ing what they had been opposed to most, the Europeans.Nationalism also had a part. Much like racism, Americans felt their country was superior to all other countries. Maybe not in power or economy, but in morals. Americans had a very strong sense of pride in their country. They had defeated the British, one of the biggest world powers, to gain their independence, and they also proved to the world that they could thrive and live on. That gave them a very arrogant attitude, especially towards any type of action made by the Europeans. It directed their conduct to seem superior to all others.Americans were also driven by greed. Commercialism was a major factor in their foreign policy. Americans knew that by engaging in the same practices that the successful Europeans had, they could also gain money and prestige. Keeping in mind that they wanted to seem superior to the Europeans, they conjured up these fake rationalizations as to why they chose to take over these small island countries. The truth was, many Americans had invested in these countries, and the only way they could avoid the high McKinley Tariff was to somehow get these countries to become a part of the United States. Thus, Americans really didnt care about the welfare of these people, they just wanted to make more money.As harsh as these actions and motivations were, they were also quite successful. Not only did America succeed in gaining money, power, and prestige through these territories, they also proved themselves to be just as powerful as their opposition, the Europeans. The sense of American pride grew, the economy strengthened, and America eventually emerged as one of the most powerful countries in the world. Americas blustery bravado helped them to intimidate other countries into leaving them to control not only themselves, but the entire western hemisphere as well. It was even successful in getting the Spanish toback out of Cuba. The resulting Spanish-American War was t...
