Imperialists and anti-imperialists believed some of the same things, but they are actually very different. Imperialists wanted to keep expanding their land by taking over other “weaker” countries. While anti-imperialists wanted to keep to themselves.

Imperialists spread their power and influence over “weaker” nations. Theodore Roosevelt and President William Mckinley were some famous imperialists. Imperialists believed that they were civilizing the colonies that they took over. They also had a thirst for new markets to make more money. They wanted new, raw materials for factories which would create new jobs. Imperialists wanted to strengthen their military in order to conquer the “weaker” countries. Alfred T. Mahan urged the president for a better navy so they could conquer more countries. They would also get stronger military by taking over these counties because they would either make people join or people would volunteer, and our ports would also be all over the globe.

Anti-imperialists did not want to get involved in other countries’ affairs. Some anti-imperialists were Carl Shurz, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark Twain. They believed it was against the constitution to spread their power or culture over weaker nations. Because of everything that went on, they feared that wages would go down so they wouldn’t get paid as much. They also thought there would be higher taxes that they couldn’t pay because off the wages dropping. The government would raised the taxes because in order to have a strong military you need money to build it up. They also believed if you had colonies you could not trade.

Both imperialists and anti-imperialists thought their way was the best. Imperialists spread Christianity because they thought it was their job, and believed it would make the people they were taking over better. Imperialists and anti-imperialists believed other races could not govern themselves because they were not like them. They showed they were better by excluding people of different color or race from the United States.

Even though anti-imperialists and imperialists have some similarities they have a lot of differences as well. Imperialists like to expand and spread religion, while anti-imperialists do not agree with taking over a country. They only believed in keeping to themselves.