The policy of imperilism was a tremedous change in the US, why?

Answer 1

The policy of imperialism was a change for the United States. As a republic it had been the view of our presidents, for example George Washington to James Monroe that as a republic we had gotten ourselves free from British foreign rule, and therefore the United States should not force its government on other nations.

Some exceptions occurred. President James K. Polk, for instance, instigated the Mexican War, to get vast territory for the United States. While ethically questionable, the land was little settled, and the few there clearly did not object to being much better ruled by America, as opposed to the corrupt and inept Mexican government. I am not being ethnocentric here Mexico's own great leader and general Santa Anna said of his country, "So close to the United States, so far from God."

To directly answer your question the United States of the latter 1800s and early 1900s was largely isolationists and uninterested in acquiring territory. When Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska from Russia, at a bargain price, giving us great resources, even it was dismissed as "Seward's Folly."

The Spanish American War was fought in 1898 to supposedly free Cuba from harsh Spanish dicatorial rule. When we defeated Spain, we got parts of her old empire. This brought a tremendous change. As a republic, we should logically let the Philippines govern themselves. Instead, we rationalized taking the territory and ruling it ourselves. We could supposedly do it better, but it was not democratic, and it caused an extensive revolt and war. The Philippines were allowed to rule themselves until 1946. This was a clear change in violating our democratic principles. We also took other territory on this bases. It refuted our ideals as listed in The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Monroe Doctrine.

To our credit, however, the United States never had the huge amount of imperialism as practiced by Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Answer 2

Imperialism and colonialism was something America had fought against since the Revolutionary War. The Monroe Doctrine further clarified our stance on imperialism and colonialism by saying that the Western Hemisphere was off limits to further colonization (or imperialism). Yet in the late 1800's, we felt is was OK to take control of places like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, US Virgin Islands, and especially The Philippines. It was a complete 180 degree turn from the ideas in the Monroe Doctrine. Can't get much more tremendous than a 180 degree turn in policy!

Answer 3

I'm hoping the USA embraces multilateralism. It's about time we started treating the rest of the world fairly and stopped acting like we're above everyone. I'm encouraged since Obama has made the US ambassador to the UN a cabinet level position again. Hopefully things will move away from military first and people second.

Answer 4

i know this is a homework question, because i just did this, but ill help u out anyways.... imperialism was a tremendous change, because it introduced us as a world power. I hope you do your homework....