Several factors in the United States led to Imperialism. The US depression of 1893 meant unemployment was high and farmers were suffering greatly from overproduction (due to advances in technology), low consumption and low prices. Overseas territories would provide US businesses and farmers access to new markets to sell their surplus of goods leading to higher prices, more profits and more jobs. Political and military ambitions also fueled imperialism. Alfred Thayer Mahan, a naval strategist and the author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, argued that "Whoever rules the waves rules the world" (Pearson). Hawaii was seen as the Crossroads of the Pacific. In 1893, a small group of sugar and pineapple-growing businessmen, backed by the U.S. military, deposed Hawaii's queen, seized 1.75 million acres of land, and conspired for U.S. annexation of the islands, which was achieved in 1898. Hawaii became a state in 1959. The taking of Panama by President Roosevelt is another example where the United …show more content…
During the Philippine war, more than 4,000 American soldiers, about 20,000 Filipino fighters, and an estimated 200,000 Filipino civilians died. In addition the goal of spreading democracy went mostly