America Has Been A World Power Essay -- essays research papers

          America has been a world power for as keen-sighted as anyone can remember. But how did it become what it is today? Through decades of racism and greed Our country is one of the most racist countrys thither has ever been But without it America would be nothing like it is today. Slavery made America and racism made it grow. America has proven itself to be a selfish, greedy, and racist country.     The 1840s were years of extraordinary territorial emersion for the United States. During a four year period, our American territory was increased by 1.2 million solid miles, a gain of more than sixty percent. The expansion of our country was so fast, that it came to be seen as an inexorable process, prompting many Americans to insist that their nation had a "manifest destiny" to dominate the continent.     The expansionist plans was never a clearly defined movement, or one that enjoyed broad support. Some party leaders greatly opposed territorial growth, and even expansionist Democrats argued about how much new land should be acquired, and by what means. Some supporters of Manifest Destiny favored rapid expansion and bold pursuit of American territorial claims, even at the risk of war with other nations. Others believed that the land would voluntarily submit to the benefits of the country. In an often-used allegory of the day, these regions would ripen like fruit and fall into the lap of the United States. The champions of Manifest Destiny were at best a motley collection of interest groups, propel by greed and the continues want for more.     There are several reasons why the united states decided to expand. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, many Americans believed that the rapid growth would cause an economical downfall . But such vast distances were quickly being conquered by technological innovations.     Alth ough the United States had no shortage of unoccupied lands, expansionists argued that the republic must continue to grow in order to survive. Using the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson, they viewed a great region of land as the keystone of a growing republic, and warned against the concentration of political and economic power. Troubled by creeping urbanization a... ...Mexico, whose goernment, Polk incorrectly believed, was acting in concert with Great Britain to get U.S. territorial ambitions. Although Polk insisted that the United States was not waging a war of conquest, critics accused the president of manufacturing a war to seize California and New Mexico. In the months following the war, Polk similarly considered extending U.S. sovereignty over the Yucatan peninsula and Cuba, two regions which he believed were vulnerable to encroachments from the British. These initiatives received little support in Congress, however, and were abandoned shortly before Polk stepped d own from office.     In the 1850s, having formal itself as a transcontinental empire, the United States ceased to regard British activities in the western hemisphere with alarm. Preoccupied with the increasingly bitter sectional conflict over slavery, many Americans rejected Manifest Destiny. Although southern extremists would sponsor filibuster expeditions into Latin America with the objective of gaining new lands to extend the slave empire, the expansionist movement timid from the national agenda in the years prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.