The Growth The Growth of America as of America as

a World a World PowerPower

ImperialismDef: When

nations with strong armies & navies create empires by dominating nations without them.

Why Imperialism? Between founding and the late 1800s, America

(mostly) follows a policy of isolationism.

Why did America abandon isolationist policy?

Why Imperialism? Economic Reasons:

– Need Raw Materials for American Industry – Markets For Overproduced American Goods– American Business Invest in Other Countries

U. S. Foreign Investments: 1869-1908

Why Imperialism? Nationalist Reasons & Racism:

– Social Darwinism• Some races are inherently smarter and more

advanced than others. • “Higher” races have a “responsibility” to “civilize”

less advanced ones.

White Man’s Burden

Why Imperialism? Military:

• Industrialization makes European Countries (& the US) far more powerful than those in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

• Steam-Powered warships require bases to refuel. AlfredThayerMahan

“SeaPower”

Why Imperialism? Diplomacy:

• The United States still enforces the Monroe Doctrine.– America is “responsible” for countries in the W. Hemisphere.

• The “New Diplomacy” – aka “Gunboat Diplomacy”

Why Imperialism? Expansion:

– Fulfillment of Manifest Destiny– Where to Continue Expanding?

• Alaska (“Seward’s Folly”)• The Pacific (Japan, Phillipines, & Hawaii)

Imperialism: Effects? Conflict: Other

Imperialist Nations1898: War With Spain1914: World War I1941: World War II

Conflict: Colonized Peoples

1. Latin American Interventions2. Philippine Insurrection

Hearst to a Reporter: “You supply the pictures, I’ll supply the war.”