By the 1800s, Europe had established various trade treaties with the Ottoman Empire to secure the lucrative Middle Eastern markets for European investors. However, the United States also strengthened its position as one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations on the globe due to its economic stability and military resources during the same period. Nevertheless, its roots in the Middle East date back to as early as the 1750s, allowing it to improve its influence in the Middle East as the region became increasingly vital for Britain and Asia (Blaydes & Paik, 2021). According to historical records, the US began commercially contacting regions like Smyrna, an ancient city found in Turkey by 1767, when the first products were shipped from the region to Boston. Thereafter, US colonists established a trading house in Smyrna in 1811, thus laying the foundations for the American-Ottoman treaty signed on May 7, 1831 (Blaydes & Paik, 2021). Moreover, the geographic location of Middle Eastern countries provided reliable access to India and other global markets, thus encouraging US involvement in the region. Therefore, the US geopolitical interests in the Middle East were initially propagated by its interests in its trade routes and economic viability.
Moreover, the US geopolitical interests in the Middle East were fabricated by their need to achieve sovereignty over all other nations. Thus, their ultimate goal was to seek empowerment within and beyond the US by tapping into the resources of other countries (Kaussler & Hastedt, 2017). Andrew Jackson is one of the pioneers of US foreign relations toward sovereignty due to his ideas that the US was victimized by weak politicians and non-white enemies (Cox & Stokes, 2018). When he became the US president from 1829 to 1837 he prioritized restoring America’s pride. His strategy was to deport all Seminoles Chickasaws, and Choctaws, residing in the southern territories. Jackson suggested that these individuals were hostile and a threat to prosperity. Moreover, he envisioned that his ambitions towards expansion would be possible by removing Indian natives.
Jackson’s geopolitical strategies sought a better relationship with Great Britain since it was a powerful country, the main threat to American sovereignty, and the largest market for slave products. In addition, Andrew Jackson wanted to secure property rights worldwide and open markets either forcefully or by signing treaties. Therefore, he expanded his military forces, pressured nations in debt, and opted for retaliation against savages and pirates who troubled sailors as far as Sumatra (Rubin, 2017). Although Andrew Jackson’s leadership was characterized by a series of conflicts and occasional losses, it played a critical role in establishing the presence of the US in the Pacific. By the mid-1840s, the United States had become a dominant and powerful force in various regions of Asia, especially in China and the Hawaiian islands (Blaydes & Paik, 2021). Moreover, America’s economic motivations enabled it to gain control of resources.
In the 18th century, religion in the US thrived and grew substantially with the formation of various movements and religious denominations. By the end of the 18th Century, the US was booming with religious movements that aimed to spread their beliefs and encourage others to follow in their footsteps (Sharkey, 2017). Nevertheless, most of these religions were sub-denominations of the Catholic Church and larger groups that adhered to Christian teachings. As a result, America’s interests and engagement in Middle Eastern countries were propelled by religious groups, mainly the Presbyterians, who went on various missions that were medical and charitable as well (Sharkey, 2017). The first missionaries to visit the Middle East began their work in the 1820s, thus encouraging philanthropic organizations to join in the expedition. However, rather than seeking to relocate Jews to Palestine, the main aim of American missionaries was to convert Arabs to Christianity (Alçiçek, 2017). However, their initiatives failed because they were met with resistance and hostility. Despite adopting various strategies and solutions to spread the gospel, the missionaries did not convince many Muslims to confer to Christian teachings.
Despite failing in their mission to evangelize and convert locals in the Middle East into Christianity they adopted humanitarian approaches and strategies that led to the establishment of outstanding institutions. Apart from teaching individuals in the region about their faith and moral values, American missionaries also created humanitarian organizations focused on alleviating the plight of people who were suffering and fleeing from prosecution (Meskell, 2020). As a result, they fostered good ties with people in the Middle East by limiting discrimination in terms of religious or cultural backgrounds. Many locals appreciated receiving Christian aid from humanitarian groups since they did not treat people indifferently (Rubin, 2017). Therefore, they spearheaded the idea of goodwill, which increased colonists’ access to the area and allowed collaboration.
Additionally, failure to convert the locals shifted the mission’s focus to other areas like infrastructural and social development. For example, Christian missionaries were the first to build modern educational institutions in the Middle East, thus opening up the region to the rest of the world. As a result, they were able to strengthen the US political ambitions over time. Subsequently, the US played a critical role in the secularization of the Middle East, thus allowing more democratic reforms and movement away from religious dominions (Sharkey, 2017). Initially, women in the Middle East were victims of religion without question. It was taboo for women to divorce their husbands in the 1800s but women can now legally divorce their husbands without facing any reparations. Moreover, nations in the Middle East have thrived and grown into powers that can efficiently and effectively govern themselves despite some of them not being democratic. Therefore, the influence of American evangelism in the area helped improve humanitarian factors.
References
Alçiçek, Y. (2017). Religious geopolitics in the middle east: The importance of Jerusalem for Abrahamic religions (Master’s thesis, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü).
Blaydes, L., & Paik, C. (2021). Muslim trade and city growth before the nineteenth century: comparative urbanization in Europe, the middle east, and central Asia. British Journal of Political Science, 51(2), 845-868. Web.
Cox, M., & Stokes, D. (Eds.). (2018). US foreign policy. Oxford University Press.
Kaussler, B., & Hastedt, G. P. (2017). US foreign policy towards the Middle East: The realpolitik of deceit. Routledge.
Meskell, L. (2020). Imperialism, internationalism, and archaeology in the un/making of the Middle East. American anthropologist, 122(3), 554-567. Web.
Rubin, J. (2017). Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West got rich and the Middle East did not. Cambridge University Press.
Sharkey, H. J. (2017). History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East (Vol. 6). Cambridge University Press.