power, it needed to expand it’s own navy. In order to maintain this new navy, America would also need to increase the number of harbors, refueling and repair stations, and trade ships around the globe. America also came to realize that the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans needed to be connected closer to home. This raised the demand for an isthmian canal. These are the military and strategic exponents that sparked America to expand beyond the mainland. Another reason for overseas expansion was “white man’s burden”. It was the duty to the world of the “White Anglo - Saxon Protestant” nations to shed the light of civilization to non “White Anglo - Saxon Protestant” nations. America saw itself as the torchbearer. This was the missionary belief that co founded U.S. imperialism. Finally, one of the main impetuses behind American imperialism was the official end to the American frontier. The 1890 census concluded so. Based on this notion, Frederick Jackson Turner postulated that the American frontier was vital to America’s development as a whole. The Reverend Josiah Strong had a solution to the panic now sweeping the country. He had an answer to the question “what to do now?” Rev. Strong held that the teachings of Protestantism and U.S. philosophy were one in the same, if Jesus Christ were alive today he would be an American. He found a new frontier for America, and that frontier was overseas. The roots of American imperialism did not suddenly sprout following the Civil War. Prior to “the War Between the States”, America had a history with foreign nations. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain entered into the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the Western Hemisphere would be closed to further European colonization, and any European actions in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as an attack on American interests. How would the still young Am...
