How America became a superpower

The modern United States is the most powerful country in human history.

With over 800 military bases and 37% of global military spending, the United States

has become the leader of a vast interconnected global system that has helped usher in an

era of unprecedented prosperity and low levels of conflict.

To understand America’s position in the world, and why it’s so pivotal for world

politics as we know it, you have to go back to the country’s founding — back to when

America wasn’t a global power in any sense of the word.

During the first 70 years of its existence, the United States expanded in both territory

and influence in North America eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean in a wave of expansionism

that resulted in the wholesale slaughter of the indigenous people who populated the continent.

But early Americans were deeply divided as to whether the country should expand beyond

the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

This became a major debate after the civil war, when some leaders, like post-war

Secretary of State Seward, argued that America should push to become a global power.

Seward succeeded in pushing a plan to purchase Alaska from Russia, but his attempts to buy

Greenland and Iceland, as well as annex territory in the Caribbean, were all blocked by Congress.

That’s because some Americans, including many on Capitol Hill, had a strong anti-imperialist bent.

These people worried about America getting more involved in global politics, as well

as having to integrate populations from “inferior” races.

And this opposition applied major checks on the imperialist urge to expand.

But something was happening in the late 1800s that would change the debate about American expansionism.

The industrial revolution produced explosive economic growth, and the bigger US economy

required a more centralized state and bureaucracy to manage the growing economy.

Power became concentrated in the federal government, making it easier for expansionist presidents,

like William Mckinley, to unilaterally push United States influence abroad.

The key turning point came in 1898, when President McKinley dragged the country into war with

Spain over the island of Cuba despite intense opposition.

The rising US easily defeated the moribund Spanish empire, acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam,