American Imperialism as It Was Essay Example

and political ways to force people to give up their country and take over all to increase wealth. The American Yawp explains how the United States wanted control over Spain for the fertilizer for industrial farming. So the United States picked on Cuba knowing the country was weak and attempting to become independent, this sparked a war between United States and Cuba. The anti-imperialists frowned against this type of control. They wanted nothing to do with national authority or power throughout the countries. Jane Addams for instance wanted just the opposite of controlled expansion. She believed in self-governance. Anti- imperialists point out some very useful evidence. The congress steals from the land from the citizens and then turns around and sells it right back to them. Expansion even though it benefited some, angered the ones against imperialism and war.

There was a choice to support imperialism or fight for a democracy. Imperialists for example wanted to pass the Jim Crow laws. This law stated that racial segregation was unconstitutional. It did not agree with, “separate but equal.” Non imperialists made a good claim to this. Racial violence was increasing and spiked when African Americans fought against the separation. White residents who supported imperialism wanted segregation to maintain white supremacy in places of business, schools and restrooms. The government supported by Roosevelt justified its actions as humanitarian. He created the gunboat diplomacy. This is where naval forces lad in a capital, that is said to protect America and the west and temporarily seize control of their government and require the residents to follow American policies. For the Americans this allowing complete control but for others it angered

them. This forced the civilians of the temporary to learn and do as the government says and this is wrong.

Civil rights became an issue when women and African Americans demanded social justice. They believed they had just as much right as white civilians to vote, work in office, and walk/eat/ live in the same area as white civilians. The imperialists wanted to keep white supremacy high so they demanded “separate but equal,” but this didn’t get very far. As for women they demanded respect. They eventually passed the 16th-19th amendments that supported these civil rights. Woodrow Wilson was a supporter of rights and rights of everyone to be exact. He goes on to say, “The whole business of politics is to bring classes together upon a platform of accommodation and common interest… There is a plant in the program which speaks of establishing a minimum, or living wage for women workers. And I suppose that we may assume that the principle is not in the long run meant to be confined in its application to women only.” Wilson is stating that he supports voting for everyone and women rights to make just as much money as men do if not more. He wants everyone to work together and look at the bigger picture, not separate business and government.

To decide who made a better argument, the imperialist or the anti- imperialists, I feel the anti- imperialists made a better claim. I say this because of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th amendment were created. These amendments tailored to more of what the anti-imperialists wanted. With imperialism, the control for power drove the expansion and the fear

of expanding slavery and segregation increased. Anti- imperialist stood up for rights and the negativities of militia control. With more territory comes more wealth but that wealth was not worth it if it was harmful to the territories they were trying to claim. The Progressive Era came with arguments and war over expansion, power and civil rights.