On the one hand, the proponents of imperialism in the United States had many strong arguments. Without any doubt, the most powerful of them was that international trade could create many economic opportunities, which would largely contribute to the nation’s progress. The country produced great numbers of industrial and commercial goods, and some intellectuals worried that Americans would not be able to consume them in the following decades. Hence, it was necessary to search for new markets to sell products and continue to develop industrially. Furthermore, other dominating countries, such as Britain, France, and Spain, practiced imperialism, building their naval forces. The proponents of the policy believed that the United States would miss the opportunity to boost its military strength unless the country gave up isolationism. British control of the seas was growing at the end of the 19th century, and it produced many risks for Americans’ security and economic prosperity.
On the other hand, the supporters of imperialism offered multiple weak and irrational arguments. For example, some of them assumed that small states could not survive and flourish back then, though the 20th century proved the contrary. The British Empire spectacularly fell apart, as it was extremely difficult to effectively rule individuals with different cultural backgrounds, desiring to have their own countries. Moreover, imperialists were convinced that the American nation was superior and had the right to evade other lands. They believed that their values, traditions, and beliefs are the best and need to be spread across the planet. The policy proponents particularly emphasized the superiority of their race, and this idea was completely subjective. In general, this argument was unreasonable and undermined the principle of equality of every human being.