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The late 19th century and the early 20th century marked the rising influence of American foreign policy and its continued influence on the global matters. American imperialism was on the rise during this period and it had a lot of influence on global issue and even shifted the change of the global power from Europe to America. The United States sought to play a role in the global issues after the end of the American civil war and propagated the American imperialism agenda in many parts of the world in competition with the European imperialism. American imperialism was a term used to describe the cultural, economic, political and military philosophy that were adhere by the Americans and that they sought to spread into other states either directly or indirectly by supporting policies and laws of similar beliefs in other countries. The main aim of these philosophies was aimed at giving the United States direct or indirect control of those countries and furthers its foreign policy in the global stage.
The philosophy advanced by the Americans aimed at expanding their territories by ensuring that they had control over foreign territories away from home. The concept of the American imperialism can be traced back to the American-Mexican war that took place during the presidency of James K. Polk who invaded the Mexican territory illegally and took part of their territory. By the end of the 19th century, the economic power of the United States was very powerful and had surpasses a majority of the European powers as its agricultural, industrial and technological prowess continued to expand making the United States an emerging economic and political power that riffled former economic giants like Britain, Spain and France. Many historians belief that the continued expansion and growth of the United States was strategic because of its reluctance to take many colonies as the European powers did and instead choosing to focus on internal development and expansion of its industries and the devastating effects of the civil war.
The role of the United States in the global foreign policy was insignificant before the late nineteenth century when its role in commerce was recognized by the European powers. In recognition of the role the United States was playing in global issues especially commercial, the European powers upgraded their representatives to Washington from a minister to an ambassador. Sending an ambassador to Washington was recognition of the United States as a first-division nation that was characterized by high industrialization, leading role in global commerce and its political influence globally.
The onset of the twentieth century was a blessing to the Americans in terms of their foreign policy goals. The United States seemed ready to take a leading role in defining its foreign policy and the American policy was now well defined. The American policy at the onset of the twentieth century was defined by three major concepts that included the desire by white Americans to pursue white supremacy, the desire to promote national greatness and promote liberty and lastly the extent to which the American should allow for social and political change in its foreign territories. These three ideas formed the basis upon which the American political leaders could oversee the future role of the Americans in the global society and the future place of their country in managing the global issues. By the earl twentieth century, these ideas defined the American foreign policy and formed the basis upon which the American foreign policy was anchored.
The Americans unlike most of the European powers such as Britain and France that were willing to make military obligations to their allies, it refused to sign fixed military obligations to its allies. It instead focused on building its military by devoting a large portion of its budget to military spending. It is estimated that by the early twentieth century, the American government’s spending on military had increased by over 300 percent and to almost a quarter of the country’s budget.
The American imperialism could be seen through it numerous colonies that it took across the Caribbean and the Asian continents. For instance, the American occupation of Puerto Rico came after the Puerto Rican people had successfully fought the Spanish colonizers and was on the verge of attaining self-rule. The Puerto Ricans easily accepted the occupation of their territory by Washington as they believed that it would guarantee them more security from Madrid and help the progress quickly socially, economically and politically. This did not happen as the Americans turned to be the second colonizers of the island and ensured that the island was directly under the rule of Washington and the country no longer had the autonomy to engage in international trade independently.
The American imperialism agenda in Puerto Rico was championed by Davis who was a cross ally of the then president Roosevelt. Although Davis was essential in ensuring that there was free trade between the island and the American mainland, he promoted imperialism where there was a centralized system of governance with the president as the head. This form of governance was a disservice to Puerto Ricans as a majority of their resources were siphoned away into the American mainland in the form of raw materials for American industries. Davis Root was in charge of Puerto Rico considered the country not ready for self-governance just like those in Central America and believed American control over them would allow them learn the principles of self-control and the need for respect for the constitution.
The American colonization of the Philippines was after helping the Filipino people fight the Spanish and expel them. Many historians refer to the colonization of the Philippines b America as an attempt by the Washington leader to Americanize the Filipino people. The American people used a wide of agents to penetrate the Philippines society and establish their control after expelling the Spanish colonizers. Colonial leaders in Washington relied on on American investors, missionaries, philanthropists, teachers, military and physicians to Americanize the Filipino people and erode their culture.
Most of the Philippines were taught to belief that the American culture was superior than theirs and took western education at an alarming rate. The Philippines women adopted the American way of dressing and even went to school and were able to secure formal education that the Americans had introduced in the island. The Americans considered their role to spread the American way of life to their newly acquired state and they did not want to be portrayed as colonialists to the extent that they outlawed the use of the name in reference to the Philippines. The American government considered the island a war department and did not establish a colonial office as the British would have done. The Americans considered those who oversaw the operations of the Philippines as missionaries who were just spreading the American civilization to the remote island of Philippines as part of their global responsibility.
The impacts of the American colonization of the Philippines are easily visible in the Filipino society even today. A majority of the Philippine systems are a copy paste from the American way of life including the main national language that is English and the form of government that resembles the American federal system. The Philippines is one of the countries with highly educated people with manual laborers being a scarcity by the virtue of their Americanization although this proved not the answer to all the challenges that the island country faced. Many historians belief that the American colonization of the Philippines made the Filipinos Americanized without actually becoming real Americans in many aspects of their society as most of their traditions were lost and their national identity currently has roots towards the American society.
Although the American colonization and their spread of imperialism was based on their national aspirations of building a superior country that controls the rest and ensuring economic development, the strategy was less successful. Most of the previous American colonies still remain poor as a majority of their natural resources had been siphoned by the Washington although some social and political systems in such colonies are similar to the Americans’. The liberties of the American colonies were highly compromised although the United States at first seemed to criticize the deeds of the European powers of acquiring colonies. The collapse of the American imperialism was important as it eventually led to the decolonization of a majority of world states.
References:
Washington, George, and Continental Army. The American Revolution: 1775-1783. Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown, 2014.
Deutsch, Karl Wolfgang. Political Community and the North American Area. Princeton University Press, 2015.Blount, James Henderson. The American occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1912. GP Putnam’s sons, 1912.Go, Julian. American empire and the politics of meaning: Elite political cultures in the Philippines and Puerto Rico during US colonialism. Duke University Press, 2008.
