Expansionism

EXPANSIONISM HAS BEEN part of the American experience since the founding of the original colonies, and has always been a political issue. The British Proclamation of 1763, which restricted colonial expansion westward, was seen as a contributing factor to the American Revolution. However, it was the 19th-century expansion, particularly outside of the main continental territory in the late 1890s, which made expansionism a key political dividing point and an occasional campaign issue. American westward expansion began in earnest following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which greatly enlarged American territory and opened it to further settlement. Besides arousing the contentious slave versus free-state issue, American settlement in Mexican-ruled Texas in the 1820s and 1830s created the first significant political upheaval. The situation worsened following Texan independence in 1836, particularly as a consequence of the drive for American annexation in the mid-1840s. In 1845, the journalist John L. Sullivan coined the phrase Manifest Destiny to describe the general American desire and mission to rule over America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

This destiny justified expansion into other Mexican areas such as California, and extending American control to the Oregon borders. Manifest Destiny was seen by many in romantic as well as racially desirable terms. Duty also called for a superior Anglo-Saxon Republic to bring civilization and good government to the entire American west. Jacksonian Democrats embraced this expansionistic policy from 1845 until the 1850s. James K. Polk's campaign for the presidency in 1844 backed such expansion, which was denounced by the Whig opposition, particularly the New England anti-slavery Whigs. Polk's aspirations helped defeat Henry Clay and the Whigs in 1844. Further, his drive for expansion became a clear rationale for America's war with Mexico in 1846, and was the force behind negotiations with Britain over the Oregon-Canadian border dispute. Encouraged by its western ambitions, Americans began to look outside their immediate shores for other territorial outlets during the 1850s, and Cuba and other Central American lands appeared to be possibilities. However, the Civil War redirected national political interests.

With America's post-war industrialization and the completion of its transcontinental settlement in the 1890s, American expansionist attention shifted to the Pacific in the search for new lands and markets for American goods. Entry to the Pacific for trade with Asia required access points for fuelling stations, and many of the islands of the Pacific offered these possibilities. To achieve this goal, a series of annexations followed in the latter part of the century, including the purchase of [Page 226]Alaska (1867), and the occupation of Midway (1867) and American Samoa (1899), as well as the rise of American commercial interests in the Hawaiian Islands (1898).

American economic interests in Hawaii grew in the late 19th century, and this presence engineered the overthrow of Queen Lilioukalani in 1893. Following the consolidation of their authority, the American Hawaiian lobby petitioned for annexation. The Republicans supported such expansion, but opposition to Hawaiian annexation became a campaign issue for Grover Cleveland in 1892. From their earlier expansionist roots, the Democrats now opposed further expansion, whereas the Republicans embraced expansion as an economic and social necessity. During Cleveland's second term, he reversed President Benjamin Harrison's policy. This denied the annexationists for a short time. Upon the election of Republican William F McKinley in 1896, Hawaii's position was reassessed and annexation became a reality in 1898; the territory finally gained statehood, along with Alaska, in 1959.

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