American imperialism was closely linked to ideas of race and gender. Basically, many white Americans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries believed that white Americans had the responsibility of extending their political, cultural, and economic ideals beyond the boundaries of the United States.

According to the racial ideas of the time, the white race was superior to all others and therefore had the responsibility to “civilize” other races. This was often called “the white man's burden.” Attempts to draw Native Americans into the white culture are prime examples of this, as Native Americans were strongly encouraged and sometimes forced to adopt the dress, language, and customs of white settlers in order to receive government benefits. Moves to annex the Philippines, Hawaii, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico all grew out of these ideas as well.

Gender also played a role in imperialism. White women were viewed as paramount authorities in morality and spirituality. They were set upon a pedestal as a symbol of American civilization and values and presented as such to other races and cultures. They also used their influence to persuade others of the superiority of white American culture, religious, political, and economic. Women in the American west, for instance, were portrayed as examples of the feminine ideal to Native American women. Women also often served as mascots of a sort for various American-made products sold to people of other cultures, and they were thereby presented as the flower of pure womanhood and the height of civilization.