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After Expanding Across North America in the early and mid-nineteenth century, the United States soon began to expand overseas, emerging after World War II as a leading world power. BACKGROUND from 1898: "Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip" meaning the extension of U.S. domination (symbolized by a Bald Eagle ) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines. The cartoon contrasts this with a map of the smaller United States 100 years earlier in 1798.]] A variety of factors coincided during this period to bring about an accelerated pace of U.S. expansionism:
ANNEXATION OF HAWAII The Kingdom Of Hawai'i was long an independent Monarchy in the mid- Pacific Ocean . During the Nineteenth Century , the first American Missionaries and then American business interests began to play major roles in the islands. Most notable were the powerful Fruit and Sugarcane corporations such as the Hawaiian Pineapple Company , founded by James Dole , and an Oligarchy known as the Big Five , which included Castle & Cooke , Alexander & Baldwin , C. Brewer & Co. , Amfac and Theo H. Davies & Co. . After a Coup financed and directed by American interests overthrew the monarchy's last native Hawaiian leader, isolationist Queen Lili'uokalani , the island became a Republic in 1894. In 1898 , the American president of the Republic Of Hawai'i , Sanford Dole , James Dole's cousin, agreed to the Republic's Annexation by the United States . The republic was dissolved in 1900 when the country became a Territory Of The US . Following voter approval of the Admission Of Hawai'i Act , the Territory Of Hawaii , on August 21 , 1959 , became the state of Hawai'i and the 50th State of the United States . SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR See Also: Spanish-American War balances his new possessions, which are depicted as savage children. The figures are identified as Puerto Rico , Hawaii , Cuba , Philippines , and "Ladrones" (the Mariana Islands )]] The Spanish-American War took place in 1898. The Treaty Of Paris (1898) , ended the Spanish-American war, giving the United States possession of the Philippines , Puerto Rico , Guam , and Cuba . British author Rudyard Kipling advocated the idea of The White Man's Burden to "civilize" the rest of the world. After the war, the United States greatly increased its international power. This era also saw the first scattered protests against American imperialism. Noted Americans such as Mark Twain spoke out forcefully against these ventures. Opponents of the war, including Twain and Andrew Carnegie , organized themselves into the American Anti-Imperialist League . During this same period the American people continued to strongly chastise the European powers for their imperialism. The Second Boer War was especially unpopular in the United States and soured Anglo-American relations. The anti-imperialist press would often draw parallels between America in the Philippines and the British in the Second Boer War . PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR See Also: Philippine-American War The Philippine-American War (1899 to 1913) is often cited as another instance of United States imperialism. While many Filipinos were initially delighted to be rid of the Spanish Rule Of The Philippines , the guerrilla fighters soon found that the Americans were not prepared to grant them much more autonomy than Spain had. Thus for the next six years American forces engaged in a war in the Jungle s of the Philippines against the Filipino resistance. An estimated 200,000 Filipinos died from war, war induced famine, and conditions in American Concentration Camps . American soldiers participated in widespread war crimes, including Torture and killing POWs. LATIN AMERICA See Also: The Banana Wars The early decades of the 20th century saw a great amount of intervention in Latin America by the U.S. Government , often under the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine , and most often openly in aid of U.S. corporate interests. President William Howard Taft viewed " Dollar Diplomacy " as a way for American corporations to benefit while assisting in the National Security goal of preventing Europe an powers, above all the United Kingdom and Germany , from filling any possible financial or power vacuum.
ASIA While American intervention had begun earlier with Matthew Perry forcibly opening Japan to the West with the Convention Of Kanagawa in 1854, this period saw the United States expand its presence in Asia . The U.S. pushed through the Open Door Policy that guaranteed its economic access to China . It also vigorously acquired small islands in the Pacific, mostly to be used as Coaling Station s. Not long before the turn of the 20th century, China was divided into what some call "spheres of influence"-- areas to which a foreign power (some involved were Austria , France , Germany , Great Britain , Italy , Japan , and Russia ) had claimed exclusive trading rights, or even the territory itself. The United States, having recently captured the Philippines in the Spanish-American War and thereby becoming a power in Asia, was eager to reap its own benefits from China, but felt impeded by these "spheres of influence". In an effort to eliminate this hindrance, John Hay , Secretary Of State at the time (under William McKinley ), sent letters to European leaders suggesting an "open door" policy in China, one that would grant equivalent trading rights to all powers inside the spheres of influence. The proposal was gently rejected. Following the Boxer Rebellion , John Hay called again for an expanded "open door" policy effective throughout China, not just within "spheres of influence". The United States and the European powers agreed to preserve Chinese independence and government, but continued to use the country for monetary gain until World War II . AFTER WORLD WAR II After helping defeat Nazi Germany , the United States occupied the southern portion of the Western Sector Of Germany (what later became West Germany ) for ten years (1945 to 1955). More intense was the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951, during which time the US occupation force, led by General Douglas MacArthur staged a dramatic restructuring of Japanese Society in order to prevent the nation from re-emerging as a military threat. (''See also Japanese Nationalism ''.) Although the occupation officially ended in the 1950's, large numbers of American troops remain today in bases in both countries. During this period, the United States actively intervened in the politics of many nations, usually for the stated purpose of curbing the expansion of the influence of the Soviet Union . Many of the post-war actions were implemented as the result of Cold War policy and Anti-Communist sentiment, which were the basis of much of United States foreign policy. The most notable aspects of this period tend to be American military interventions in areas such as Korea , Vietnam , Grenada , Panama , Afghanistan , and Iraq . EUROPE During the 1960s and 1970s it became fashionable to view the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe as comparable to the American domination of Western Europe . It was frequently argued that, through economic and military pressure, the United States pursued hegemony just as aggressively as the Soviet Union. The post-revisionist school, which, since the fall of the USSR, has come to dominate the study of Cold War history, has rejected this view, arguing that the full extent of Soviet aggression has become apparent as a result of the opening of the Kremlin's archives. (''See Historiography Of The Cold War ''.) MIDDLE EAST After World War Two, with the continued rise in the importance of oil to the world economy, the United States increased its interest in intervention in the Middle East. While it had no formal colonies, it had sufficient influence in several countries that they are sometimes viewed as Client States ; these include Israel , Iran under the Shah , and various Gulf states. Since 2001, and the September 11 Attacks , the U.S. has had a large number of troops in Afghanistan . Since 2003, it has had an even larger number in Iraq . The U.S. denies any intention to maintain long-term control of these countries; this is Disputed By Many , though very few allege that the U.S. intends actual annexation. COUPS Declassified British Cabinet papers, published in The Guardian in 1994, indicate the possibility that the CIA and MI6 both provided backing for the 1963 military coup of Iraq i Colonel Abdul Salam Arif which overthrew Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim . Qassim had attempted to nationalize the Iraq Petroleum Company , of which U.S. companies were major shareholders, and in order to assert Iraqi rights to the territory of Kuwait . Following the coup, both these policies, disapproved of by the governments of both the U.S. and the United Kingdom , were abandoned. (''See also History Of Iraq ''.) Similar tactics were used in Iran in 1953 to install the Shah dictatorship, see Operation Ajax , and in Chile in 1973 to install General Pinochet , see Chilean Coup Of 1973 . In these cases US interest lay in maintaining control over Iran's oil and Chile's copper. It is also widely believed that the US was behind the Venezuelan Coup Attempt Of 2002 . CULTURAL IMPERIALISM See Also: Cultural imperialism Since the end of the Second World War the United States has been dominant in most cultural industries. US Movies , Television , Food , and Music are popular throughout the world. Thus the US has often been accused of Cultural Imperialism , a form of expansion overseas certainly more subtle than military conquest but perhaps with similar problems. FORMER AMERICAN POSSESSIONS The following areas have at one time or another been under the control of the United States Of America and have not been fully incorporated into the country as states.
HISTORIOGRAPHY See Also: American Empire (term) Views on the concept of United State imperialism have often been influenced by the opinions of the well-known historians of that period, who, in turn, are often influenced by the cultural and social attitude of their eras. Historians known for their views on the topic include:
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