Letter to the Editor
Recently the Maine was sunk in Havanna Harbor. One could have hypothesized such events as these to take place. For a period of time, America seems to have become an empire, taking control of those who are weaker, and threatening those who rebel against us. Claiming it to be our "Manifest Destiny," we have stretched our boundaries and challenged the rightful owners to take back what was theirs. It is no mystery to me, why Cuba has rebelled so vigorously. It is my opinion that we are violating the rights of Cuban's, and should immediately halt all involvement with Cuba.
The United States has made many ill-advised decisions in its dealings with other countries. Our foreign policy seems to be one of conquering and imperialism. In the Alabama Claims, we claimed damages from Great Britain to some of our ships and responded with threats. Finally, an agreement called the Treaty of Washington was established.
Henry Cabot Lodge. Cropped, retouched, histogram f...
Title page of Alfred Thayer Mahan's book The Influ...
United StatesDuring the unrest in Mexico, we sent in troops to put down French forces, and provoked a war with France. This move, although intelligible by means of keeping France away from our borders, seemed to bring on even more conflicts. In Samoa, the US came dangerously close to war with Germany, and this is not the only occasion. In 1891, the US ship the Baltimore was attacked by an unruly mob in Chile, causing President Harrison to declare war. Immediately, Chile ceded and paid reparations. Queen Liliuokalani's on-going struggle for Hawaii is another prime example of our imperialistic ways. At one time, soldiers were sent to overthrow the queen because of her decision to keep out all Americans. The easiest recognizable conflict thus far would have to be the boundary disputes in Venezuela. We squabbled over property ownership of certain areas of...