Question

Which of the following arguments could have been used to support the U.S. acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines?
(1 point)
Responses

The United States needed naval bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific and new territory for businesses.
The United States needed naval bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific and new territory for businesses.

The United States needed to stop the spread of communism.
The United States needed to stop the spread of communism.

The United States should be the first Western country to build a colonial empire.
The United States should be the first Western country to build a colonial empire.

The United States needed to help nations that were struggling economically.

Answer 1

The United States needed naval bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific and new territory for businesses.

Reason: Supporters of expansion in 1898 cited strategic naval/coaling stations (Mahanian strategy) and new markets/resources for American industry; anti-communism was a later Cold War rationale, and “first Western colonial empire” is inaccurate (European powers already had empires).