Imperialism Emerging as a World Power

What is Imperialism? A policy in which a strong nation has political, economic or military dominance of a weaker nation The United States began following the lead of European countries who had added to their colonies and Asia and Africa during the early 1900s

Colonies mean power and money The imperial country could remove raw materials from the colony and ship them to the home country This was especially important for countries that were not rich in raw materials like Japan and European countries

Excess of Goods The United States was not short of raw materials but had a surplus of goods and wanted to expand the market overseas “Today we are raising more [crops] than we can consume. Today we are making more than we can use…we must find new markets…” Senator Albert Beveridge

Military Strength Alfred T. Mahan was a military historian and a Naval officer. He believed that in order for the U.S. to become a world power, the country had to have a strong Navy He also believed in the need to have foreign bases for refueling purposes By 1900, the U.S. had the 3 rd largest Navy and had modernized its Navy

Social Darwinism Imperialists used the idea of Social Darwinism (belief that life consists of struggles in which the strong survive) to justify imperialism This idea also held that certain races and nations were superior to others and were destined to rule inferior cultures and peoples The idea of Manifest Destiny was tied to the popularity of Social Darwinism

Opening Up the World Before the Civil War, Japan had opened its trade ports to the United States—not something it had done with anyone else The U.S. then took control of the Midway Islands and increased trade with Hawaii and received permission to construct a naval base at Pearl Harbor William Seward (Sec. of State) bought Alaska from Russia and Seward’s Folly turned out to be rich in natural resources including oil and timber Gold was even found in Alaska