APUSH Essay: US Role in the World, 1865-1910 - Causes and Analysis

This essay evaluates the relative importance of various factors contributing to the United States' expanding role in the world between 1865 and 1910. It argues that while some historians attribute this expansion to a sense of duty to civilize other nations, the most significant driver was competition with European powers, building upon the earlier ideals of Manifest Destiny. The essay analyzes key events such as the Spanish-American War, the annexation of Hawaii, and the Roosevelt Corollary, highlighting the impact of nationalism, expansionism, and the pursuit of economic and naval power. It examines the concept of Anglo-Saxon superiority and its influence on American imperialism, including assimilation policies and the Open-Door Policy in China. The essay utilizes primary and secondary sources to illustrate the complexities of US expansion and its consequences for both the United States and the territories it influenced.

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1APUSH
1. Evaluate the relative importance of the different causes for the expanding role of the
United States in the world in the period from 1865 to 1910.
While there are some historians who argue that the U.S. desire to expand its role in
the world was because U.S felt it was its duty to civilise the nations and play the role of a
global police, the most significant reason for its expanding role could be attributed to its
competition with the Europe. It is to mention that the emergence of the U.S. as an
expansionist global power started from the era of Manifest Destiny preceding the civil war.
According to Burns (2017), the credo or belief of this period was that it was U.S.’s duty to
expand itself and claim all the present western lands of the Northern part of America and at
the same time, to expand its social and political influence westward. The significant
difference among the U.S. imperialistic dominance of late 19th century and the frontier
expansion of 1840s was how far America can expand its influence. Notwithstanding this fact,
the ideals that were present in both these periods like the nationalism, expansionism etc. were
the leading factors that aided to the expanding impact of the U.S. as an expansionist global
power. This paper shall elaborate on evaluating the importance of the different reasons
behind the expanding role of the U.S. in the world during the time period of 1865 to 1910.
After the world war, the world was changing globally. There were several nations that
began fighting for their freedom and independence from the dominant rule. Also, there were
fight for money and influence in between the most powerful nations of that time. A
significant reason behind the coinage of U.S. as a world power arise from the events after the
Spanish-American War where the Filipino and the Cubans fought with the U.S. for making
South Americans free from the Spanish rule. In the year 1898 when the Treaty of Paris was
signed, the Philippines and the Cuba obtained freedom or independence from the rule
(Fernandez, 2019). However, they gradually ended up being under the influence of another
imperialistic power. U.S. in Cuba added certain provisions to their then constitution such as

2APUSH
the Platt Amendment. Addition like such limited down the sovereignty of Cuba as the U.S.
obstructed their relationship with the other foreign nations as they had the power of
intervening in the Cuban politics (Greene, 2016). Furthermore, it is also to mention that the
annexation of Hawaii too have allowed for the country to possess a prime location for trade in
the centre of the Pacific trade. With the spread of the U.S.’s influence, the game of which
nation should the U.S. aim for net as suggested by Document 4.
In the given political cartoon, President McKinley is serving the interests of U.S. as to
which nation to seize the next and take over. In this case, it is being Philippines, Puerto Rico
and the Cuba. He considers these nations as nothing more than the delicacies that are simply
meant to be seized and taken. Along with the influence of the expanding world involved an
assertion of the world dominance by means of the acts like Roosevelt Corollary. This resulted
in the establishment of the “international police power” of U.S. on the other parts of the
world by means of threatening the European powers who thought of breaking the “Monroe
Doctrine” with the help of the powerful military of America.
It is to mention in this context that U.S. has a long history of having enforced
assimilation on wide number of territories that it has obtained where the Anglo-Saxon
superiority was the largest factor. In the global system, America was considered to be the
most powerful and forceful nation. According to Loewen (2018), the Anglo-Saxon
superiority was basically incorporated as the main reason behind why the country was
superior to all and why every other nation is in need of the American help. The Anglo-Saxon,
Protestant male was regarded to the prime human being and the rest others who were below
him at the very least tried to follow the suit. The author of Document 2 seems to be
presenting an Anglo-Saxon Protestant man who is describing about the ever increasing power
and dominance of America on its demographic. America used to take the unoccupied lands
due to its civilised and unequalled culture as well as the quality of life in order to make the

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better use of those lands. The citizens of U.S. at that period were hardly used to regard the
other races as equal to the Americans (Gomez, 2018). Such a situation influenced and aided
to the negative impact that the American imperialism resulted in as of the fact that although
the U.S. could have allowed for these territories to stay as sovereign states, it has concluded
that it is the duty of the U.S. to contribute in the civilisation of the population. Paternalism
like this can be seen in the Document 7 where the President Roosevelt seems to be defending
the reasons of America for its high level of involvement in the foreign or international affairs
by means of stating that it is only trying to contribute these in-need nations to turn into
“stable, orderly and prosperous”.
The main objective behind this annual message was to assure the foreign countries
that the motives of America are purely for the betterment and well-being of the other
countries. Notwithstanding this fact, the assimilation related practices of America through the
belief of the American superiority got resonated with the nations that it seized and took over
and had since changed the culture of way of life of the countries (Goldstein, 2019). This is
evident from Document 6 where the purpose of the cartoon is highlighting the shortage of the
options that Filipinos had in making decisions on which way of life they must take up as the
Philippines are now under the control of U.S. U.S. gave the Philippines two choices that were
prevalent of the US beliefs during that period. The men were required to assimilate and
become American soldiers and the women were to become the school teachers. However,
there were also many cases where some individuals were given the choice of returning to
their homeland.
The focus of the America on the naval power did well for stimulating its position in
the system of global economy. Along with its notable dominant power in the sea, the
facilitation of trade has helped the Americans by means of increasing in the circulation of
money. Notwithstanding this fact, has also resulted in high level of aspirations towards the

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greater power like China. Development of the U.S.’s trading system in sea helped in
stimulating its economic relationship with the Chinese continent. This further helped the
country to become a well-established trading partner as the hope was that if America can
develop a port city of the Chinese mainland, it is likely to expand its influence significantly.
By establishing the Open-Door Policy as seen in the Document 5, the U.S. wanted for
reassuring the equal standing with the other nations that are trading with China and
stimulating the conflicts among these countries because of the newfound U.S. threat.

5APUSH
References:
Burns, A. (2017). American Imperialism: The Territorial Expansion of the United States,
1783-2013. Edinburgh University Press.
Fernandez, H. (2019). Entering the United States: The Differing Views from the Northern
Triangle, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Hisp. JL & Pol'y, 66.
Goldstein, E. L. (2019). The price of whiteness: Jews, race, and American identity. Princeton
University Press.
Gómez, L. E. (2018). Manifest destinies: The making of the Mexican American race. NYU
Press.
Greene, J. (2016). Movable Empire: Labor, Migration, and US Global Power during the
Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive
Era, 15(1), 4-20.
Loewen, J. W. (2018). Sundown towns: A hidden dimension of American racism. The New
Press.