After the Civil War, the United States took a turn that led it to consolidate itself as a world power. From the late 1800s, when the United States began to gain power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provide their own vision and what America should be through ideas centered on economics, power, and racial superiority. The economy becomes an important factor in American imperialism; but more specifically that expansion into foreign markets is a vital part of America's growth. As historian Charles Beard states, “[it] is indispensable to the prosperity of American business. Modern diplomacy is commercial. Its main concern is the promotion of economic interests abroad” (Kinzer 81). Williams says the people of the United States wanted this change to culminate in business. “Many agricultural entrepreneurs were in difficulty and, if they voted together, they could control national politics. There was, in truth, a crisis before the CRI...