U.S. & WORLD HISTORY

Themes in U.S. & World History



Themes in U.S. & World History

Introduction

The history of the United States is, throughout most of its course, closely associated with imperialism. The American colonies came into being in the first age of British imperialism as a part of Britain's overseas expansion, and as part of the mother country's attempts to resist being overwhelmed by the imperial designs of the dominant European powers: first Spain and then France. These colonies fought patriotically and enthusiastically in the Anglo-French wars that lasted from 1689 to 1815.

The rise of Imperialism

During the Revolution, and again in the War of 1812, American armies unsuccessfully invaded Canada. In the Revolution American armies seized, and the Treaty of Paris (1783) bestowed, the Northwest Territories. Under the Articles of Confederation, which required nine states to vote for the admission of new states, Canada was specifically guaranteed automatic admission to the Union. Both the successful annexation of the Northwest Territories and the unsuccessful invasions of Canada point to characteristics of early American imperialism: America preferred to acquire vacant or sparsely populated land contiguous to itself for national expansion and settlement.

Some goals of U.S. imperialism involved economic as well as military benefits as in the case of an inter-oceanic canal. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Americans had become aware of the commercial advantages of a canal across Central America.

Some U.S. imperialism has been primarily economic, and relations with China and Japan tended from their earliest days to take an economic cast. China often loomed large in the popular imagination as a land of unlimited business opportunities. Its large population was seen as an ideal market for U.S. agricultural and industrial surpluses. The United States pursued a policy of demanding equal standing in China for U.S. citizens and products. U.S. citizens came to enjoy extraterritoriality along with most European subjects (Rowe, 2000).

Some critics of the U.S. pursuit of empire saw imperialism simply as an ugly outgrowth of the domestic abuses of the capitalist order. Pacifists and isolationists argued that a large overseas empire made U.S. involvement in future wars likely and perhaps unavoidable, while a spokesperson for the rights and interests of racial and ethnic minorities portrayed the empire as simply an extension of white supremacy as practiced at home. For some American traditionalists, empire threatened established U.S. institutions, including constitutional government and equality before the law.

World War II and its ...