Imperialism and America

Main Idea

Beginning in 1867 and continuing through the century, global competition caused the United

States to expand.

Why it Matters Today

During this time period, the United States acquired Hawaii and Alaska, both of which

became states in 1959.

AMERICA CLAIMS AN EMPIRE

Foreign Policy?• For what reasons did the U.S. acquire territories such

as Florida, Louisiana, and Texas?– God, Gold, and Glory

• Did these territories have political, social, and economic reasons to be acquired?– Spoils of war, Homestead Act, Open the door

for settlers, etc.• Why would the U.S. want to acquire lands outside the

borders of the continental U.S.?– New Markets, new alliances, new opportunities

for American businesses, naval bases for refueling.

Does the U.S. have a duty to fight for freedom in

neighboring countries?

IMPERIALISM AND AMERICA

• Throughout the 19th century America expanded control of the continent to the Pacific Ocean

• By 1880, many American leaders felt the U.S. should join European nations and establish colonies overseas

• Thus began America’s foray into Imperialism – the policy in which stronger nations extend control over weaker nations (economically, physically, & culturally)

Global Competition

►Africa was a prime target of European expansionism.– Ethiopia and Liberia- remained

independent

►Imperialist competed for Asia– Japan joined European nations in

competition

World Colonial Empires, 1900

Three Factors Fueled the New American Imperialism

WHY IMPERIALISM?

• 1) Thirst for new markets – to spur economy & trade

• 2) Desire for Military strength – Alfred T. Mahan advised strong navy. Influence of Sea Power in History

• 3) Belief in Cultural Superiority – a belief that Anglo-Saxons were superior

Matthew Perry-The Great White Fleet

• It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with various escorts.

• Roosevelt sought to demonstrate growing American military power and blue-water navy capability.

• Hoping to enforce treaties and protect overseas holdings, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds to build American sea power.

THE U.S. ACQUIRES ALASKA

• In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward arranged for the United States to buy Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million– A Buffer between the U.S. &

Russia• Some thought it was a silly

idea and called it “Seward’s Icebox”

• Time has shown how smart it was to buy Alaska for 2 cents an acre

• Alaska is rich in timber, minerals and oil

Alaska

U.S. TAKES HAWAII• Hawaii had been economically

important to Americans for centuries• To avoid import taxes (tariffs), sugar

growers pleaded for annexation– White American dominated the

island• 1875- Treaty allows Hawaiian sugar

to be sold duty free.• 1893- John L. Stevens (Ambassador

of Hawaii)- organized a revolution• The U.S. knew the value of the

Islands – they had built a naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1887 – 1887- Whites force King Kalakaua

to accept political reform.– Giving wealthy landowners have

voting rights. He dies in 1891.

• McKinley Tariff (1890)- protective tariff

• 1891- Queen Liliuokalani tries to regain power.

• 1897- McKinley favors annexation

• Led by Sanford Dole, American annexed Hawaii in 1898 and it formally became a state in 1959

Hawaiian Islands

World Colonial Empires, 1900

THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

• America had long held an interest in Cuba

• When Cubans unsuccessfully rebelled against Spanish rule in the late 19th century, American sympathy went out to the Cuban people

• After Spain abolished slavery in Cuba in 1886, Americans invested millions in Cuban sugar Cuba is just 90 miles south

of Florida

CUBA’S SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE-(Cause #1)

• Anti-Spain sentiment in Cuba soon erupted into a second war for independence

• Led by poet Jose Marti, Cuba attempted a revolution in 1895

• Marti deliberately destroyed property, including American sugar plants, hoping to provoke American interventionMarti

War Fever EscaltesCause #2

• Spain responded by sending General Valeriano Weyler (The Butcher) to suppress the Cuban revolt.– Places Cubans in concentration camps

WAR FEVER ESCALATES(Cause #3)

• Newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) and Joseph Pulitzer (New York World) exaggerated Spanish atrocities and brutality in “Headline Wars”

• Hearst- “You provide the pictures, I’ll furnish the war”

• Yellow Journalism- style of writing that exaggerates the truth

Political cartoon: Pulitzer (left) and Hearst escalating and instigating war

between the U.S. and Spain

De Lome Letter(Cause # 4)

• 1898- New York Journal published a private letter written by Enrique Dupuy de Lome (Spanish minister to the U.S.).

• The letter criticized President McKinley, calling him “weak”.

• This angered Americans over the insult of their president.

U.S.S MAINE EXPLODES(Cause #5)

• Early in 1888, President McKinley ordered the U.S.S. Maine to Cuba in order to bring home American citizens in danger– De Lome Letter

• On February 15, 1898 the ship blew up in the harbor of Havana

• More than 260 men were killed

Before

After

The Maine Explodes

Unknown artist , 1898

Notice the men flying dramatically through the air

WAR ERUPTS WITH SPAIN

• There was no holding back those that wanted war with Spain

• Newspapers blamed the Spanish for bombing the U.S.S. Maine (recent investigations have shown it was a fire inside the Maine)

• “Remember the Maine!” became a rallying cry for U.S. intervention in Cuba

THE WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES(Event #1)

• U.S. forces surprised Spain by attacking the Spanish colony of the Philippines– April 30, Commodore

George Dewey opened fire on the Spanish fleet at Manila

– 7 hours to capture the fleet.• 11,000 Americans joined

forces with Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo

• By August, 1898 Spain had surrendered to the U.S. in Manila

THE WAR IN THE CARIBBEAN(Event #2)

• A naval blockade of Cuba was followed by a land invasion highlighted by Roosevelt’s Rough Rider victory at San Juan Hill

• Next, the American Navy destroyed the Spanish fleet and paved the way for an invasion of Puerto Rico (Spanish colony)

War with Spain: Caribbean

U.S. WINS; SIGNS TREATY OF PARIS(Event/Outcome #3)

• The U.S. and Spain signed an armistice on August 12, 1898, ending what Secretary of State John Hay called “a splendid little war”

• The war lasted only 16 weeks

• Treaty of Paris (Outcomes)– Cuba was now

independent***-( with limits)

– U.S. receives Guam, Puerto Rico, and “bought” the Philippines for $20 million

Treaty of Paris, 1898

Treaty of Paris Debate

►Debate over annexation of the Philippines

►Opponents formed the Anti-Imperialist League

►February, 1899--ratification of peace treaty makes U.S. a colonizing nation

Why is the Spanish-American War considered the turning point in American history?

• It marked the end of Spanish colonial empire and the emergence of the U.S. as a world power. The U.S. enters the world stage and leaves its isolationist policies behind and expands the nation with new territories.

ACQUIRING NEW LANDS• The U.S had to decide how

to rule the new lands• Puerto Rico wanted their

independence– but the U.S. had other plans. – Becomes a

Protectorate• Puerto Rico was important

to the U.S. strategically– Location-Presence in

Latin America• Foraker Act- The U.S. set

up a civil government, No citizenship; (didn’t receive full citizenship until 1917), and a bicameral system

• Insular Cases(1901)- Does the constitution follow the Flag?

– No- they were unincorporated

Insular Cases• Former Chief Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court Justice

Jose Trias Monge contends that the Insular Cases were based on premises that would be considered bizarre today, specifically, that:– Democracy and colonialism are "fully compatible"– There is "nothing wrong when a democracy such as the

United States engages in the business of governing other" subjects that have not participated in their democratic election process

– People are not created equal, some races being superior to others

– It is the "burden of the superior peoples, the white man's burden, to bring up others in their image, except to the extent that the nation which possesses them should in due time determine"

CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES

• The Treaty of Paris granted full independence to Cuba– Protectorate

• U.S. wanted to protect American businesses

• The U.S signed an agreement with Cuba known as the Platt Amendment 1903– Couldn’t make treaties– U.S. could intervene in

Cuba– Cuba couldn’t collect

debt– U.S. could lease land

(Naval Base) Today the U.S. has a prison in Guantanamo

Bay, Cuba

• What is on the menu at this restaurant?• Which president does the waiter portray?• What is Uncle Sam’s attitude about the offerings on the menu?

FILIPINOS REBEL• Filipinos reacted with rage

to the American annexation– Protectorate

• Rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo vowed to fight for freedom and in 1899 he led a rebellion – Philippine-American War

• The 3-year war claimed 20,000 Filipino rebels, 4,000 American lives and $400,000,000 (20x the price the U.S. paid for the land)– Majority African Americans

U.S. troops fire on rebels

FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN CHINA

• China was a vast potential market for American products– Trading Partner

• Weakened by war and foreign intervention, many European countries had colonized in China– Boxer Rebellion

• In 1889, John Hay, U.S. Secretary of State, issued the Open Door Policy which outlined his plan for free trade among nations in China

Foreign nations were opening the door to China’s trade

BOXER REBELLION• European nations

dominated China’s cities• Resentment arose in the

form of secret societies determined to rid China of these “foreign devils”

• The Boxer’s were a secret group that rioted in 1900, killing and vandalizing all things foreign

• Foreign Troops were called in to put down this “Boxer Rebellion”

Spheres of Influence

• Sphere of influence (SOI)- is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization (Country) has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity.

Protecting American Rights

►Open Door Policy (Sec. of State-John Hay) reflected three deeply held American beliefs about the U.S. industrial capitalist economy:– U.S. growth depended upon exports– U.S. had right to intervene to keep foreign

markets open– Closing areas to American products, citizens, or

ideas threatened U.S. survival.

America as a World PowerMain Idea

The Russo-Japanese War, the Panama Canal, and the Mexican Revolution added to America’s

military and economic power.

Why it Matter Today

American involvement in conflicts around 1900 led to involvement in World War I and later to a

peacekeeper role in today’s world.

AMERICA AS A WORLD POWER

• Two events signaled America’s continued climb toward being the #1 world power

• 1) Roosevelt negotiated a settlement between Russia and Japan who had been at War – his successful efforts in negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth won Roosevelt the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize

• 2) Construction of Panama Canal

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually

THE PANAMA CANAL• By the early 20th century,

many Americans understood the advantages of a canal through Panama

• It would greatly reduce travel times for commercial and military ships by providing a short cut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

“The shortcut”

BUILDING THE PANAMA CANAL 1904-1914

• The French had already unsuccessfully attempted to build a canal through Panama

• America first had to help Panama win their independence from Colombia – which it did

• Construction of the Canal stands as one of the greatest engineering feats of all-time

Cost- $380 million Workers– Over 40,000 (5,600 died) Time – Construction took 10 years

Roosevelt and the World► Constructing the Canal

– Builders battled disease– Workers were from Spain,

Italy; ¾ were blacks from the West Indies;

– 5,600 died from accidents or disease

– 10 years to build– August 15, 1914- Canal

opened► Roosevelt Corollary

– “Speak softly and carry a big stick”

– 1904- Roosevelt Corollary-U.S. would use force to protect its economic interests in Latin America

• Dollar Diplomacy– Taft- his policy of America

loaning money to Latin American countries

This view, provided by NASA, shows the thin blue line (canal) cutting across the middle of Panama

Almost 1,000,000 ships have passed through the canal, which became sole property of Panama in the year 2000

Taft &Dollar Dipolmacy

• Dollar Diplomacy- using U.S. Government to guarantee loans made to foreign countries by American businesspeople.

• Nicaragua– 1911- loaned money to Nicaragua to pay off its

debt.– When they couldn’t pay off the loans, bankers took

control of the railroad system and its national bank.

Woodrow Wilson’s Missionary Diplomacy

► Monroe Doctrine in 1823 warned against any nations expanding their influence in Latin America.

► Wilson’s “Missionary Diplomacy”, had a moral responsibility to deny any Latin American government it viewed oppressive, or hostile to U.S. interest.

Activities of the United States in the Caribbean, 1898-1930

Chasing Villa►President Wilson ordered Gen. John Pershing an

about 15,000 soldiers to capture Villa dead or alive.►Troops clash with Mexican army in 1916.►Pershing is ordered home in 1917.►U.S. pursued and achieved several foreign policy

goals in the early 20th century.– Expanded access to foreign markets– U.S. built a modern day navy– U.S. exercised its police power to ensure dominance in

Latin America

Roosevelt/Taft/Wilson Foreign Policies