EXPANSION
· Monroe Doctrine (1823) == James Monroe
· Called for the liberation of Latin American
nations against their Spanish Colonial Masters (Spain represented the
monarchal nations of Europe against its colonies)
· Monroe Doctrine declared == The USA would
not tolerate any European influence in the Western Hemisphere
· USA should [in competition with France and
England] bring its civilizing mission to other peoples
· The USA should liberate primitive peoples
and draw them into the enlightened and progressive wing of the American
ideal
· 1st test – Cuba & The Decaying Spanish
Empire (1895)
Theodore Roosevelt wrote in 1897: “In strict confidence....I should
welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one.”
The West is closed
· Profit system – natural tendency for
expansion, already was looking overseas
· Overseas consumption might relieve the
problem of underconsumption at home
· A War would help unify people w/government
(strikes and socialism and anarchy had begun)
Why EXPAND?
· Lust for aggression? Pride? Joy of fighting?
· Political Scientist John Burgess of Columbia
U. Said the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon races were “particularly endowed
with the capacity for establishing national states...they are
entrusted...with the mission of conducting the political civilization of
the modern world.”
· American factories are making more products
than the American people can use
· When the USA did not annex Hawaii in 1893
after the Dole family & some missionaries set up their own
government, Roosevelt said it’s a “crime against white civilization” and
“All the great masterful races have been fighting races...”