The United States has often seen itself as the standard in human rights and democracy. Going back to Manifest Destiny, the United States saw itself as destined to spread its ideals throughout North America. In return for spreading its ideals, the United States hoped to gain commercial benefits such as fertile soil, minerals, and other natural resources.
This attitude continued after the Frederick Jackson Turner called the frontier "closed" in 1890 as the United States sought to expand its might abroad. The United States was heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden" to spread "civilization" throughout the developing world. The United States was also influenced by Mahan's paper on the importance of a strong navy to secure new markets and resources.
The United States went into the Spanish-American War as both a humanitarian effort to protect Cubans from Spanish atrocities and to protect American business interests. In both...
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WWI and WWII, Americans stepped in to fight German expansion in what they viewed as a threat to democracy. In WWII, Americans also fought against Japanese oppression. During the Cold War, Americans waged war against the Soviet Union, which they viewed as theantithesis of democracy and the primary human rights violator in the world.
In the current War on Terror, the United States has gone to war not only to stamp out extremist groups but to bring democratic principles to Iraq and Afghanistan. While the United States has often not lived up to its own democratic ideals, American exceptionalism has a long tradition in American foreign policy.
How does American history and culture explain current U.S. involvement overseas?
One can use their study of American history and culture to justify or stop United States involvement overseas today.
In the past decades, politicians have used history to justify overseas interventions. In the early 1990s, President George H. W. Bush bolstered his belief that America should attack Iraq by claiming that Saddam Hussein was more brutal than Adolf Hitler. The comparison taps into a version of American history and culture where America stands for freedom and liberty and defends people against violent dictators like Hitler and Hussein. In 1991, Bush sent troops into the region, which began a conflict known as The Gulf War or The First Iraq War.
Years later, the administration of President George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, continually linked Hussein to Hitler to drum up support for their war with Iraq. In 2003, America invaded Iraq.
Now, politicians from both parties are using recent history to justify less involvement overseas. The former Republican President Donald Trump and the current Democratic President Joseph Biden have tried to disentangle America from some of its conflicts with other countries. For example, to get America out of Afghanistan, Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban in 2020. In 2021, Biden abided by the terms and pulled out American troops. One could say that Biden used America's recent unsuccessful history with the Middle East to conclude that its involvement with Afghanistan had to stop. As Biden said, “I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit.”
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