Continuities between the United States in the Spanish-American War and the United States During its Expansion Across North America
Open Access DepositedExpanding the Scope on American Imperialism
Traditionally, the “Age of American Imperialism” loosely describes the period in American history from 1890 to 1920 in which the United States began to expand and acquire territory outside of North America. The use of this phrase, and its constrained time range to a few decades at the end of the 1800s, diminishes and obscures the preceding century of imperialist ventures of the United States. Throughout the whole nineteenth century, America acted as an imperial power towards its neighboring countries. Its expansion was justified by racial ideologies which suggested that white Americans had a semi-divine right to settle North America in order to extend the democratic virtues of the nation across the continent. This thesis is meant to identify some of the continuities (and divergences) between the American imperial project across the western United States, and its imperial projects in territories acquired during the Spanish-American War. It examines various aspects of the military conflicts, educational systems, and policy decisions in both projects, revealing a country that was an empire long before the supposed “Age of American Imperialism.”
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