundaries to establish colonies in the late 1890s requires a thoughtful examination of American foreign policy and how and why international relationships developed the way they did. Since imperialism defined legitimized relationships of domination and submission, imperial policy cannot remain too far removed from discussions about official rhetoric used to justify the disparities between the powerful and the powerless. Relations defining international affairs involve economic inequality, only a wider part of the imperial policy. Understanding imperialism in U.S. history illustrates clearly where the present-day United States and the international community stand today.

One of the most appealing aspects of studying imperialism in U.S. history is that the remnants of imperial influences are present in our everyday lives. Struggles and processes preceding the first half of the twentieth century prepared the United States and other nations for the global world we inhabit today. Various connections can be drawn between imperialism as it has been historically discussed and more recent events such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. The controversy surrounding proposals for United States military involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina also brings historical reflection to the forefront. Finally, one cannot make sense of the American economy without realizing the challenging and ongoing global economic processes that continue to occur.