These ideas were based on the same assumption--that the United States had the right and, some argued, the obligation, to expand its influence. Manifest Destiny was the concept that the United States, as a modern democratic, white, Christian nation, should expand until its borders reached the Pacific Ocean. This was accomplished in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Mexican War led to the acquisition of what is today the American Southwest. "Big Stick" diplomacy, associated with...
These ideas were based on the same assumption--that the United States had the right and, some argued, the obligation, to expand its influence. Manifest Destiny was the concept that the United States, as a modern democratic, white, Christian nation, should expand until its borders reached the Pacific Ocean. This was accomplished in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Mexican War led to the acquisition of what is today the American Southwest. "Big Stick" diplomacy, associated with Theodore Roosevelt, was the idea that the United States should exercise its influence in Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that promoted its own interest. For example, the United States wanted a canal to built through the isthmus of Panama, so Roosevelt promoted a revolution in that country that freed it from Colombia. This enabled construction of the canal, and was only one of dozens of examples of American interventionism in the region. "Dollar" diplomacy, often associated with President William Howard Taft, was the idea that American foreign policy ought to be guided by business interests. So whenever these business interests were threatened in places like the Dominican Republic, the United States would use military force to protect them. The connections to Manifest Destiny were ideological--Americans thought they had the right to intervene in other countries and to dominate them politically, because they deemed their culture and ways of life superior.
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