Imperialism In The 19th Century

The United States expanded its part as an imperialistic nation in the 19th century to descend economic advantages and to mostly improve power. Imperialism is “The policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies.”(Dictionary Reference) So much of the impulse to develop overseas was definitely not for religion purposes, relatively for economic gain and national prestige. The United States sought out to be recognized as top dog to the additional countries and the only way they could actually attain this was to expand. Overseas regions also offered an inexpensive labor force and an abundant amount of raw natural resources with which to drive the U.S
It took so long for the united states to even think about expanding overseas because they were too busy trying to settle into their own frontier first until late 19th century. Initially the United States only wanted to expand within the U.S but finally decided that they wanted more because they are very selfish. At the time when the United States started thriving with production the surplus of it all started the downfall, “Surpluses resulted in downturns in the economy, as evidenced by the financial panics that occurred in 1873 and 1893. American business leaders and farmers believed that foreign markets with access to additional consumers would alleviate some of these problems.”(Expansion in the 1890’S) The farmers in the U.S were generating way too much products that the American people couldn’t buy in time for use. The main goal was to branch out to other countries and let them buy all of the
The United States main views during that time period was on the expansion with political, economic, and military control. The military pretty much desired to expand everywhere to create naval bases so that the U.S would look strong through the military, while the government wanted to have the most power. The U.S at first had no reason to go overseas and primarily they didn’t want to until the need for all of these materials started coming about. The United States sought out to do a lot of business with china because “China was the source of some of the world’s most sought after commodities—tea, porcelain, and silk—and Western merchants had sought access to this highly lucrative trade since at least the 17th century.”(United States Marine Time) No one knew how beneficial these different types of natural materials would be for them and the U.S. At that time China played a vast part with trading between all countries but especially with the U.S, even today they still play an enormous role within the United States. Trading with outside countries was also cheap considering how under developed they were, at that time the U.S really wanted to be a part of the