America emerged as a world power after the Spanish-American war.
by
rlundberg (student)
America's Changing Global Role
Rhonda Lundberg
HIST 102-American History Since 1877
Dr. Poster
November 20, 2012
Lundberg 1
The United States went to war with Spain in April of 1898 in order to help the Cubans secure their independence and end the revolutionary war which had killed thousands, as well as to protect U.S. economic interests. The end of the war culminated in an announcement to the entire world that America was now a global power, and as being such, would also become a major participant in world events. Becoming a world power, America's global role in the world changed in several ways. (Henretta 2010)
America, as an industrialized nation, had explored the western frontier, searching for land, wealth and freedom. All of the land in the western frontier had been settled during this time of great expansion, and as the country understood Manifest Destiny as believing that U.S. expansion from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean was justifiable and inevitable-American economic growth created a need to find markets for its surplus goods which caused the country to look outward from itself for these things. Expansion outside of America's borders was the ultimate priority on America's agenda. The Spanish-American war helped to facilitate this land expansion outward and abroad. The Treaty of Paris, signed December 10, 1898, resulted in Spain relinquishing control of Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States in exchange for a 20 million dollar payment. The Philippines would become a market for American produced goods, as well as being rich in natural resources such as coconut, sugar and hemp that the U.S. would import. Further, the Philippines location in Southeast Asia would help provide new markets to expand U.S. growth, as well as being a gateway to the markets in the Far East. The United States Navy looked to locations in the Pacific and Caribbean which would
