Why did the United States begin turning its attention towards the Pacific during the nineteenth century?
When talking about imperialism, America is seldom the first country we think of. Rather, we think about the European conquest in both Africa and Asia. Yet, their practice is more frequently described as colonialism. Although imperialism and colonialism are often used interchangeably, their meaning is somewhat different. Colonialism is the act of dominating and governing a foreign nation through the in-situ implementation of political and economic systems whereas imperialism is the act of influencing foreign countries or territories through different means of power without actually settling there. Thus, they are both about the enforcement of power yet, the nature of the enforcement is different. In the case of America, imperialism is a more suitable way to describe their conquest in the Pacific in the 19th century.
Walter Nugent in his book ‘habits of empire’ states that there are three stages of empire that can be distinguished in the history of America. The first one is characterised as the continental stage of empire. Here, the first Europeans started to settle in north America and gaining terrain from both native Americans and the Spanish. Once most of the country was conquered, the time had come to start discovering and exploring the possibilities of the land they had recently acquired. As the land had an affluence of resources, people now had to figure out how to exploit those resources. Just before annexing California from the Mexicans in 1946, gold was discovered in the region. This catalysed a big migration of America’s population and immigrants to the west coast of the United States. Besides an abundance of gold, California was also had great potential as an agricultural state although it had to overcome some obstacles. The ground in the region was very arid and needed irrigation and fertilisers. Since the 18th century farmers across America had been using guano, a compost consisting of the excrements of several kinds of seabirds, bats and seals, as a very effective fertilizer for their lands. This way, they didn’t have to move around as much as soon as their land got exhausted due to farming. The guano used by US farmers mostly came from Peru. The Peruvian monopoly on guano eventually drove the Americans to look for other opportunities in the region to get their guano. One of the first places outside of Peru they looked for guano was the Lobos Islands in 1852. Although the Americans failed to lay hands on the islands as they were opposed by both the British and the Peruvians, this venture unleashed a run on oceanic islands, especially in the pacific. then on, mid-nineteenth century the second –offshore- empire began.
Apart from being a source of guano for their own use, the islands in the pacific were also a source of other products that could be traded with the Chinese such as bird’s nests, sandalwood and sea slugs. The Americans had been trading with the Chinese since the eighteenth century. Amongst the products that were traded were silk, silver and opium. At first England was the strongest foreign power in the region but due to the Anglo-French Wars, as there were many, their position weakened at the end of the eighteenth century and America started to take their place in China. Not much later, key industries in the US were being established, land was being divided, railway networks were set up and recourses were distributed. Around mid-nineteenth century flourishing industries, an abundance of resources and new technologies resulted in such production quantities that America was ready to consider exporting their own products such as tobacco and cotton. With big migrations to the west coast, partially because of the gold rush and new means of transport now making it easier to travel cross continent, western America now gained more significance. This drive to the west in combination with expanding industries made America search for markets in the Pacific, those of China and Japan in particular. In order to establish and maintain their trading position in China and Japan, the US needed an extensive network of ports and footholds across the Pacific Ocean. Hence, the trade with the Chinese ushered the US into expanding its presence in the Asia Pacific region. To further strengthen their diplomatic and economic ties in the region Commodore Matthew Perry sailed to Japan in 1853. Before that, the US had already signed the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844, a diplomatic agreement that would ensure commerce and peace between the Qing Dynasty and the US. Commodore Perry’s venture into Japan was yet another strategic move of the US to reinforce its status in China and Asia Pacific in general. As mentioned before, as to assert their foothold in the region, the US started focusing on installing operating bases on and appointing consuls to several smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean such as Samoa in in 1956 and Fiji in 1944. The US’ interest in these islands was not so much commercial but rather practical. They would function as thresholds to the Far East for ships to stock up on supplies and pick up commodities to trade with the Chinese. Hawaii stared off as such a threshold as well yet its importance as an operational base grew bigger over the years, eventually leading to Hawaii’s annexation by the US in 1898. This, together with the annexation of Alaska, is an exception to America’s foreign policy however. American expansionism was never about the acquisition of colonies as this contravened the US Constitution that emphasised self-determination and anti-colonialism. They had no interest in ruling any of the countries or islands they were trading with. More so, they tried to keep those markets open for them and others rather than let the Japanese or any European power monopolise the trade in the region. Another part of the ideology behind America’s involvement in the Pacific can be explained by the concept of ‘Manifest Destiny’.
The term ‘Manifest Destiny’ was first coined in the middle of the nineteenth century by John L. O’Sullivan in an article on the annexation of Texas published in August 1845 in The United States Democratic Review.
With his article, O’Sullivan put in words the mind-set of the time concerning the American expansion. The article not only legitimised the expansion from the east coast to the west coast but even more so declared that it was the destiny of America to expand its territory and influence. The article was published in the middle of the Anglo-Mexican war over the states of Texas and California but was later used to legitimise America’s venture into the Pacific and the Far East. Hence, the Americans, believed they were destined for greater things and to expand their influence which not applied to continental expansion but now also to offshore expansion.
Other than economic and diplomatic motives for entering the Pacific, The United States also had religious and to some extend protective motives. From as early as … Americans had been going to the Far East to spread Christianity.