The Benefits And Negative Aftermath Of The Westward Expansion

Throughout decades, the United States managed to maintain political separation in spite of their economic growth and their upcoming status as a world dominant nation. Some would argue that this was due to the country's isolation from European nations. This led to the continuance of avoidance from tangled alliances that were once feared by the Founding Fathers and those who escaped tyranny in order to attain political and religious freedom. However, as time progressed the United States expanded its own borders from coast-to-coast and began generating territorial empires in the Pacific and the Caribbean during the 1800s, and fought three wars known as the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War without forming alliances. Moreover, in the “Monroe Doctrine” the United States began to put its foot down on started to consider the colonization of any “independent nation” by a European nation to be an act of war. By the mid 1800s, a mixture of world events shifted the American “isolationist” view, events such as the occupation of the Philippines by the United States, the expansion of German and Japenese industrial empires, and the enhancements of America’s stature in world trade. Therefore, some of the primary motivations which lead the U.S from isolationism and continental expansion to imperialism by the late 19th and early 20th centuries include, economic, political,geographical, and cultural motivations.

Like many nations, the economy plays a major role in the stability of a nation, in terms of jobs and the value of the dollar. In the United States, economics played a key role in the shift from isolationism to imperialism. Throughout the nineteenth century, the United States focused on expanding west in North America. A key factor that revolutionized our economy was the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. With the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad, it connected the new western territories to the eastern states of the Union, making the transportation of goods and services much quicker. This revolutionary mechanism enhanced the United States isolationist ideals. Though the role of the Transcontinental Railroad enhanced our nation’s isolationist ideals by bolstering our economy, the Westward Expansion enhanced our ideals by reaffirming our independence as a nation. In an online article from the History Channel about the Westward Expansion, they write “To [Thomas] Jefferson, westward expansion was the key to the nation’s health: He believed that a republic depended on an independent, virtuous citizenry for its survival, and that independence and virtue went hand in hand with land ownership, especially the ownership of small farms.” The westward expansion was one of the United States’ defining moments in the nineteenth century and our nation’s leaders used this moment as a message to bolster nationalism and our society’s views on economic independence. The westward expansion lead to the boosting of agricultural and industrial expansion which resulted in the surplus of goods. This lead to the U.S to open new markets overseas to sell American products, in order to earn more money and keep the American economy strong. According to The American Promise written by James Roark and Michael P. Johnson “ where American interests led, businessmen expect the government’s power and influence to follow to protect their investments.” Investing American capitalism overseas meant more profits, the United States needed to keep up with the industrialized nations of Europe who had already opened markets overseas, the United States continued to imperialize in order to keep the American economy strong, regardless of the consequences of these actions.

In the early 1800s, the United States was starting to recognize that it had enormous potential in expanding and growth. During this time, the Spanish colonies in Latin America were beginning to gain their independence, and they became vulnerable. If Latin American countries could not establish a stable government, then they would be up for grabs. The U.S foreign policy during this time was guided by two goals. The first goal was to keep the United States free of foreign pacts and foreign conflicts, and the second goal was to expand the United States across the North American continent. However, Americans began to look outward in the late 1800s as they debated what role the U.S. should play in world occurrences. During president James Monroe’s term, he established the Monroe Doctrine. This doctrine established that the United States was no longer open to European colonization, and that the American political system was unlike that from Europe, and that any interference in the Western Hemisphere would be considered as a threat to its security. This doctrine was an act of isolationism, as America continued to withdraw from the political powers of Europe.

Nonetheless, as time progressed countries such as England, Germany, France, and Belgium spread their global empires in both Asia and Africa, America concentrated its imperialist intentions by going to war with Spain which is also known as the Spanish American War. By going to war with Spain we gained overseas possessions. Presidents such as McKinley set the stage for more aggressive foreign policy. The presidents which followed such as Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson all had their own ideas for foreign policy, however, they all pursued American goals. Some of these goals were idealists, such as promoting democracy and others were realists such controlling access to foreign resources. The United States in the early 1900s had a special focus on Latin America and the Caribbean for geographical expansion. The U.S. saw these regions as its own “backyard” and therefore a good place to apply its power and influence. One of the main places that the U.S. was interested in was Panama in the mid-1800s, this was due to various nations wanting to build a canal across Central America, this canal would have enormous commercial value, and the U.S. wanted control of that geographical region. President Roosevelt and his administration encouraged a revolt in Panama against the Colombian controlled region, he sent warships in order to prevent Colombian troops from intervening. President Roosevelt mentioned that the people of Panama rebelled against Colombia “literally as one man”. This revolt in Panama allowed the United States to build the Panama Canal. Many Latin Americans were angered by President Roosevelt’s actions in Panama, because for most of the 1900s the United States treated the canal as its own property for its geographical and economic interests. The United States treating the Panama Canal as its own property for decades proves that the countries mentality has shifted from isolationism to imperialism in order to attain geographical land and keep the American economy strong, and they used the military in order to keep control of that land.

Moreover, political motivations and patriotism played an exquisite role in the growing of imperial power that was spurred by countries such as the United States to compete with others for supremacy. Nations such as the U.S. sought territory in order to ensure access for both their navies and armies around the world. The attitude that the U.S. carried was that the empire must be defended and expanded, regardless of the consequences that would follow. One example of the United States imperializing due to political motivations was during the Spanish-American War, which began as a humanitarian effort to free Cuba from Spain's colonial grasp but ended with the United States itself acquiring territory overseas and fighting dirty guerilla war with Filipino nationalists who wanted independence. This began with a moral disapproval over the treatment of Cuban revolutionaries, who had launched a fight for independence against the Spanish colonial regime. As this Cuban rebellion dragged on, there was extreme pressure for American intervention to vegetate. American newspapers fueled public outrage at Spain, and the provocation of yellow journalism started to become evident. The United States became a world power as a result of victory over Spain as Cuba gained independence from Spain, and the United States gained possession of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. According to The American Promise written by James Roark and Michael P. Johnson “ a vocal minority, mostly Democrats and former Populists, resisted the country’s foray into overseas empire, judging it unwise, immoral, and unconstitutional” The United States used political motivations throughout the war to stir up conflicts and enlarge the popular approval of Americans in order to option world dominance, by using political motivations the United States was able to gain many advantages, economically and geographically.

In addition, some American supported imperialism from moral rather than an economic opinion, they saw the world as living in “dark-ness”, and that it was the duty of the United States to bring the light of freedom and Christiany to those dark places. In his influential book, Our Country written by Josiah Strong states that, “To be a Christian and an Anglo-Saxon and an American, is to stand at the very mountain top of privilege.” He believed that the United States had a godly mission to spread its Anglo-Saxon civilization around the world. While these views are seen as racist today, they were broadly accepted a century ago when most Americans believed that the Anglo-Saxon civilization was superior, due to the founded principles of civil liberty and Christianity, and how these ideals must be spread. In “ The White Man’s Burden” written by Rudyard Kipling, European imperialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth century was justified. The phrase implies that imperialism was motivated by a high-minded desire of whites to uplift people of color. Also, Kipling was a friend of Teddy Roosevelt, who believed in American imperialism, and this poem was used to convince Americans to take over the Philippines. This poem justified the irotic behabiors that Americans and Europeans has the responsibility as superior races to uplift and civilize and Christianize native people. Therefore, the idea that the United States was superior and that it was our duty to spread civilizations and values to the uncivilized overseas was another reason for our transition from isolationism and expansionism to imperialism of other countries and colonies. The “White Man’s Burden” violated the philosophy of republicanism, especially the need for the consent of those whom are being governed. Therefore, the use of cultural and nationlistic ideals to justify the savagery of American imperialism in places such as the Philippines shifted the United States from isolationism to imperialism.

Briefly, up until the mid-19th century, the United States managed to maintain its political isolation despite its rapid and industrial economic growth and status as a world power. Many argued that this was due to the United States geographical isolation from Europe, which lead to the continuance of avoidance from “tangled alliances”. However, the United States expanded its own borders from coast-to-coast and began generating territorial empires in the Caribbean and Latin America as a mixture of world events continued to occur. This mixture of events led the U.S. to shift from its isolationist view to its imperialist view and the primary motivations for this were economic, political, geographical, and cultural. As the greed and money hungry attitude destroyed many in its path and robbed civilizations of their rights to legitimate forms of governments, the United States would not stop until it gained world dominance and many of the consequences that followed are still seen today. These primary motivations were never justified, as decades of suffering continued for colonized territories.