American Imperialism
Throughout American History the U.S. has sought to expand its boundaries. This need increased greatly during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century with the start of the industrial revolution. During this time other countries around the world had expanded using imperialism. Great Britain was once so large it was said that sunset never fell upon Great Britain. Imperialism is the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas. In order to keep up with the rest of the advancing world America turned to imperialism. There were many factors that started American imperialism that were indeed proper for their time, they included; political and military strength, economic competition among industrial nations and a belief in the racial and cultural superiority of people of Anglo-Saxon decent.
American wanted a strong military and naval force. As head of the Naval War College, Alfred T Mahan pushed the need for a stronger naval force. Believing that America's survival depended upon a strong navy. He argued that a strong navy would require island possessions to serve as naval bases. Which was logical considering America is separated from most other countries by oceans. President Roosevelt established the Monroe Doctrine "which proclaimed that the United States was a civilized nation and had the right to stop chronic wrong doing throughout the western hemisphere". So America took it upon itself to step in and stop Spain from taking over defenseless lands. The U.S built nine steel-hulled cruisers between 1883 and 1890. The nine consisted of battle ships such as the Maine and Oregon. They helped transformed the country into the worlds third largest naval power. After the sinking of the USS Maine, the United States declared war on Spain in April of 1898. Within...