United States in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century is both a continuation and a departure of the past United States expansionism. Expansionism in the U.S. has occurred for many reasons. Power from land, religion, economics, manifest destiny and the ideas of imperialism are just a few reasons why the U.S. decided to expand time and again throughout the course of its history. America's hunger for land and power led it to depart from its original foreign policies and expand worldwide, such as large parts of Asia and the Caribbean. This was because other countries in the world had already began expanding their borders and it was feared there would be nothing left for America after countries like Russia, Britain and Germany had finished choosing (Document A). Although the continuation of the United States' expansionism was limited, they continued to stay true to the Monroe Doctrine and the belief that they were chosen by god to lead the world into the future.
Before the late nineteenth century, the most common view on expansionism was Manifest Destiny, which was expanding for reasons God gave them.
It was God who had told the people they should expand to spread their religion and their customs. This idea continued through the end of the century and into the next. Some believed God was "training the Anglo-Saxon race for an hour sure to come in the world's future The unoccupied arable lands of the earth are limited, and will soon be taken Then will the world enter upon a new stage of its history " the final competition of races, for which the Anglo-Saxon is being schooled " (Document B). The idea of Manifest Destiny soon took on an international view and decided that it was the "white man's burden " to educate and civilize places like Africa. Though it may seem that this was a departure, it was actually both a departure and continuation because the United States had actually tried to civilize and educate the Native Americans that lived in North America before.