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American Imperialism

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Simpson 1
Antonio Simpson
U.S History
12/9/12
During the late 1800’s the United States wanted to increase it’s power and influence in the world. The way they did this was through Imperialism, a strong nation taking over another nation by economic or military means. There were several factors driving America’s imperialist efforts. A thirst for new markets, military interests, and to spread their ideology were some of those reasons. Of all these, their economic interests was the motivating factor in the United States intervening in Cuba, Hawaii, and creating the Open Door Policy.
Theodore Roosevelt took over the lead note in pursuing imperialism. Bully Pulpit is a way Theodore Roosevelt used presidency to influence legislation and laws. The square deal is a program designed to protect the common people against big business. The Panama Canal was apart of this because Theodore Roosevelt gave $20 million dollars to Panama but the people of Panama disagreed. The United States wanted to spread their capitalism and market. The United States used imperialism to gain control of Panama from the French.
The American-Spanish war started when the USS Maine explosion killed over 1000 americans, but the explosion was accident in the boiler room in the ship, the country believed it was a Spanish sabotage. President William McKinley reacted by demanding that among other things Spain give Cuba its independence but Spain did not comply. When McKinley approached Congress to declare war against Spain they agreed only if Cuba was promised independence. Simpson 2

The war lasted for six months, the Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War. Which resulted Puerto Rico & Guam falling under American control, Cuba gained it’s independence and the Platt Amendment was passed as part of the Cuba Constitution. This gave the United States Guantanamo Bay as a military base.

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