American imperialism
American imperialism is the exercise of power by the United States outside its borders. The US expanded its territory initially via conquest, later shifting to controlling/influencing other countries without conquest, using techniques such as alliances; aid; gunboat diplomacy; treaties; trade; support for preferred political factions; regime change; economic influence via private companies; and cultural influence.
American expansion ended in the late 19th century, with the exception of some Caribbean and Western Pacific islands. While the US does not typically identify itself and its territorial possessions as an empire, commentators such as Max Boot, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and Niall Ferguson have done so.
File:10000_Miles_From_Tip_to_Tip_1899_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1133_01_.jpg|right|thumb|280px|1898 political cartoon: "Ten thousand miles from tip to tip." referring to the expansion of American domination from Puerto Rico to the Philippines following the Spanish–American War; the cartoon contrasts this with a map showing the significantly smaller size of the US in 1798, 100 years earlier.
US foreign interventions have been debated throughout US history. Opponents claimed that such actions were inconsistent with US beginnings as a colony that rebelled against an overseas king, as well as with American values of democracy, freedom, and independence. Conversely, American presidents who intervened militarily—most notably William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft—cited American economic interests, such as trade and debt management; preventing European intervention in the Western Hemisphere, ; and the benefits of keeping "good order". President Donald Trump has revived these imperial ambitions in his second term, which are often termed the Donroe Doctrine.
History
Following Columbus, the European and then American presence steadily expanded across what became the US, driving Native Americans out by treaty or by force, including multiple wars. Many Native American settlements were depopulated by unwittingly imported diseases, such as smallpox. Native Americans became citizens in 1924 and experience a form of tribal sovereignty.President James Monroe promulgated his Monroe Doctrine in 1823, in order to end European interventions in Latin America. Territorial expansion was explicit in the 19th century idea of manifest destiny. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase transferred of territory claimed by France to the US. Via the 1846-1848 Mexican–American War, the US annexed of Mexican territory. In 1867, the Andrew Johnson administration purchased Alaska's from Russia.
American foreign policy pivoted to "containing" communism during the Cold War. In accordance with the Truman Doctrine and the Reagan Doctrine, the US attempted to limit the Soviet Union and its allies. During the Vietnam War, the US's attempt to protect South Vietnam from its communist neighbor to the north and a domestic insurgency ended in failure at tremendous cost in US and Vietnamese lives and a Khmer Rouge-perpetrated genocide in neighboring Cambodia. US tactics included attempts at regime change in countries including Iran, Cuba, Panama, and Grenada, along with interference in other countries' elections.
US acquisitions on the North American continent became states, and their residents became citizens. Residents of Hawaii voted for statehood in 1959. Other island jurisdictions remain territories, namely Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, but their residents are also citizens. The remainder of US territories eventually became independent, including three freely associated states that participate in US government programs in exchange for military basing rights, to Cuba, which severed diplomatic relations with the US during the Cold War.
The US was a public advocate of European decolonization after World War II. The US often came in conflict with national liberation movements.
1700s–1800s: Manifest destiny
In 1786, then-private citizen George Washington described the new nation as an "infant empire". Then-Minister Plenipotentiary Thomas Jefferson asserted that year that the US "must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North & South is to be peopled. The navigation of the Mississippi we must have".The notion of manifest destiny was a popular 19th century rationale for US expansion. Discontent with British rule came in part from the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which barred settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Indian Wars featured British and later US militaries battling Native American sovereign groups. That sovereignty was repeatedly undermined by US state policy and the ever-expanding settlements. Following the Dawes Act of 1887, Native American systems of land tenure ended in favor of private property. This resulted in the loss of some 100 million acres of land from 1887 to 1934.
In the 1786-1795 Northwest Indian War the US fought the Northwestern Confederacy over land around the Great Lakes. Treaties such as the Treaty of Greenville and the Treaty of Fort Wayne drove anti-US sentiment among Native Americans in the region, leading to Tecumseh's Confederacy, defeated during the War of 1812.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 culminated in the relocation of 60,000 Native Americans West of the Mississippi river in an event known as the Trail of Tears, killing 16,700.
In the 1846–1849 Mexican–American War, the US conquered Mexican territory reaching from Texas to the Pacific coast.
Settlement of California accelerated, including the California genocide. Estimates of deaths vary from 2,000 to 100,000. The discovery of gold drew many miners and settlers who formed militias to kill and displace Native Americans. The California government supported expansion and settlement through the passage of the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians which legalized the forced indenture of Native Americans. Some California towns offered and paid bounties for the killing of Native Americans.
American expansion in the Great Plains spurred conflict between many western tribes and the US. The 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes territory from the North Platte River in present-day Wyoming and Nebraska southward to the Arkansas River in what became Colorado and Kansas. The land was initially not wanted by settlers, but following the discovery of gold in the region, settlers came in volume. In 1861, six chiefs of the Southern Cheyenne and four of the Arapaho signed the Treaty of Fort Wise, surrendering 90% of their land. The refusal of various warriors to recognize the treaty led settlers to expect war. The subsequent Colorado War included the Sand Creek Massacre in which up to 600 Cheyenne were killed, mostly children and women. On October 14, 1865, the chiefs of what remained of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapahos agreed to move south of the Arkansas, sharing land that belonged to the Kiowas, and thereby relinquished all claims in Colorado territory.
Following Red Cloud's victory in Red Cloud's War, the Treaty of Fort Laramie was signed. This treaty led to the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation. However, the discovery of gold in the Black Hills resulted in a settlement surge. The gold rush was profitable for settlers and the government: the Black Hill Mine produced $500 million in gold. Attempts to purchase the land failed, triggering the Great Sioux War. Despite initial success by Native American forces, most notably the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the government won and carved the reservation into smaller tracts.
In the southwest, settlers waged war against native tribes. By 1871, Tucson had a population of three thousand, including "saloon-keepers, traders and contractors who had profited during the Civil War". In the Camp Grant Massacre of 1871, up to 144 Apache were killed, mostly women and children. Up to 27 Apache children were captured and sold by Christianized Papago Indians into slavery in Mexico. In the 1860s, the Navajo faced deportation, which became known as the Long Walk of the Navajo. The journey started in spring 1864. Navajo led by the US Army were relocated from eastern Arizona Territory and western New Mexico Territory to Fort Sumner. Around 200 died during the walk. New Mexican slavers, assisted by Utes, attacked isolated bands, killing the men, taking the women and children, and capturing horses and livestock. As part of these raids, Navajo were sold throughout the region.
In 1820, the private American Colonization Society began subsidizing free black Americans to colonize the west coast of Africa. In 1822, it established the colony of Liberia, which became independent in 1847. By 1857, Liberia had merged with colonies formed by other societies, including the Republic of Maryland, Mississippi-in-Africa, and Kentucky in Africa.
File:Wounded_Knee_aftermath5.jpg|thumb|Big Foot's camp three weeks after Wounded Knee Massacre; with bodies of four Lakota Sioux wrapped in blankets in the foreground
In older historiography mercenary William Walker's attempts to create private colonies epitomized antebellum American imperialism. His brief seizure of Nicaragua in 1855 followed his attempt to expand slavery into Central America and establish colonies in Mexico. Walker failed in his escapades and never had US backing. Historian Michel Gobat claimed that Walker was invited by Nicaraguan liberals seeking modernization and liberalism. Walker's government included those liberals, as well as Yankee colonizers and European radicals.
1890s–1900s: New Imperialism
In the late 19th century, Great Britain, France, Germany and Belgium rapidly expanded their territorial possessions, particularly in Africa. The US expanded also, annexing Pacific Islands such as Hawaii.As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt was instrumental in preparing for the Spanish–American War and was an enthusiastic proponent of testing the US military in battle, at one point stating "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one." Roosevelt rejected imperialism, but embraced expansionism. Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem "The White Man's Burden" for Roosevelt, who told colleagues that it was "rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view". Roosevelt proclaimed what became the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
One causal factor was racism, evidenced by philosopher Fiske's belief in "Anglo-Saxon" racial superiority and clergyman Strong's call to "civilize and Christianize" other peoples. The concepts were related to Social Darwinism in some schools of American thought.
Industry and trade were other justifications. American intervention in Latin America and Hawaii supported investments, including sugar, pineapple, and bananas. When the US annexed a territory, it achieved trade access there. In 1898, Senator Albert Beveridge claimed that market expansion was necessary, writing "American factories are making more than the American people can use; American soil is producing more than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and shall be ours."