Birth Of American Imperialism
Birth of American Imperialism
-the nation’s rapid industrial growth in the late 19th century forced a deep revision of the world
-technological advances, especially the laying of transoceanic cables and the introduction of steamship travel, began to undermine America’s isolation
-the varied languages one could hear in American cities testified to how much the Old World had been penetrated the New
-also many Americans had begun to think about exporting their religious values, manufactured goods and military might to distant parts of the globe
I. Protestant Missionaries
-Protestant missionaries were among the most active promoters of American interests abroad
-overseas missionary activity grew quickly between 1870 and 19000 with most of it directed towards China
-convinced of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race, Protestant missionaries considered it their Christian duty to teach the Gospel to the “ignorant” Asian masses and save their souls
-missionaries believed that their efforts would free those masses from their racial destiny, enabling them to become” civilized”
II. Industrialists, Trader, Investors
-sensing could make fortunes in foreign lands
-exports of American goods rose substantially after 1880
-by 1914 American foreign investments already equaled 7 percent of the nation’s gross national product
-companies such as Kodak Camera, Singer Sewing Machines, Standard Oil, American Tobacco and International Harvester were already multinational corporations with overseas branch offices
-the shocks of the 1890s only intensified the appeal of foreign markets
1. first, the 1890 US Census announced that the frontier had disappeared and that Americans had completed the tasks of westward expansion
2. 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner published an essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, that articulated what many American had feared: that the frontier had been essential to the growth of the...
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