Describe the way the United States exerted its power in East Asia and Latin America at the turn of the 20th century.

U.S. built a Panama Canal after it had been granted control of the area. During this time, U.S. also expanded its involvement in Latin American affairs. It created the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that U.S. could intervene in any Latin American nation guilty of 'misconduct'. U.S. then took over the debt collection in the Dominican Republic and began to invest in Latin American development in order to strengthen its power. To protect these investments, U.S. sent military forces to different Latin American countries, leading to feelings of resent among people there.