A Letter to an EmperorThis document source basically shows how the Americans came to Japan and practiced "gunboat diplomacy" on Japan in order to open up its country and abandon his closed country. door policy. The writer wrote that America, in his home country, was darkened by "the horrors of the Civil War" and many other domestic problems, such as the purchase of Native American lands in the north and dealings with Western nations like the British to expel them from American lands. The term "manifest destiny" in the 1840s, based on the American perspective, refers to America's aspiration to help countries in other parts of the world realize their full potential to become a modern, self-governing state ( Mark, 1995). Overall, from these unpleasant past experiences, America began to formulate policies that encompassed the nationalism of American pride in nature, hence the birth of the term "manifest destiny." In addition, pressure from other major Western powers to impose themselves in other parts of the world provided great incentive for America to venture through expansionist moves "to the far west, to Asia." and the Pacific. expansion towards Asia and the Pacific. America, as mentioned in the source, had Captain Alfred T. Mahan as the man behind the American Naval Expeditionary Army during this period. In a book about Captain Alfred, he was described as an intelligent expansionist who was only interested in expansion by having "a strong navy which would require island possessions to serve as naval bases" and who did not care to ensure the well-being and development of the places colonized by America (Mahan, 2004). Moreover, Western countries are already venturing and ...... middle of article ......fluence.(1478 words)Bibliography• Beasley, WG (1972). The Meiji Restoration. California: Stanford University Press. • Cheng, P.-k. (1999). The Search for Modern China: A Documentary History. Zhongli yamen document on unequal treaties. New York: Norton. • Gerstle, California (2000). 18th century Japan: culture and society. Routledge. • Mahan, A. T. (2004). The influence of maritime power on history. Digital Antiquaria. • Mak, D.K. (2009). Solve everyday problems with the scientific method: think like a scientist. Singapore: World Scientific. • Merk, F. (1995). Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History: A Reinterpretation. United States of America: Harvard University Press. • Tarling, N. (1992). The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: From Early Times to c. 1800. Singapore: Cambridge University Press Service.