American Imperialism Dbq

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States had become a global superpower and increasingly more active in global affairs. The United States was soon faced with the question whether to become an empire or not. Although some Americans pushed for global expansion as those who had come before had promoted the idea of manifest destiny, many thought that the United States should not expand because it was against the nation’s founding principles and because they had broken away from an empire themselves. The understanding of national identity that each person had defined the view one would hold on overseas expansion. Politicians such as William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt would justify that global expansion was …show more content…
Their national identities varied, but they all led to the same belief that imperialism is not for the United States and the time of colonization is ending. Sociology professor William Graham Sumner tells us that the United States is being taken over by the ideas Spain once had of colonization. He reminds us that Americans have been “committed from the outset to the doctrine that all men are created equal. “ (Doc. 2). He also states that it is astonishing that Americans just throw away this doctrine when it comes to cases like the Philippines because they are seen as half-civilized people who need to be governed by a global power to help them out. Jane Addams and William Jennings Bryan also had passionate views more directly focused on whether expansion was right or not. They both were quick to criticize expansion and William Jennings Bryan (Doc 6.) said that colonization was unfortunate and brought loss, weakness, and humiliation. The radical social reformer Jane Addams pointed out how colonization brought war and violence between the colonizers and the inhabitants. War not only costs American lives, but increased violence in the United States as well, as murders significantly increased in Jane’s neighborhood. (Doc. 4). The image from the magazine Puck also shows that the United …show more content…
People with this view often had a view similar to expansionists such as William McKinley on the American national identity. However, people who opposed this view had varying ideas on the US's national identity and would agree that further colonization or expansion would be counter to the ideas the U.S. was founded upon. While many would refer back to manifest destiny or the Mexican Cession when supporting their thoughts on expansion, it was one’s view of the American national identity that shaped these

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Dbq American Imperialism