Question

why was the united states justified in their imperialistic policies of the late 1800s and the early 1900s ? why did the united states shift from expanding internally towards foreign expansion in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

Answer 1

the justification of the US imperialistic policies is a gray Area with many in the US still refusing to believe their nation even had imperialistic policies. It does not matter what type of leader is in charge the annexation of a land and then settling, it is still Imperialistic. In its simplest term, many people in Texas may well say that they were completely right, as it led to Texas joining the union after the defeat of Mexico. I'm not to sure of the reasons for the take over of Texas, but I'm sure that in that case, there was a strong justification for there imperialistic policies.

However on the other side what happened when the USA made an attempt at Canada,On July 12, 1812, General William Hull led an invading American force into Canada and was defeated. A year later, the USA again tried to invade Canada and was again defeated. The result was a British invasion of the USA that was defeated by the USA. The justification for this has been put to many reasons, however, if they were or were not justified remains a debate. So i Guess it all depend on what conflict your on about and from who's side you look at it from.

Answer 2

It was an attempt to maintain economic stability. The US was suffering from a 'crisis of overproduction'... Factories flooded domestic markets with too many goods, and needed foreign outlets for the surplus. If no new foreign markets were found, they'd have to cut down on production, which would lead to an increase in unemployment.