Paper Topic:

history

Before the 1890s , the United States could not be considered a world power , despite amazing technological innovation , the massive growth of its cities , and the ever-growing economy , driven by oil and steel . Its imperialist desires were confined to the belief in the Manifest Destiny and no other lands off the contiguous U .S . were threatened . However beginning in the 1890s , the United States began taking a more active role in the affairs of its Western Hemisphere neighbors , warring with Spain and becoming an imperial power . Though the success of its conquests helped

quiet some critics , anti-imperialists such as William Jennings Bryan might have very well been thinking America is going in the wrong direction ' with not much improvement in their attitude in the decades that followed

America did not begin the 1890s with designs to become an imperial power , though some historians argue that the Monroe Doctrine and imperial expansion were simply extensions of America 's Manifest Destiny However , the decision for the United States ' intervention into Latin America was not an easy one for the politicians faced with the task , but garnering popular support for military action seemingly was . After the Cuban revolt against Spain in 1895 , the policy of burning down sugar plantations , many of which were owned by Americans , caught the attention of many in the United States that wished to preserve its investments not to mention the many stories which emerged about Spanish atrocities towards the Cubans (Gordon 528 . Americans that read about the atrocities were rightfully shocked and this righteous indignation was also coupled with those in the country that believed the best direction for the United States was to embark upon an imperialist conquest to gain more lands , as it had recently achieved in such countries as Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands . While common Americans cared little about such conquest , which was mostly pursued by industrialists and financiers that saw the tremendous profit potential for such action , very few in the government or the populace protested with as much fervor as those that wished for intervention into other sovereign nations . This period just before the Spanish-American war marked a watershed period in the proliferation of yellow journalism in the United States , and anti-imperialists barely stood a chance

Whether the Spanish-American War was fought for the imperialist desires of the United States or whether it was truly an altruistic war fought to protect the oppressed peoples of Latin America is debatable , but the country 's gains were not . The United States proved victorious in a short war and garnered a considerable number of colonies throughout the Spanish empire , including in the Caribbean , the Pacific , and throughout the Americas . America was now emboldened and led by the march of industrialists , the country continued to pursue its imperialist desires despite the protests of many anti-imperialists , who felt the country was heading down the wrong path towards despotism at home and abroad Besides America 's emergent position as a world power , the period surrounding the Spanish-American War also...

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