Imperialism is a way of getting control of an area by extending power to another. There were two different aspects of this, the imperialist and the anti-imperialist. Both of these two groups had two different arguments and takes on whether or not the United States should go into the war in Europe.

The imperialist often believed that the United States should go into war for several different arguments, one of the arguments being that there currently was not enough land and the United States need more "elbow room". They wanted the more room for supplies like natural resources and a more open market.

The imperialist simply believed this because of their argument in being superior to other nations when it comes to the different aspects of life like race and beliefs. For example, one of the reasons was the fact that they believed that by joining the war they would be helping those countries and people who are beneath them, so maybe they would be doing some good. They believed that by showing their good side other countries would give them more back as a way of saying thank you.

Another example would be that they often believed that by helping they would gain more natural resources that were believed to be necessary. In addition, it would help with sending their resources to other markets. The last argument that they had was the act of "social Darwinism". This basically said the survival of the fittest, and they wanted to prove to others that they were the surviving country and one of the fitter ones.

However, the other side of the anti-imperialist disagreed with all of that. They believed that the United States should stay out of the war because the country was doing well on its own. They also brought up the point where they believed that the United States did not have the military capacities to even go and possibly win in this war. They simply said that we do not need to go overseas, and they used examples like having enough natural resources to having enough goods. Lastly, they said that there was no need because there are two oceans' worth of isolation between them and the countries at war. They simply did not want to go back to the hard times.

In this debate there were two sides, the imperialist and anti- imperialist. The imperialist wanted to enter this war with great forces and truly believed that it could be won. However, the anti- imperialist believed that it was time to stop fighting and that we should not go into war. Though there were two sides, one against and one for, the United States still entered the war as an allied power.

I personally believe that the toll of going to war was not worth it in the long- run. By going to war many resources from other countries and the United States were depleted. This, in the end, caused hardship for people in different areas.