The Dark Side of American History: The Betrayal of Self-determination

“That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” - The Declaration of Independence

At the birth of the United States one of the main principles of it's founding was the idea that a nation's people held the sole authority to choose the government that would rule over them. This idea was revolutionary at the time, for the first time putting forth the idea that a government was put in its position of power not by God, but by the consensus of its population. For the first century of America's existence this idea was held as one of our core principles. With the Monroe doctrine we stood up for the rights of South American countries to eject their European colonial powers and remain free of political influence from Europe. The U.S. remained isolated from European wars and affairs, concentrating on taming our unsettled (by whites), wild frontier.

Even at these early stages, though, hypocrisy started wearing through the fabric of our ideals. Despite the Cherokee nation's adoption of a written language and constitution we continued to treat them as an obstacle to the prosperity of white people, eventually forcibly removing them to Oklahoma. Admiral Matthew C. Perry opened the ports and markets of Japan at gunpoint, causing a civil war in that nation. When the Civil War came we decided, for better or worse, that unity held precedence over independence. These decisions laid the groundwork for American imperialism.

After the frontier closed the elite in America almost immediately accepted imperialism, whether political, cultural or economic as a means of spreading and growing our nation's wealth and prosperity. In 1896 a group of American plantation owners convinced President McKinley to annex Hawaii, against the wishes of its government and its people. In 1894 the U.S. joined the European powers in carving up China into spheres of influence, and remained an outside actor in that country until its Communist Revolution after World War II. In 1898 the U.S. Invaded Cuba and the Philippines, ostensibly coming to the aid of the revolutionary government of Cuba, but in actuality entering the world stage as an imperial power and projecting our influence on countries where it was unwanted. Despite the gruesome conflict that sprang up in the Philippines after our occupation of that country the U.S. elite did not shy away from its interventionist activities, and for the next half century treated South America as its political and economic playground.

In 1901 the U.S. fomented the Panamanian Revolution, in order to get a better deal on the land needed to construct the Panama Canal. In 1912 American troops landed in Nicaragua, remaining there in some capacity or another until 1933, on some occasions supporting an unpopular government or preventing the seating of an elected candidate. Honduras and Guatemala suffered similar fates, being routinely threatened or occupied by American troops to protect American interests, largely on the behest of multinational corporations such as United Fruit, who were the cause of much of the unrest as lower classes attempted to regain the land that the plantation owners had monopolized. The U.S. remained in these countries until it was satisfied that a government was in place that would not nationalize the assets of these American-based corporations.

One intervention that is nearly completely unknown by Americans may have had more impact on our history than any other. This is the intervention by U.S. troops from 1918 to 1920 following the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, in an effort to reinstate the “White” Russian capitalist government. America always held itself as the moral superior in the Cold War, but we made the first aggressive move, and started the antagonism that shaped the world's foreign policy for the rest of the 20^th century.

The Cold War set the stage for American interventionist actions after WWII. With the specter of communism menacing the American people, the government was likely to interfere in any country that started speaking of nationalization. The Korean War was the first instance of the superpowers holding a proxy battle in another country. The Vietnam War, however, was not an instance of the U.S. fighting troops supported by international communism, but of first supporting a colonial power that was rightly ejected and then a corrupt dictatorship that did not have the support of the masses.

When Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister nationalized the oil industry there in 1951 British and U.S. interests collaborated in deposing him and placing the hated Shah in power. This action was the beginning of U.S. actions in the Middle East which lead to the hatred that exist towards the U.S. in the region to this day. The situation was exacerbated when the U.S. supported both sides of the Iraq/Iran War and extended to central Asia when the U.S. supported Afghan troops against the Soviet invasion, only to abandon the country when the Soviets withdrew.

Americans often wonder why so many people in the world hold enmity towards them, and that is because they are ignorant of their country's imperialist history. Since the Iran Hostage crisis in 1980 we have reaped the seeds of strife that we have sown since the beginning of the 20^th century. Their citizens fail to understand that the memory of these transgressions is more intensely felt in the nations where they occurred, and their politicians fail to accept that their actions will have dire consequences for future generations.

Wikipedia:
Separation of Panama from Colombia

Annexation -- the Territory of Hawaii

American Expeditionary Force Siberia

Timeline of United States military actions