American Imperialism

American Imperialism

Introduction

The period of American imperialism began with the Senate humiliating Ulysses S. Grant by rejecting the Santo Domingo annexation treaty in February 1870, and it ended in 1900 with William McKinley sending an expeditionary force of 5,000 troops to help put down the Boxer Rebellion in China without consulting Congress. The transformation of America's role in the world helped transform the American presidency. Historians have stressed that expansion before 1900 resulted either from Manifest Destiny, an American variant of a worldwide ultra nationalistic urge for foreign conquest and colonies, or from American industrialism and its need for markets for its products. Undoubtedly, the move by the United States onto the world stage had both internal and external causes as it experienced unprecedented economic growth in an age of increasing nationalistic rivalries.

Discussion

Advantages and Disadvantages

The domestic matters of the country had overshadowed the matters of U.S foreign affairs until the late 1890s. Those matters mark the progress of the country. The revolution in industrial production was accompanied by a revolution in the communication and retrieval of information. Telegraph lines and submarine cables provided instant communication around the globe, and information could be stored in a legible, accessible form thanks to the introduction of the typewriter, tabs, index cards, and file folders in modern offices. The U.S. State Department, however, with its archaic filing and indexing practices, remained haphazard in its record keeping until the 20th century. This quickening diplomatic pace reflected the accelerating pace of life in the late 19th century.

International rivalry increased for markets in both farm produce and industrial goods. By the 1870s American farmers found themselves competing in a global marketplace. More significantly, American businessmen and farmers became convinced that growth depended on finding foreign markets. This belief became commonplace even before the disastrous economic ...