Emergence of the Americas in Global Affairs - US expansionist foreign policy

Monroe Doctrine / Roosevelt Corollary

The 1823 Monroe Doctrine warned against European interference; the 1904 Roosevelt Corollary expanded this, asserting the US right to police the Western Hemisphere to maintain regional financial and political stability.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century ideology that US expansion was divinely ordained; justified the coast-to-coast growth and provided a racial, social, and religious foundation for later imperialist expansion.

Herbert Spencer

British philosopher who applied the "survival of the fittest" concept to human society; his Social Darwinism provided the ideological justification for rapid US industrial growth and global expansion.

Josiah Strong

Clergyman and author of Our Country (1885); he argued that Anglo-Saxon dominance was a moral duty, framing imperial expansion as a vehicle to spread liberal democracy and Christianity.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Naval strategist who published The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890); he argued national greatness depended on maritime trade and a strong naval power, influencing the US to secure overseas coaling stations and control of vital waterways, such as a future canal across the Isthmus of Panama. His ideas had a significant impact on prominent figures, including Theodore Roosevelt.

Foreign markets for manufactured goods

Following the Panic of 1873 and the 1893 depression, US industries pressured the government to secure foreign markets to alleviate domestic overproduction and stabilize the economy.

Hawaiian Islands

A strategic waypoint for the China trade; the US supported the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani, leading to annexation in 1898 to secure resources and the Pearl Harbor naval base.