American Imperialism and Expansion

8th Grade History

Manifest Destiny

A 19th-century belief that U.S. settlers were destined to expand across North America.

Imperialism

a policy by which stronger nations extend their
economic, political, or military control over
weaker territories.”

Colonialism

is the implanting
of settlements on a distant territory.
Colonialism was the common way that
imperialistic countries extended their
power over others.

Berlin Conference

Held in 1884-1885, this was a meeting where
the imperialist countries of Europe divided up
Africa into colonies.

Isolationists

Favored keeping out of
foreign affairs. They
were against American
imperialism

Expansionists

Favored imperializing
other territories beyond
the continental U.S.

White Mans Burden

Those who viewed it as
the duty of white people to
imperialize justified it by
misusing Charles Darwin

Social Darwinism

Darwin had said that
stronger individuals of a
species evolve and adapt
over time

Spanish American War

Support of Cuban independence led to involvement in
the 1898

Yellow Journalism

Newspapers publish
graphic (and often exaggerated) stories of Spanish cruelty to
the Cubans, prompting public anger

Explosion of the USS Maine

in the
Havana harbor is blamed on the Spanish, resulting in calls
for Congress to declare war

1898

Platt Amendment

gives USA the right to intervene in
Cuban affairs anytime there is a threat to “life, property, and
individual liberty