Answer:
The new United States territories of the Philippines and Hawaii provided new naval bases in the Pacific Ocean, which were key strategic points to control trade in that area.
Explanation:
Since the beginning of the 19th century, with the elaboration of the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the United States sought to expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Finally, with the acquisition of California and Oregon, the country achieved its long-awaited bioceanity.
But once reached the limit of the continent, the United States sought to continue expanding, not territorially but commercially and strategically. This was how the country began to need intermediate points to trade with Asia, since Asian territories were far away from the American Pacific coast ports. Therefore, at the end of the 19th century, the United States annexed Hawaii and the Philippines, to use these territories as commercial and military bases, with which to exert their influence in the Pacific, and thus avoid the commercial expansion of powers such as Japan and Russia.
