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Abstract
The impact of culture on U.S. foreign policy, and Dominican responses to U.S. actions, are evident in the intervention and occupation of the Dominican Republic from 1916 - 1924. Long present aspects of U.S. culture, including Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism, influenced foreign policy decisions made by U.S. government during the occupation. There are many examples of that type of influence elsewhere in the nineteenth century, including the westward expansion within the North America and the acquisition of Mexican territory. Dominican history and culture influenced the patterns of Dominican resistance during U.S. occupation, both within the Dominican Republic and throughout the Western Hemisphere. U.S. intervention and occupation in the Dominican Republic (and other Circum-Caribbean nations) occurred because of the culturally created concepts of Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, and other culturally influenced ideologies, and the Dominican responses to the U.S. were grounded in the history and culture of the Dominican Republic.