American Imperialism In The Late 1800's

Although the U.S involvement in global imperialism in the late 1800’s was an investment of uncertainty, their bold moves in acquiring new land have historically been justified by a combination of humanitarian, economic and political theories. During this time period, the United States had begun to achieve great strides as many major cities developed, thus contributing to the shaping of American history and identity. Despite the immense amount of progress that was made, there were several components that the U.S had been striving to resolve including sustaining acquired wealth as well as sustaining the economy. In hopes to address these increasingly pressing matters, President Theodore Roosevelt turned to imperialism in hopes to create a more fulfilled homeland. Although the United States had been practicing isolationism from post- George Washington to President Monroe, with the new needs of the growing nation, President Roosevelt pushed for an increase in international involvement via imperialism.With pockets hungry for additional wealth for homeland United States, based on the actions taken by the United States government, it can be concluded that U.S involvement in imperialism was predominantly inspired by economic motivations. Right off of homeland United States, the riches presented by the small sunny island of Puerto Rico, served as an enticing invitation for US involvement in international imperialist culture. Prior to the U.S annexation of the island , the island had been ruled by Spain as part of its global empire spanning from parts of Europe into Latin America. After America’s victory following the Spanish-American war, Puerto Rico was given to the U.S as a resolution of the war between the two superpowers. Although the Unites States previously had very little involvement in global imperialisation, they did not hesitate to claim Puerto Rico for it’s abundance of natural resources such as sugar and tobacco. Even though these were major exports of the U.S during the 1700’s to 1800’s, with the abolition of slavery in 1865, producing such valuable goods became less profitable with the need to pay workers in order to cultivate the crops. Therefore, making Puerto Rico …show more content…
Though the island monarchy had been relatively successful under their reigning Queen Lydia Liliuokalani, the abundances of Pineapples attracted American Businessmen to imperialize the island to insure easy access to the tropical delicacy. In order to fulfill their economic agenda, American Business men portrayed the Queen to be an unfit ruler for their country to provide probable cause for American intervention for access to the pineapples.By the late 1800’s, the American government annexed Hawaii thus completing their evident economic interest in their newly acquired territory. By 1923 Hawaii had the largest export of Pineapples in the world, bringing an immense amount of wealth to the U.S(Smithsonian Magazine). Some argue that the U.S was looking out for Hawaii because they claimed that the island deserved a democracy insuring liberties granted to homeland U.S. However, the early actions taken by the U.S officials conclude otherwise. American businessmen Sanford Dole declared himself as the first president without a vote to advance his pineapple business thus undermining the foundational principles of American democracy. Therefore, this shows that the humanitarianist theories do not truly incompass the U.S motivations surrounding imperialism but rather, …show more content…
As history is made, this can be used to assess many other U.S international policies especially as international policies have a growing impact in American