In the process of expanding its territory and sphere of influence and becoming a global hegemon, the United States has constantly promoted the so-called “Manifest Destiny” and “American exceptionalism”, but this cannot conceal its aggressiveness and predatory nature in any way.
Paul Atwood, American historian and senior lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Boston, writes in War and Empire: The American Way of Life: The history of the United States is a history of war and expansion . . . way of life. This “belligerent” factor has emerged since the founding of the United States and has gradually grown.
On July 4, 1776, the 13 North American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. At this time, the territory of the United States was only the area of 13 states along the Atlantic coast, about 800,000 square kilometers. Today, the land area of the United States is more than 10 times that of that year, ranking among the top four in the world. Moreover, by controlling many strategic locations on the global ocean map and establishing a military presence, the United States has global hegemony.
In the process of expanding its territory and sphere of influence and becoming a global hegemon, the United States has constantly promoted the so-called “Manifest Destiny” and “American exceptionalism”, but this cannot conceal its aggressiveness and predatory nature in any way.
The cruelty of “Manifest Destiny” The rapid expansion of the
US territory is of great strategic significance to the US economic development, and has laid a solid material foundation for the US to quickly embark on the development path of a superpower and dominate the world.
”During the 19th century, the US territory expanded from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast.” Gong Ting, an associate researcher at the Institute of American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said, “In 1803, the US purchased Louisiana from France. In 1819, the US bought Louisiana from France. Spain acquired Florida. In the 1840s and 1950s, the United States acquired Texas, New Mexico, and California through the Mexican-American War. During this period, the United States acquired Oregon from the United Kingdom. In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Tsarist Russia. .In 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii.”
As Wang Peng, a senior researcher at the Center for American Studies at Zhejiang University of International Studies, pointed out: “In the process of territorial expansion, the United States has found excuses to launch wars, forced ‘purchases’, and armed occupation.” Among them, the US-Mexico War is particularly worthy of study. “The U.S.-Mexico War was a war of aggression launched by the United States against Mexico during the westward movement and territorial expansion. This war not only allowed the United States to acquire a territory of about 2.3 million square kilometers, but also greatly expanded the territory of the United States in the process of industrialization. Needed market. But this is a disaster for Mexico, not only depriving more than half of its territory, but also greatly delaying its modernization process.” Gong Ting said.
During the Mexican-American War, Marx, as a bystander, commented on the nature of the Mexican-American War in his article “The Civil War in North America”: “In order to ensure its power in the Senate and ensure its leadership over the United States through the Senate, the southern United States must New slave states need to be continuously established.”
In the Mexican-American War, the United States paid a low price, gained so much spoils, and did so much damage to the independent country of Mexico, which is amazing. What is even more shocking is that the United States has found a high-sounding excuse for its aggression.
In 1845, an American writer named John O’Sullivan published an infamous article titled “Annexation” in the magazine “Democratic Review” he founded, in the name of “God”, Find the rationale for America’s aggression and expansion on the American continent. O’Sullivan referred to the act of expansion as “realizing the natural destiny of expanding freely for the millions of people who increase every year on this God-given continent.” The territorial expansion of the United States is not only not an immoral aggression, but to achieve The glorious task of “freedom”.
”Manifest Destiny” was popular in the United States in the 19th century. Supporters believed that the United States must expand its territory and sphere of influence and spread its values.
Gong Ting said: “The concept of ‘Manifest Destiny’ has had a long-term and profound impact on the foreign behavior of the United States, and fundamentally puts a cloak of ‘legitimacy’ on American expansionism.”
The blood and tears of the Indians
In the nearly 100 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the United States has adopted policies such as the Westward Movement, or coerced and lured the aborigines to sign land transfer agreements with unequal conditions, or issued administrative orders to force the aborigines to relocate, or directly used force to massacre and drive them away. Through various disgraceful means, the U.S. government took away about 6 million square kilometers of land from the indigenous people, accounting for about two-thirds of the land area of the United States.
Before the arrival of white colonists, Indians were distributed almost all over the United States, but today they are hard to find in the major cities on the east and west coasts. Today, on the vast land of the United States, there are no traces of the homes that originally belonged to the aborigines, and only sporadic “reservations” remain to witness their tragic experience of discrimination and marginalization. It can be said that the history of territorial expansion of the United States is also a history of blood and tears of Native American Indians.
In 1830, then US President Andrew Jackson signed the “Indian Removal Act”, authorizing the federal government to move Indians from the east of the Mississippi River to the “Indian Territory” west of the Mississippi River. Indian tribes had to retreat to the “reservations” stipulated by the US government. These remote “reservations” have high rates of poverty, poor housing and sanitation, and widespread lack of water and electricity. What’s more serious is that Indian “reservations” are also used as places to dump toxic garbage or nuclear waste, and the resulting environmental and health problems have tortured generations of Indians.
”The war waged by the U.S. government against the Indians was a war of genocide for the American Indians.” Jeffrey Ostler, a professor of history at the University of Oregon in the United States, believes that “the definition of ‘freedom’ established by early Americans On the basis of seizing the land and lives of the natives. The US leaders’ so-called defense of ‘civilization’ became a reason for them to kill the Indians.”
The arrogance of “American exceptionalism”
“At the end of the 19th century, the United States basically completed land territorial expansion , forming a territory across the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. After the 20th century, the United States mainly went to the world through maritime expansion, and expanded its influence by emphasizing sea power, and finally became the world hegemony.” Gong Ting said.
In the process of expanding the territory and sphere of influence of the United States, the “Monroe Doctrine” is particularly conspicuous. “The ‘Monroe Doctrine’ means ‘American affairs are the affairs of the Americans’. It is actually a diplomatic declaration of the United States pursuing expansionism and seeking to control Latin America.” Gong Ting pointed out, “After the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ was put forward, the United States It further intensified competition with European powers such as Britain, France, and Spain in the Americas, and later won the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War. It not only achieved territorial expansion and development, but also basically drove Spain and other “suzerain” forces out of Latin America. For a long time, the United States has regarded Latin America as its “backyard” and “sphere of influence”, and has frequently resorted to military invasion, political interference, economic blockade and control, and cultural infiltration to expand its control over the region and ensure its presence in the Americas. sphere of influence.” At the end of
the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the national power of the United States became stronger and stronger. During this period, the United States not only consolidated its hegemonic position in the Americas, but also had the strength to expand globally. In the face of imperialism expanding its sphere of influence in various parts of the world, the emerging power of the United States is also eager to try. The United States first defeated Spain in Cuba, and then occupied the Philippines, demonstrating its determination to compete for the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, the United States promoted the opening of the door in China, giving full play to its advantages in business, avoiding friction with other powers, and maximizing its interests in China.
The addiction to the use of force in the United States is also related to the export of values. The United States has always called itself a “city on a hill”, believes in “American exceptionalism”, has long been obsessed with advocating the so-called “universal values” it defines, and uses this as an excuse to blatantly interfere in countries with different values. For countries that do not succumb to the US’s despotic power, the United States often finds excuses to use force, and even pulls in “group fights” with its allies, and shamelessly describes itself as a “justice teacher.” As David Courtwright, a professor of history at the University of North Florida in the United States, said, violence is the most fundamental problem in American history, and it is also the “dark backside” of American freedom and prosperity.
