America Imperialism “We will establish trading posts throughout the world as distributing points for American products.” This is how Senator Albert Beveridge explained the need for the U.S. to acquire new territories. What he meant by this statement is that instead of having only a few trading posts, the U.S. actually needed more trading posts closer to other countries. These posts could be used to bargain with those countries for supplies and to increase U.S. imports and exports. Alaska and Hawaii are two examples of newly developed trading posts in this era. In 1867 the U.S. purchased land now known as Alaska from Russia. There were plenty of benefits in buying this territory from Russia, one of them being a remote trading post. Timber and minerals were some of its resources. The U.S. used these materials locally and as exports to other countries. The land itself was another beneficial resource. This purchase helped the U.S. economically by not only having a remote trading post but in providing a huge landscape for crops. Oil was also plentiful in this region. Oil was used as fuel which increased transportation in our country. For example, fuel for cars, and fuel for ships which allowed for increased imports and exports from the trading post.
Hawaii became a trading post in the 1890’s between America and China. This port was a helpful trading post due to the amount of the tariffs collected on the high volume of imported goods. A tariff is money collected, or simply a tax that is charged for imported goods. This action was guided by the McKinley Tariff of 1890. The U.S. became a