Isolationism In The 19th Century

Without keeping the past in mind the future will only become worse. The people may believe they are making a difference when in reality they are creating havoc for the world around

Before the passage of this doctrine Americans widely believed that isolationism was the best course for the U.S. After its passage, however, Americans realized that their influence could be extended into other countries. During the late 1800s many European nations and some Asian nations were expanding there spheres of influence and becoming worldwide powers. America was also becoming a world

The premise of American isolationism in the 1930s centered around the country’s political, economic, and social affairs at home, but was weakened in wake of World War II. Sentiments of isolationism have early roots in America’s history,

Imperialism was a big impact on the late 1800’s leading into the early 1900’s with counties like the British, Spanish, Russia, and Germany pushing to gain more land in different counties. This would lead to an arms race and the buildup which would lead into World War 1. Many different alliance were made if another country would attack another other countries would help with the fight. This would keep peace till the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

When America, as we know it today, was created, it had just freed itself from an unwanted, suffocating European power. The people wanted nothing to do with foreign affairs and their presidents’ policies reflected that. As America moved forward and established themselves as a world power, they began to want more. At the turn of the twentieth century, this want for more hit its peak and because of other circumstances, more was just within reach. America had always prided themselves in staying out of foreign problems and focusing inward, but now a new age was dawning.

United States Imperialism in the late 19th century was very selfish time. Many people in that time, debated about whether are not benefiting our country was the right way or the wrong way. The motiving factors that impacted our imperialism are economic, military, and cultural. These factors impacted the American Imperialism from 1890-194 by having control over weaker territories meeting our expanding needs.

Following the end of the Industrialist Era and the emergence of countless technological advancements, the United States entered the world stage. The United States was attempting to create an empire by expanding to land outside of its own borders in order to benefit the country’s economic interests. Many citizens, whose views were greatly influenced by their understandings of national identity, saw this overseas expansion in conflicting ways. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these groups differed in their opinions on the idea of expansion due to either their wanting to remain a democratic country built on the ideals of freedom and liberty to preserve their sense of national identity, or their wanting to expand for economic reasons and nationalism. Imperialism, which is the extension of a country’s power and influence through expansion, began as early as the 17th century, when Britain colonized the New World in order to expand economically and gain natural resources for manufacturing.

Before the 20th century the United States was an isolationist nation but around the late 19th century America decided to convert into an imperialist power. They had numerous reasons to shift into being an imperialist nation. America didn’t want to begin imperializing to settle and live in the nations they were taking over, they already had America for that reason, they wanted to adopt these nations for what they had to offer, which was many things. America saw an opportunity to improving their nation and took it. Even if there were many causes for America to imperialize, three of them stood out the most.

At the start of the 19th century, America was already expanding its territory. In 1803, the United States of America had bought the Louisiana Territory, it was bought from France which had made the country two times larger. In 1819 Spain had given up their territory of Florida to the United States. President Monroe issued the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823, its main purpose was to warn the European countries to not enter the Western Hemisphere. In order for America to achieve its goal of becoming an imperialist nation they had conquered other countries economically, culturally, and with a strong military in the late 1800’s.

The United States had for years been improving and growing rapidly. Away from the other world powers in Europe, they were able to avoid their conflicts for a long time, but that changed. America got involved in World War One and it affected some of their advancements. U.S imperialism was able to thrive in WWI, with America using the power to expand their empire. American progressivism however, fell between the cracks and disappeared for a long while during and after the war.

“Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival ship, interest, humor, or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world... we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.” This quote from George Washington in his 1796 farewell address describes the opinion of the United States for a majority of its history. Americas public opinion and national policy had the purpose of minimizing the risk of entering another war.

The United States of America was torn in the year of 1898 along with two of its most influential citizens. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the United States started to become more involved in foreign affairs and the outside world. One of the ways the United States began getting more involved was through imperialism. The thought of imperialism made many people around the United States want to voice their opinions on what America should do. Two of the people who had voiced their opinion were Andrew Carnegie and Albert Beveridge.

Despite what it may seem, the history of the United States is steeped in isolationism. Even George Washington was a strict isolationist who bashed those taking sides in the French Revolutionary Wars and who wanted nothing more than for America to focus on its own greatness. So what could have driven such a domestically driven country to choose a side in the bloodiest conflict in history? An attack on her own soil, at Pearl Harbor.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the United States had minimal interest in becoming an empire who controlled overseas countries. Instead, Americans decided to just use Manifest Destiny on their own continent as their form of expansion. In the late 1800s, the frontier was announced to be “closed”, so Americans were forced to look overseas in order to expand trade by looking for new markets. After America made the decision to support Cuba in its revolt against Spain during the Spanish-American war, the United States gained its own colonial empire when it defeated Spain in 1898. Once the war ended, Americans had to debate between becoming an imperialist empire or remaining in isolationism.

After the end of World War 1 in 1918, the US declared a policy of isolationism. Isolationism is a policy of non-involvement in other countries conflicts and politics and specifically for the US, non-involvement in European affairs. The US implemented this policy by denying the Treaty of Versailles in a vote of 39 to 55 in the Senate and consequently, did not join the League of Nations. This policy brought with it both positive and negative effects on the US. One positive effect is with isolation, the US can avoid the costs of dealing with conflicts in Europe and can avoid the negative effects on citizens.