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Imperialism is the act of powerful nations exerting control either politically, socially, or extending of countries’ influence over other people or nations. It can involve influencing another country through diplomacy, trade among other things. Though imperialism has existed for many years, the period of imperialism in most cases refers to the activities of various states like the U.S, Britain, and Japan among others in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The term can also be used to refer to the extension of practice, to acquire dominion, control by to the distant or closer union of territory/ nation.
American imperialism has existed ever since its revolution. Over many years, there have been many instances where Americans have been seen to take over other people’s countries. As pointed out by Sidney, a historian argues that the United States used every available means from economic, political, and even military actions to dominate other states. It was in this era, late 19th century and early 20th century that America pursued an aggressive policy to extend and expand its economic and political influence around the world. According to the Monroe doctrine of 1823, Cleary stated the U.S interest in the western hemisphere by ensuring that European powers were denied to interfere with the affairs of the developing countries (Neil, 1969). The other instance where America used imperialism was when it sent its troops into the Mexican 1866 to intimidate the French.
Some of the causes of imperialism were the fast-growing economy and the overabundance of industrial goods which forced it to look for new markets. Just to mention, there was also the Spanish-American War. Americans were not happy with how the Spaniards were treating the Cubans. Though Spain declared war on Americans, they were easily defeated. As a result, Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the U.S. This forced Spain to concentrate on its issues within the country and not overseas. At this point, Americans were becoming very powerful and expanding their territory to an extent most people suggesting America assume the role of being a world power. Though America initially being opposed to imperialism, event in Latin America following the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, the US began to challenge England’s commercial dominance of the region. An example is the boundary dispute of Venezuela. Since the British wanted to draw a border that infringed Venezuela, Americans set in as the mediator and eventually solved the dispute. The taking of the Panama Canal by the US helped much in linking its east and west coast. This helped the US to extend its imperialism through the use of this canal (Beisner, 1992).
The US was never isolated from another part of the world. The US through trade became an active member of globe dealings. It is this period of the 1890s that made the US foreign policy subjective to imperialism. At this period, the US became a major state in the industrial power of the world. This led the US to look for new markets for its products as well as explore where to obtain law materials. The US military had also started penetrating the areas it had not been able to go to before. Some of these factors made the US become a major military, economic and imperialistic power. With the above factors, it became really easy to adopt the policy of imperialism (Neil, 1969).
Around the late 19th century and early 20th century, there emerged a group of people who were totally against imperialism. This movement started in European colonial empires and the US takeover of the Philippines. It reached its climax when the colonized countries formed various national liberation movements. These movements achieved a lot in the decolonization process of the 1950s and 1960s. These movements bore fruits for it is at this time that most colonies in Africa, Asia, and the west achieved their independence. Anti-imperialism also voiced concern on how their racial stock was going to be diluted through contact with colonized states (Bisner,1992). In their view, they found it hypocritical to hold /colonize others whereas to them (Americans) they had independence and having passed ‘the bills of rights. Some of the key figures in the war against imperialism were William Jennings, Oswald Garrison, and many others who formed a league to opposing imperialism. However, to counter the anti-imperialist by the state, they formed a four-pronged attack using the social Darwinists principle of a ‘more fit species’
The main goal of imperialism was to dominate and exploit the population and wealth of Asia, Africa, and Australia among other colonies. They commonly apprehended a belief, that it was the white men who were supposed to bring western civilization to the world. Individuals were sent to change the local populations to American ways of living. They used military oppression and economic pressure to manipulate and change the world into the imperialist’s way of thought.
Towards the twentieth century, many countries had started to realize that they were being oppressed by their colonizers and worked towards expelling the foreigners and demanding independence. One of these movements was the boxer rebellion from china that began a campaign of terror against Christian missionaries for it was believed that missionaries assisted a lot in colonization. As more and more people demanded their independence, more fight was experienced worldwide leading to colonizers give to the most nation their right to govern themselves (Ngigi, 2001).
In conclusion, America has come from far and its domination has not started now. It was as a result of dedication and courage that it was able to colonize many states as well as making good use of any opportunity that presented itself on the way. Up to now, America has remained one of the powerful states in the world and it still wants its impact to be felt by the world.
Reference
Beisner.Robert L, (1992). Twelve Against Empire. Chicago: Imprint Publications.
Harris. Neil,(1969). The History of the United States. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Ngigi.J,(2001). Decolonization of Africa. New york: Macmillapublishers.
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