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American Imperialism

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Introduction “American Imperialism has been a part of United States history ever since the American Revolution. Imperialism is practice by which powerful nations or people seek to expand and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or people.” (Casahistoria, 2010) The 19th century bought about a lot of commotion for this country as well as other countries because of different things that we needed and the other countries had but did not want to share. For example, the countries were fighting over land, food, trees, etc. It seems like they were fighting over what ever the other country may have had that they wanted. In this one century there were many wars there was the war of 1812, the civil war, Napoleonic war and many others.
The War of 1812 The war of 1812 was a war fought between the USA and Great Britain. It was fought because the USA wanted to keep up the ongoing trade they had with France but because the British was France main rival and the British had more power they tried to stop the US from trading with France. The US felt that this was against the law and when the British would not let up the US imposed war on them; the war lasted from 1812 through 1815. In my opinion, this war was for territory in the end there was a peace conference where both countries came together declared the war over and which ever land they claimed. The British claimed all of the northern states like Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, etc. The US claimed many states farther up north on Canadian territory. This war made new places for people to live but it also kept these people segregated from one another. This war is the reason why the states up north are considered as New England, hints to why we have the New England Patriots. The countries named there states after what they accomplished throughout different wars.
The Civil War The civil war began because of a battle over US states. It started because there where eleven southern slave states that declared they wanted to be free from the US to be able to do their own thing, basically own and raise more slaves. The government had already attempted to pass a law that if you were not a slave state then you could not become one. The southern states formed what is known as the confederacy in order for all of the states to ban together to fight to be able to own slaves anywhere in the US. The confederate states fought against what they called the union states which were the free states and the five bordering slave states. In the end the union won by introducing the emancipation proclamation which served as an end to slavery once and for all. “The American Civil War was one of the earliest true industrial wars in human history. Railroads, steamships, mass-produced weapons, and various other military devices were employed extensively. The practices of total war, developed by Sherman in Georgia, and of trench warfare around Petersburg foreshadowed World War I in Europe. It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties.”(civilwar.com, 2010)
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic wars were fought for many reason the biggest being the follow up to the French revolutionary war in 1789. “They revolutionized European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to the application of modern mass conscription. French power rose quickly, conquering most of Europe, but collapsed rapidly after France's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France.” (History of War, 2008) The Napoleonic wars were ongoing for years between France and Britain until 1814 when they came to a general peace and Napoleon crowned himself as emperor.
Conclusion
In closing, the US have been fighting from the beginning up until now for land and other things that they feel they should have a part of, because of this our family and friends have to fight in a war in order for the US to accomplish these goals that they have set a long time ago. Some of the things I do believe we need but I do not feel that we should fight for them nor just take them because we feel that we should have them. So many people are killed everyday because of someone else wanting something that they have and the other person does not. It is funny how it is against the law to steal and kill but that is what our country does every time we go to war with another country. We need to have peace in our lives and in our country, we should try to make friends with as many people and countries as we can, I do understand that you can not befriend everyone but that does not mean that we have to kill them. This is just my opinion on the matters at hand, I also understand that this is a domino affect that has not finished falling yet, One person started something and now everyone who precedes him has to go along with it because the last person has already ruffled the enemies feathers and now the enemy chooses not to hear what the new person has to say even if they are trying to fix the situation. This country has been through so many different wars I hope that sooner rather than later it will all come to an end.
Reference
Casahistoria, 2010 retrieved on June 14, 2010 @ EBSCHO host www.casahistoria.com
The Civil War, 2010 retrieved on June 14, 2010 @ EBSCHO host www.civilwar.com
History of War, 2008 retrieved on June 14, 2010 @ EBSCHO host www.historyofwar.org

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