American Expansionism and Imperialism, Essay Example

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to examine the sources of American expansionism and imperialism during the nineteenth century as well as to discuss the role of ideology and culture in American expansionism and imperialism during this time.

Imperialism is an actual policy or legislation by which one country has control over another. The purpose of this control is to gain economic and political advantage and is usually achieved through militia means.  This process is also referred to as expansionism. When an expansionist state gains control over an overseas nation it is named colonialism.  An imperialist government is always considering new markets for exportation and sources of inexpensive labor and raw materials.

Imperialism is expectant of nationalism, religion, and a sense of cultural and racial pre-eminence. During the late 1800’s, a strong feeling of xenophobia swept most European countries. Many people whispered their nation’s immensity was dependent upon the bulk of its territory. They encouraged the extension and the planting of their nation’s flag on foreign soil. They though of the people of Africa and Asia were of inferior and inequality to them. The lack of industrialized development did not do much to enforce this prejudice.  Further expansionists thought they had a duty to Christianity to spread the word of God across the European nations.

Imperialism and Trade

America attacked a couple of countries for trade reasons.  They simply wanted better access for trading purposes and asked for passage through lands and in some cases just took over passage ways. It is a known fact, industrialized nations can produce more manufactured goods than their people need or can afford to buy. Colonies served as markets for these unsold products. They also provided cheap and valuable natural resources, investment opportunities for surplus capital as well as new opportunities for a better land.  However, this theory does not fully explain imperialism because many colonies were not economically profitable.

The Ideology of Imperialism

Scientific and pseudoscientific knowledge development came as a result of the imperialism age. Social Darwinism was one of the most influential theories that emerged as a result of the ideologies of imperialism through the efforts of Charles Darwin.

Spencer and others used pseudoscientific ideas of racial inferiority on the basis of skin pigmentation and other physical characteristics (such as head size and shape) to justify

imperialism. Accordingly, people were classified as separate “races” along an evolutionary scale, and the subjugation of peoples of color was considered the inevitable consequence of the superiority of white men. The Europeans were the ones who classified and adopted the most superior stance of biosocial Darwinists theories dictated during this period basing it on pseudoscientific origins or racism. This theory of adoption was to have a virulent and ever lasting impact around the world.

Christianity and the Missionary Enterprise

The Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans naming themselves Catholics accompanied the sixteenth-century expansion of Europe having a perplexed influence in Asia and Africa. In the nineteenth century, however, the Protestant missionary movement provided ideological support for the new imperialism, especially in Asia and Africa. The biblical command “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” was literally taken up by Protestant men and women as they moved out from their homes, cultures, and societies to make their own particular donations to the new imperialism through evangelization, converting other peoples to Christianity.

The Culture of Imperialism

The expansion of imperialism in the nineteenth century was reflected in complex, often subtle, ways in the works of writers, artists, and composers. The people who colonized relied heavily upon Westernized civilization coming into the picture of the situation.  The cultural forces of imperialism were as successful as any military based invasion.

Of the employed were scientists, linguists, and other scholars to

carry out the tasks of recording, collecting, and preserving knowledge and artifacts. Archaeology and anthropology flourished in the context of nineteenth-century imperialist ventures. The recovering of archaeology was a large preoccupation of many of the settlers often presenting other cultures as museum pieces, unchanging and passive, in contrast to the dynamism of European culture. The collectors were separated into professionals and innocent by-passers for entertainment purposes.

Following Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the Americas there was great destruction of the civilization of the Aztec, Incas and Maya empires. “The North American Indians suffered a similar fate as well.” (Ahmad, 2010). There were buying and selling of trade slaves, as well. The Indians were replaced with the buying and selling of black slaves by the white settlers. New technology came to force through unparallel political, economic and cultural dimension. This expansionist move drove through Asia and Africa which was already colonized. At the beginning of the twentieth century “nearly all of the non-Western peoples were under some form of Western domination which meant they were trapped in structured form of extreme inequality which was not merely economic.” (Ahmad, 2010).

It was very consistent for the men to draw boundaries of humanity which drove the persistence of inequality among men and women. There was an ideology of the intellectuals and the administrators. It was not natural for people to intermingle amongst themselves. The English were often astonished to find Muslims, Christians and Jews socializing together for they viewed them from dominations of being from different species of life. The simple policy of divide and rule flowed inheretently equal from the secretarial outlook that dominated the era. Indians were viewed as ‘half organic aliens’ whilst blacks were viewed as coming from another species altogether. The white man had total supremacy and had rule of law. Violence flowed freely if contact of any sort were attempted between the species. All species were vulnerable within their race for they were skeptical to talk amongst even the minority of the races. “Their defeat only seemed final when the last of their roots were destroyed or when their head was cut off and their was lifeless motion in their very existence.” (Ahmad, 2010). The movie Star Trek is a symbolic thrust of imperialism This is a classic example of a world that is no longer purposed of Western civilization anymore. The civilization has become global and hegemonies.

Many theories show focus on the ideology that imperialism still exists today. Just because you remove a colonial or imperial power’s existence does not mean it still does not have influence on the existence of the Western civilization. The existence still continues to have influence on the places that have been colonized. There is a two way street however to examine, how the country has been colonized and how the imperialism has shaped the culture of the colonizer. Imperialism did not end with the colonial rule of the empires because people have been placed in subjugated circumstances which dominated their lives. With respect to racism people are still subjected to racism even today after post-colonial periods. People are not able to accomplish their post-colonial goals because of certain restrictions still placed on them. There is evidence of continued oppression even though the colonial period is over. Edward Said seems to think the imperialistic period over simplifies the intent of the past imperial powers giving to reinforcing the ideas that access to societal benefits was a minimal effort drawn on a glass ceiling of those affected by it. He does not think violence is a way of dealing with the legacy of imperialism. He places more faith in the power of the forces of multicultural education.

Modern View on Expansionism

David Rothkopf, managing director of Kissinger Associates and adjunct professor of international affairs at Columbia University states, “The United States should embrace imperialism as its self-interest.” He professes imperialism to be a provocative view of tolerance and openness to cultural change with the hopes of avoiding war and war and conflict between cultures. Further he envelops the idea of a promoting of trade amongst nations to provide enough free trade to keep within the legal and political standards amongst nations allowing individuals and foreign nations to either accept or reject foreign national policies. He further thinks the acceptance of globalization and the internet are positive attributes for accelerating the process of culture influence. Good multicultural pacts are those that do not threaten the sanctity of our nation’s stability or prosperity as such. They allow our country to flourish politically, economically as well as in the marketability of trading. They do not infringe upon the rights and privileges of religion, language and other ideological beliefs as such. Experiments and studies conducted in countries such as India, South Africa and Canada have shown that multicultural environments can work together well and work prospectively. Each is built on the idea that tolerance is crucial to the social well-being of people and intolerance is a threat to the cultural distinction of an individual as well as a class of people. The greater good of humanity is based upon preventing intolerance and promoting harmony within and outside the states and across the borders. We should allow and promote cultural diversity and eliminate those cultures that are not open to cultural diversity because those are the ones that cause havoc and violent conflict amongst nations.

Just as there were problems “of reconstruction and industrialization Americans began to resume the course of reconstruction. Expansionists looked farther towards the west to Asia and the Pacific as Captain Alfred T. Mahan protested “that part of the world could only be conquered through much protest.” (“Expansion in the Pacific”).  He further believed America was in need of a superior Naval Force and would require the securing of various land based to acquire naval bases. This would be for the welfare of the country he added. Commodore Matthew C. Perry was designated one of the large expansionists of all times. He made recommendations the United States secure most of the ports of refuge in Japan. He thought it would be a wonderfully strategic idea to open negotiation with the Emperor of Japan in 1853.

References

The Ideologies of Imperialism The Annenberg Foundation Bridging World History, 2004.

Ahmad, E. (2010) Culture of Imperialism Retrieved July 17, 2010 from, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Eqbal_Ahmad/Culture_Imperialism.html

Alexander, Victoria D. (2003). “The Cultural Diamond – The Production of Culture”. Sociology of the arts: exploring fine and popular forms. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 162

Expansion of the Pacific (2000) Retrieved July 17, 2010 from, http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/letter.html