In the 1840s and 1890s, a series of debates took place in the United States concerning American expansionism. Even though in both eras this American expansionism was supported, it was also opposed in each time period due to different motives.
Regarding the similarities in the debates, the American expansionism’s enthusiasts, in both the 1840s and 1890s, had a number of social, political, and economic reasons to support the expansion. In the 1840s, supporters of expansion argued that it was the Manifest Destiny of the United States to expand until it had acquired all of North America. Similarly, in the 1890s, among the reasons claimed by the pro-expansionists to support the American expansion were the search for new markets, the closing of the frontier and increased nationalism.
In contrast, the American expansionism, in both the 1840s and 1890s, also had Opponents. The 1840s the American expansionism’s Opponents, represented mostly by the northern anti-slavery parties, feared that slavery would spread into the new territories. In the same way, the 1890s, those in opposition to the American expansionism feared that the United States risked hypocrisy by practicing imperialism.
