Many people have said that the United States is an Imperialistic country. While I believe that we have
previously been an imperialistic country, I do not think that we are presently, for three reasons:
- When the United States decides that another country needs help, we go in and help them to the best of our ability. We do not just say "Oh! That country is so cute and has lots of natural resources, lets go take over their people and do what we want with them!"
- All of our territories have been territories of ours for a very long time, and we have not made any recent acquisitions (hence the reason why I believe that we were previously imperialistic).
- When I think of Imperialism, I think of India and the British East India Company, and I do not believe that the United States fits into that category of Imperialism.
Because the definition of Imperialism and what classifies as imperialistic actions is up to the person (aka me) and their personal beliefs, some people may not agree with the points I made above. So, here are the three reasons why I believe we were imperialistic at one point in time:
- Puerto Rico
- Guam
- US Virgin Islands
See? all of those territories were organized and gained by the United States prior to 1920, and none of them were treated like the British treated the Indians or Africans. It may sound hypocritical, because I just said that the US had been imperialistic at one point, but I still do not lump the United States in the same category as any of the European Imperialistic countries because of the rather relaxed and not extreme way in which the United States gained the territories.
The second Boer War was the time between 1899 and 1902 when the Boers of Transvaal and the Orange Free State rebelled against the members of the British Empire. It ended with the British victory, which resulted in the creation of the Union of South Africa. The Boers, Dutch speaking farmers in South Africa, had held a grudge against the British due to the oppressiveness or the British. The most important people on the Boer side were Paul Kruger, the leader of Transvaal, Christiaan de Wet, and important leader of the guerrilla portion of the war, along with many other military and political leaders. On the British side, there was Lord Kitchener, Alfred Miner (who was partially responsible for the start of the war), and Cecil Rhodes. Overall, it was not a very successful revolt, as the British ended up gaining more control over the Boers, but it was a very brave action by the Dutch South Africans.
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was overturned and deemed unconstitutional, I think that it is worthy of being noted. It was a major attempt to improve the quality of life for African-Americans, that was way ahead of it's time. It is pretty much the opposite of the Jim Crow Laws, because it made equal facilities necessary for both white and black people. It proposed fines for those who made equal public accommodations unattainable for black members of the US. I chose this event because of how starkly it contrasted what was happening in Europe with Imperialism. Although the US was attempting to take back control over the Confederation (a little bit like European countries taking control of African and Indian countries), people were trying to integrate the minority, and create equality. I think it is really interesting that there was an Act that proposed equal rights to public attractions around the same time as not only the Jim Crow laws, but also Imperialism in Europe. 
My first US event during the European Imperialistic time period is:
