U.S. Expansion in the Late Gilded Age--Arguments For & Against

The link below has an interesting discussion regarding the "philosophical underpinnings" of US imperialism. Keep in mind that many of these "rationalizations" for empire were voiced and embraced not only in Washington, D.C. and New York City, but also in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, and even Brussels.
US Expansion
View these brief clips (from a very good History Channel documentary on the war's centennial) in order from top to bottom after reading the essay above.




Note that the majority of Americans who do oppose expansion do so not out of the sense that empire and democracy don't mix, but out of racialized fears of integrating dark-skinned natives into America's body politic.