Why did the United States imperialize …?
The United States fought the Spanish-American War in the late 1800s. Spain lost. It was a very short war. Spain gave the US all of its territories. These were the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Guam. The reason for this is that both of Spain’s fleets were destroyed in the war, so Spain could not rule its territories at all. Hawaii was colonized for trade. The US made a deal with the King of Hawaii for exclusive trading rights. The British got mad and invaded, forcing the king to sign the Bayonet Constitution. The US then got permission to build a naval base at Pearl Harbor. Hawaii became a US territory in 1900. Hawaii was still a territory when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. Hawaii became a state in 1959. Cuba and the Philippines became independent nations later on. The US still has a naval base at Guantanamo Bay (this base was originally a Spanish base). Like Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, Guantanamo Bay is still an active US Naval base for security reasons, though this may end soon.
