America's Expansionist Economy

Since the founding of the colonies, the American economy has been an expansionist one. For many years, the frontier provided an outlet for expansion. However, in 1890, the U.S. Bureau of the Census declared that the internal frontier was closed, meaning that there were no longer vast stretches of undeveloped landscape (page 290, A People’s History of the United States). Not long after that, the United States began to look for foreign markets in which to sell its excess manufactured and agricultural products. Some politicians began looking toward Cuba with an eye toward intervention in the Cuban revolt against Spain. In February, 1898, the U.S. Battleship Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, of mysterious but undetermined causes. Suspecting that Spain was responsible, the United States began moving toward war.

The Outline of U.S. History, Chapter 8, suggests that many Americans in the 1890 believe that to “safeguard its own interests” the United States needed to “stake out” spears of influence as the major European nations were doing. After the four-month long Spanish-American War, the United States became a colonial power, with Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and several other territories.

After reading A People’s History of the United States, Chapter 12, and Outline of the U.S. History, Chapter 8, comment about this period of American History. Choose a particular aspect of this period as described in one or both books and place that aspect in the context of American History.