Imperialism

U.S. Imperialism

By: Alec Winsor

               Imperialism, by definition, is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries. In my opinion, the U.S. should be an imperialist nation, only if it is necessary, meaning that we should only imperialize another country if it is crucial for economic or military gain, or is needed to protect the country from a possible threat to the population. But in 1900, imperialism was a good idea for the U.S., because it helped it expand its territory as a newer country, and assert itself to other countries. Not everyone had this viewpoint of imperialism in the 1900's, some people thought the idea was wrong, and others were in the middle, liking ideas from both sides.

          In 1900, three of the most influential voices on the idea of imperialism were  Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, war hero/vice-presidential running mate Theodore Roosevelt, and Senator Orville H. Platt. Not all three of them had the same thoughts on imperialism: Bryan did not approve of it, Roosevelt, with his Anglo-Saxon viewpoints, liked the idea, while Platt thought that making a compromise would be the answer. In the presidential election of 1900, William Jennings tried to appeal to the anti-imperialists by relating to Filipinos to early American colonists and saying that they should be given a chance to develop themselves. On the other side, Theodore Roosevelt stated in response to Bryan that, with the Filipinos being underdeveloped, they are unfit to govern themselves, and the U.S. needs to supervise and govern them so that all the work of ridding "Spanish tyranny" from the islands does not go to waste. On the issue of what to do with Cuba, president McKinley and others thought the Cubans did not have the ability to govern themselves.