America's way of Imperialism (pride or embarrasment)

Before Civil War, the United States had two sides, the Union and the Confederates, each with different views about slavery. These differences were disputed in the Civil War. Abolition of slavery was one of the results of this war. Subsequently, the United States now had other worries: economic problems, racial equality, etc. Not long after most of the local problems were solved, an urge for yet more territorial expansion emerged. Not only the United States was seeking local expansion but as well as expansion beyond its borders.
Now, was the way the United States became a world power a reason for an American to be proud of its nation or embarrassed of it? The United States had a variety of justifications to go beyond its virtual limits, however these were mostly economic and were also fueled by many theories. Additionally the United States also wanted to become a world power that would influence other nations. As in most political cases, there were those who opposed this policy of imperialism.
Imperialism by the United States had many theories from those who supported it. Among these was Alfred Mahan's which stated that the United States ought to have a large Navy and that in order to achieve this additional natural resources such as coal and more land were needed , therefore acquiring colonies was needed. Another theory was Frederick Jackson's, which declared that territorial expansion was good to improve social, political and ECONOMIC stability. A theory that showed extreme nationalism was Social Darwinism, which declared that the United States was above other nations morally and biologically.
The United States took actions to extend its power to other nations. This was seen when the United States went in a "rescue" mission against Spain in order to "help" Cuba. However the United States had its eyes on the vast amount of sugar cane that Cuba produced, which after helping Cuba to gain its independence from Spain would help boost the American economy. More importantly the United States now had showed its capability of being a world power.
The United States was not satisfied yet, and to strengthen it s naval power, they took on mission to obtain Hawaii. However after trying to obtain, the Queen Liliuokalani refused to give it. Later the United States imposed a tariff which made it a struggle economically to trade. As a result, many people supported the annexation of Hawaii to get rid of the tariff. After overthrowing the Queen, Hawaii became a state now belonging to the United States and serving as an excellent naval base.
The United States had now many more resources needed to boost its economy as well as its military power which was needed in order to help the United States reach the number one spot as the strongest nation. Clearly, the reason for the United States to "help" other nations was to ultimately solved its economic problems as well as to be seen as a reliable nation for many Latin American countries that the United States had "helped".


I saw that picture in facebook. You were wearing some glasses with an afro wig and "throwing" a peace sign. lol

Populist!!!

A third party is an additional political party other than the two major parties participating in state and national elections. These third parties usually do not gather as many votes as the major parties do. Despite the fact that the presidential candidates of these parties have little chance of being elected, these parties are really significant since they may promote important concepts to be incorporated into government.
In the presidential election of 1892, the Democrats, Republicans, and infamous Populist were competing for a place in the presidency. Regardless of the failure to reach presidency and the short period of time it lasted, the populist party promoted fine ideas that would help improve government and social life. This party however could not accomplish much of what they desired. Therefore, the populist were not effective enough politically, but their ideas did help the country later on after their disappearance.
The People's Party, as it was also called, opted for inflation through free and unlimited coinage of silver, therefore the strongly opposed the gold standard. This party centered mainly in rural areas and focused on agrarian issues, such as forming a political alliance between poor whites and Blacks. At the time of elections, its candidate James Weaver received a little more than a million votes as well as 22 popular votes. This was a great achievement for such kind of party. The populist had other objectives as well. Among these was government ownership of major industries, replacement of fixed income tax with graduated income tax, and direct election of U.S. senators. Not everything was achieved, however the direct election of senators and graduated income tax would later become a reality.
The party went on a downfall, a downfall whose causes were many. One was the lack of support from the south to the party and their goal to unite Blacks and poor whites. To make it even harder for the Populist, the Jim Crow laws, Literacy tests, and poll taxes made the task of gaining southern support almost impossible. To make things worst, their leader, Thomas Edward Watson became a voracious racist, creating a racial division among the party.
When 1896 came, the Democrats incorporated into their platform much of the Populist's own platform, and incorporated, with some difficulty, William Jennings Bryan as their candidate. This caused Populist to be done as a National political party, however, their platform was later on well absorbed by Republicans and Democrats.
To conclude, the Populist party was not so effective in concern to their goals, however they could gather enough votes to stand out during elections. The party had good motives for the country, but they found themselves with harsh obstacles that prevented them from gaining total support from the citizens. Nevertheless, the party provided important goals to other parties that later realized that the populist's platform could be useful.