ABSTRACT
The economic power of the United States drew millions of migrants across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. At the same time, this economic power played a major role in the United States’ expansion beyond its borders. Many corporate and labor union leaders believed United States industry had saturated the country’s domestic markets. They sought new avenues to resolve this vexing challenge. At the same time, some policy makers had ambitions that the United States should become a world power. For these men, power translated into a modern navy and the ability to project United States power overseas. The war with Spain in 1898 resolved the problems facing the domestic economy and the need to demonstrate the nation’s power beyond its borders.
