The primary motives of European explorers were economic. The supply of precious metals was finite, and monarchs hoped to find large deposits of gold and silver in the Americas. Aside from the possibility of treasure, the European governments aimed to find a passage through the Americas to Asia.
at first they did not want to allow russians to capture Constantinopol because it would strengthen Russia too much.
When Lincoln, at last, stood before his fellow countrymen on March 4, 1865, and had only 703 words to share, the American public was dazed. The President had not attempted the North a victory speech, nor did he excoriate the South for the sin of slavery.
They sought to answer their necessity for growth and industrial production. They were producing and needed more resources and places to sell so they colonized places and they wanted to become stronger so that they could beat other European powers and then they more or less ruined the world with colonization and wars.