American Expansion Dbq

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Expansionist America was brutal to the natives of lands they attempted to take. Many natives, being the rightful owners of the land, rejected willing assimilation (Liliuokalani 4). However, it was still seen as popular in the US due to many different reasons. The United States justified oversea expansion with its belief that the Anglo-Saxon race is the superior race and was declared so by God, while the conquered saw the US as oppressive liars, coming to take their land just because they could. America had a very snobbish outlook as far as race was concerned; people not of Anglo-Saxon backgrounds were looked down upon in the nineteenth century. This was due to a belief they were truly the best race and that fact came from God himself. Strong emphasized this point by saying, “It seems to me that God, is training the Anglo-Saxon race for an hour sure to come” (Strong 73). The “hour” Strong is referring to is the “final …show more content…
In 1893, Hawaii was being considered to be assumed by the US through a treaty. Queen Liliuokalani was adamantly against this happening (Liliuokalani 4). Her people make up four-fifths of the population of Hawaii and own much of the land. They did not want the Americans to settle on what she called “crown lands” (Liliuokalani 4). Queen Liliuokalani attempted to use her authority to withdraw and asked the American government to not ratify (Liliuokalani 4). The Philippians also resisted American occupation. Emilio Aguinaldo wrote an article in the North American Review attempting to explain that the Pilipino people were not much different than the Americans (Foner 74). Aguinaldo went on to say in that article that the Philippians should be given a chance to govern themselves, just like the American Colonies were after their revolution (Aguinaldo 76). However, both attempts were futile, and both Hawaii and the Philippians were