Presidential Biographies | Benjamin Harrison Administration - Foreign Issues

Foreign Issues

A variety of factors contributed to the Harrison administration's development of a foreign policy that emphasized expansion. One reason was the presumed need for foreign markets to ensure prosperity by providing purchasers for surplus agricultural and industrial production's. A less tangible cause, but probably more important determinant, was a growing sense of national greatness fostered by preservation of the Union through the American Civil War (1861–65) and the rapid economic growth that followed. A religious people, many in the United States believed God had marked them to carry their civilization beyond North America to the world's less fortunate. Many who were less charitable or religious in their opinions believed that the white "Anglo-Saxon race" was the most advanced people of the earth, and therefore had the right to control other peoples. Whichever motivated individuals to act, Harrison became president...