Manifest Destiny
How the United States became a World Power

  • Manifest Destiny

    • The Philosohy that Created a Nation
  • The Expansionist Gaze

    • We stand on the pinnacle of the earth,
    whereof we are lords, and above us
    there is nothing but God.
    BAYARD TAYLOR
    Bayard Taylor, At Home and Abroad: A Sketch-Book of Life, Scenery and Men, Nueva York, G.P. Putnam, 1862.
  • Expansionism and Yellow Journalism

    • William Randolph Hearst
  • The Hearst Newspapers Today

  • Imperialism

    • During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism, extending its political and economic influence around the globe. That pivotal era in the history of our nation is the subject of this on-line history.
  • A Time Line of US Imperialism in Latin America

  • Foreign Intervention in Nicaraqua

    • British and United States interests in Nicaragua grew during the mid-1800s because of the country's strategic importance as a transit route across the isthmus.
  • The Panama Canal

    • The huge project that joined the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, opening the United States to shorter shuipping routes for the transportation of goods, men and materiel from one coast to the other.
    Roosevelt liked to repeat an old African saying: "Speak softly, and carry a big stick. You will go far." In Panama, Teddy proved to the world that he was willing to use his big navy as a stick to further American interests.
    Not all Americans were convinced that the Monroe Doctrine, Manfest Destiny and Imperialism worked for the good of the United States. There was a strong Anti-Expansionist Movement in the United States.
  • The Gospel of Force

    • By Bertrand Shadwell
    From William Jennings Bryan, et al., Republic or Empire? The Philippine Question
    (Chicago: Independence Co., 1899).
  • The White Man's Burden and It's Critics

  • US Racism and Intervention in the Third World

    • While many observers see the connection between the growth of white racism in this country and the depressed economic conditions that beset us, there is little attention given to the possibility that recent U.S. military interventions in the Third World may have also played a role. But a case can be made that both ninety years ago and in more recent times, white supremacy at home has been a support to U.S. military intervention in the Third World, and that such intervention, conversely, has been a stimulus to domestic prejudice.
  • A Brief Outline of Imperialism

  • Rise of American Imperialism

    • Reasons behind the push for an Imperial America
  • Readings: The Advance of Industry and the New Imperialism

  • What Causes Imperialism?

  • Mexico, the United States and Imperialism

    • The struggle in Mexico cannot be understood as being just against the Mexican government. Multi-national corporations have been involved in pushing for the elimination of the Zapatistas. North of Mexico the USA lurks, ready to intervene if things seem to be getting out of the control of the government. These documents highlight the involvement of imperialism in the conflict.
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