U.S. Imperialism Begins

1. Five factors that fueled American Imperialism were:
-desire for military strength
-thirst for new markets
-belief in cultural superiority
-wanted Pear Harbor
-manifest destiny

2. Thirst for new markets: if they obtained the land they would make a lot more money, and it would also allowed them to have foreign trade which would solve the problem of American over production.

Belief in cultural superiority: the argument that they had the right to spread the religion of Christianity and spread this religion around to others.

3. "Seward's Folly" meant in other words, "Seward's Icebox", the term used to describe William Seward's idea to buy Alaska from the Russions. They described it as his "folly" meaning foolish, because many people thought this was a ridiculous idea, but he proved them wrong soon enough.

4. Sugar plantations, controlled by America, accounted for about three-quarters of Hawaii's wealth.


6. The United States were interested in these Pacific Islands because they believed that establishing colonies overseas would make their country stronger. At this time, other nations were establishing military presences, Americans were over producting along with unemployment and economic depression in America, also the belief of social darwinism still remained. All of these factors led America to Imperialism.