Mini-Read

#3: Imperialism Imperialism is the political business of building an empire, of taking control of other lands and using them for a purpose. It is different from annexation. When lands are annexed, such as those gained in the Mexican American War in 1848, they become part of the annexing country. The lands annexed from Mexico are now our southwestern states in the Union. Imperialism takes land and makes it a colony. The thirteen original states of the United States were once colonies. They were lands controlled by Britain, ruled by Britain, and used economically for the benefit of the British economy. In spite of having once been a colony and having successfully rebelled against an imperial master, the United States decided at the end of the 1890s to become an imperial power. What could have caused the United States to do such a 180 degree shift in it political position? At the end of the 1890s, the American Census Bureau (wrongfully) declared the end of the American frontier. At the beginning of the 1890s, Fredrick Jackson Turner, a famous American historian, postulated that the energy the United States had shown during its history came from the experience of expanding the American frontier. Many believed this Turner Thesis. Conquering the continent and achieving Americas Manifest Destiny, its destiny to spread across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was what had driven the nation for its entire existence. Imperials wanted to keep this drive alive by substituting conquering, colonizing and civilizing foreign lands. In 1893, a Panic hit the American economy. A panic was the name used then for a depression, and this was a wicked panic. Many businessmen believed that American factories had grown so large they produced more goods than Americans could possibly buy. The problem is called overproduction from the factory owners viewpoint. It is called under-consumption when one looks at what the person on the street is doing with they pay check. The solution, businessmen agreed, was to gain more markets. With a closed frontier, this had to be done overseas. To make sure the market was exclusively American, the overseas lands needed to become American colonies. Businessmen wanted to keep the economy vibrant by gaining colonies In addition to this line of thought, there were some who felt that the United States simply had to have colonies if it were to become a modern nation like Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and most important, the U.S.s chief rival, Germany. The modern industrialized nations of Europe were sustaining their industrial-based economies by using colonies both as markets and as sources of raw materials. The U.S. would never be able to compete if the U.S. did not get with it and gain colonies of its own. Without colonies, the U.S. would always be a second-class industrial power and definitely a second-class military power. For this group of people, establishing the United States as a great power in the world, like Britain and France, was a necessity. Therefore, colonies were a necessity.

Mr. Heagy, Thomas Carr Howe Academy United States History I Unit: Imperialism Mini Read # 3 File: MR3 Imperialism.docx/MR3 Imperialism.pdf 18 September 2011