American Imperialism

American Imperialism is a term that is used to describe the expansion of American. In the beginning of the 1800's is when the America's really started to imperialize with the purchases of choice land such as Louisiana from the French for $15 million in 1803 or later moving to the far west with the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. After nearly a century of expansion the Spanish American War presented an opportunity that the United States of America couldn't refuse.

As previously established the united States were not isolated from the world in trade and commerce. In fact, it is stated that the U.S. was looking for "New Markets." That statement itself gives somebody the idea that there in fact are old markets already in place. The reason that newer markets where needed was to acquire and provide larger quantities of raw materials because of the steady exponential growth of the American's industrial needs. This was no surprise because of several other countries were experiencing the same type of growth and the same time, making it even more crucial for America to expand at this particular time.

The idea of American Imperialism wasn't a matter of battling out if it were right or wrong, but of how it should be established. The vast majority of American Citizens were for the expansion of America, having it recognized as an overseas empire. The real disagreements and contention came from whether America would be established on the foot of territorialism or for commercialism.

The imperialism policy opened doors and provided opportunities worldwide. After the Spanish American War then then following War of the Philippines, American was settled in the islands of the sea with direct involvement with the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and it was even decided that if we were going to be there that the then country or island of Hawaii was annexed. Hawaii later became a state on the 21st of August 1959. Later policies were set in place for China and later Japan, to include the already involved players in global commerce, countries such as Germany, Italy, Hungary and Russia.

Although the majority of American's believed in Imperialism in some form or another, there were some that did not. These were known as the Anti-Imperialist League (AIL). The Anti-Imperialist League did not share the same view as the majority and among them were some very influential individuals namely, former president Grover Cleveland, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain and William Jennings Bryan. These members and others believed that America was the same injustices that the Spanish were making to the Filipino people that America had just freed. It is noteworthy to mention that the A.I.L. did not however strike down on the sailors and solders involved in the war. The war in the Philippines was seen as an unjust war because of the events that had taken place such as, the setting up of concentration