During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, U. S. foreign policy was closely tied to domestic economic concerns. The annexation of Hawaii, the Open Door policy with China, and the construction of the Panama Canal in Latin America were all motivated by an interest in

the answer is a) to be able to obey them.

the answer to fill in the blank in this question would be the word resource, it is defined as the money, material or people (since human resource is a very valuable good) that a company or a person has at disposition (meaning they can use the resource as they see fit), to be able to complete a task or achieve a goal.