Rise of Imperialism at Turn of Century

The Rise of Imperialism
There were many reasons the United States pushed to “build and empire” at the end of the 19th century into the beginning of the 20th century.   Many ideologies were embraced in an effort to rationalize the expansion of American possession and control of nations around the world. During this time period the United States participated in wars all around the globe to increase trade and spheres of influence.   This strategic attempt to place controlling colonies around the world established the United States as a huge world power in an extremely short period of time.
There were many supporters of the movement to push American exceptionalism across the globe.   The ideology of Manifest Destiny that was used in the expansion of our own country was embraced and pushed even further.   Another Ideology was “white man’s burden,” which basically stated that since we were so superior and advanced that it was our moral obligation to teach the heathens of the world to be like us and basically bow to our Anglo-Saxon ways.   Alfred Mahan stated that the country that controlled the seas, controlled the world and believed in pre-emptive war in an effort to catch potential enemies off guard.   In his work, The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783, he called the navy’s wooden ships “floating washtubs,” and convinced the government to build impressive steam-powered battleships to show the world how powerful the navy was.   In 1907 Theodore Roosevelt sent sixteen battleships and four destroyers on a two year global tour to prove this point to the world.   Roosevelt believed in the idea of “walk softly, but carry a big stick and used this display to his advantage when conducting peace talks throughout his stay in office.   Darwinists embraced these ideologies and pushed for expansion under the notion of “survival of the fittest.”   They believed that Americans were the superior race and had the right to go forth and take whatever we wanted because it was our...