The March of the Flag

In the March of the Flag, Beveridge argues that the United States has a duty to annex areas like Puerto Rico and Cuba so that they might be exposed to American democracy and that Americans might have additional markets to utilize. This was a question that many Americans were debating leading up to the Spanish-American War. Beveridge argued that to take Carribean nations was simply an extention of manifest destiny, much as the original colonists had branched out to envelope the entire landmass that is now the United States. I believe Joe would not be as diametrically opposed to Beveridge's opinion as he would be D'Souza. It would depend on the circumstances. I believe Joe would be more willing if the people in these countries were in favor of having democracy spread to them. However, the situation would be differant if these countries had no interest. Then the United States would simply be imposing its own value system on other countries, something that Joe explicitly comes out against believing that the United States hasn't the right at all.