Why Did the Us Engage in a More Assertive Foreign Policy Around the Turn of the 20th Century?
Immediately prior to the turn of the twentieth century the United States began to engage in a more assertive foreign policy. There have been numerous speculations of why that the United States decided to engage in a more aggressive foreign policy, but the main factors are clear. The United States required a stronger foreign policy because of the economic, strategic, and political interests that the United States held in foreign markets. Theses interests were necessary in order to continue the strong economic growth the United States had been experiencing immediately prior to the turn of the century. The US for the first time, saw the need to expand its global market operations by means of increasing the amount of goods being exported. This would allow the US to continue the economic growth and stability that had seen in years prior to the turn of the century. In a time when the most powerful nations on earth were the greatest traders, foreign economic expansion symbolized national structure and security and by the early 1910’s American’s had a global vision. In 1865 United States exports totaled $234 million, but by 1900 they had skyrocketed to $1.5 billion, and by 1914 to $2.5 billion1. Both of these increases were a result of stronger domestic policy; however the second increase would not have come about without a significant growth in foreign markets. This growth was a direct result of an aggressive foreign policy change in order to expand US foreign relations. There were signs prior to 1898 that the United States was going to engage in a more aggressive foreign policy, however most of these signs were positive and were widely accepted. The United States main goal in establishing aS more aggressive foreign policy was to increase its status as a world trade leader which not only meant having a power house militarily but also a strong economy which was not based solely on domestic trading. Before the 1890’s the United States had never taken a