Was Economics the Primary Factor for the U.S. to Adopt a Policy of Imperialism?

Is it really about money or is it about something more? The driving theories of Rosa Luxemburg, Joseph Schumpeter and John Hobson introduced the idea of expanding for the development of new markets in new locations, known as imperialism. Imperialism is the idea of extending one’s rule or sphere of influence toward another nation or foreign country. Whatever the motive was, the United States of America following the decades after the Industrial Revolution managed to do just that. Although many America citizens opposed the idea, the destiny weavers in the federal government did what they thought was best for it’s citizens. The first spark produced via the idea of imperialism was the Spanish-American War. Spain’s treatment of Cuba had forced the United States to intervene with ferocious force. There were many other factors that encouraged the Spanish-American War including the DeLome Letter and the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine but, America’s longing for power was what exclusively led to this “un-necessary” war. The Civil War and the Industrial Revolution had drastically changed America’s thought of how to deal with foreign affairs from passive to extremely brutal. The primary factors in the United States adopting a policy of imperialism were both economic and social due to, religious advocacy, expansion of the American population, Social Darwinism, and reduction of conflicts within American borders.



Most American’s viewed imperialism as a way to save “foreign heathens” from the hell that they thought was inevitable. All throughout history many explorers used religion as a reason for their adventures. To Christianize the people of the world was a façade for the real reason, to expand the nation’s economy. No other reason could be credited to the fact that, more land equals more capital. An imperialist policy would in the end, dig America out of the financial hole it had been in for the last decade. If America unsheathed their true motives, foreign nations would become skeptical before they submitted their fate to an unfamiliar nation. Missionary validation thusly became the genuine reason for an imperialist policy.



When liberating Christian souls from evil, America would in the end expand their world empire. As best seen in America’s treatment of Hawaii, America would do anything to get what it wanted. The symbol of anti-imperialism, Queen Liliuokalani resisted and attempted to knock Hawaii out of America’s grasp. Seething the Hawaii’s economic powerhouse, sugar, America had begun its longing for an imperialist way of life. In some ways the American government used God to validate the reason or fattening their pockets. With the signage of the Treaty of Paris and America’s persistence, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines became America’s first legal immigrants. The new American citizens not only created tensions among native American people, but tremendously boosted America’s economy. In the end America had this plan in mind the whole time, risking foreign lives for the benefit of our country.



In some ways, social theories were the driving force behind many of America’s imperialist intuition. The United States believed that since they had survived an American Revolution and a Civil War they were superior to the nations that had existed some thousand years prior to its colonization. As of the theory of Manifest destiny, it was America’s duty to become the sole world power. The true citizen of the Republic values that Americans had relied on so heavily prior to the Civil War had been reborn into the idea of Social Darwinism in terms of imperialism. As the in the case of many nations, victory can earn one a cocky persona if an entire nation is there to back it up. Morals had skyrocketed due to America’s recent triumphs which would in turn be both a good and very bad thing.



The trade union dilemma previous to U.S. foreign affairs had badly wounded America’s acceptance of foreigners. Immigrants had stirred trouble with the local citizens and to this day, the federal government are still trying figure out an easy solution. Many foreign countries becoming American territories had eased some of the bruises caused by earlier judgment. Immigrants not only helped improve social relations in America but set a model for other nations on how to stir a lifetime of foreign problems. Ramifications of the victory of the Spanish-American War were many loose political ends to tie up, whether it be when a nation would be granted citizenship and how often America would get involved in its territories affairs. America’s imperialist policy had been derived for social means but ended up being all about the money.


The prime factor in the United States of America adopting a policy of imperialism was both economic and social. America used religious justifications as a means to establish that they were disturbing the daily routines of other nations to save them from the lives they live. But, what America really wanted to accomplish was a boost in its economy. This boost would come about by more workers and a happy work force. Not all turned out the way they were planned, because un-requested war plagued the economy and in some ways put the nation farther behind, when it comes to becoming a world power. America might have been influenced by social means, but wealth is what separates the weak nations from the strong nations.