American Imperialism Essay, Research Paper

The Growth of American Imperialism

The United States entered the arena of capitalism as a world power after the Spanish-American War in 1898.

After having routed Spain the United States secured undisputed control of the American Mediterranean –

the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Puerto Rico was annexed. A protectorate was established over Cuba.

In Cuba there is invested about $1,000,000,000 of American capital in the sugar industry alone. This is 60

percent of the total capitalization of the sugar industry. Fully 85 percent of the capital invested in the Cuban

railways is American. One-third of Cuba’s imports is edible and more than half of that third comes from the United

States. According to the last reports of the Department of Commerce, Cuba has outstripped Japan as our second

best customer in steel.

Turning to the Pacific, the Yankee imperialists annexed in quick order the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii.

In the Philippines, the American imperialists have a territory the size of the Kingdom of Italy and with a

population greater than that of Canada or Hungary. Sixty-five percent of the foreign commerce of the Philippines

is done with this country. Close to $300,000,000 of American capital is invested in these islands, which are

teeming with natural resources and are only three days away from China, the richest and cheapest labor mine in

the world. They are the gateway of American capital to the prize market of the Far East where 800,000,000

people live.

Then followed the complete domination by the United states thru the successful engineering of the revolt of

Panama against the Republic of Colombia. Having secured “general supervision” of the new government and

unrestricted control of the Canal Zone, the American capitalists proceeded to establish their hegemony over

Nicaragua and mastery of the alternative canal route. Scarcely had the ink dried in Wilson’s democratic notes

when American troops dissolved the Haitian parliament. Today the United States is the political master of over

150,000 square miles and almost 10,000,000 people in Central America and the Caribbean, which has become

an American lake. In the Pacific, the United States has an island empire of an area of more than 125,000 square

miles and a population of at least 13,000,000.

“Peaceful Penetration”

Our imperialists are also engaged in the “peaceful penetration” of other countries. In recent years particular

attention has been paid by our capitalists to Canada, Mexico, Central and South America. Because of the

collapse of the European market American investors and merchants have been making especially strong efforts to

develop these markets. In the Latin American countries the United States has today invested $610,000,000 in

public securities and $3,150,000,000 in industries.