Spanish-American WarSpanish-American War

American Neo-ImperialismAmerican Neo-Imperialism

And American Foreign PolicyAnd American Foreign Policy

Platt Amendment (1901)Platt Amendment (1901)U.S.-Cuban Agreement:U.S.-Cuban Agreement:

• Never to sign a treaty with foreign power that Never to sign a treaty with foreign power that impairs independence.impairs independence.

• Never to build up an excessive public debtNever to build up an excessive public debt

• To permit the U.S. to intervene in Cuba’s affairs To permit the U.S. to intervene in Cuba’s affairs to preserve its independence and maintain law to preserve its independence and maintain law and orderand order

• To allow the U.S. to maintain naval bases in To allow the U.S. to maintain naval bases in Cuba, including one at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba, including one at Guantanamo Bay.

Open Door Policy with ChinaOpen Door Policy with China

• John Hay – spheres of influence

• Boxer Rebellion

• Hay’s Second Note:

1. Preserve China’s territorial integrity

2. Safeguard “equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese empire.”

Panama CanalPanama Canal

• Rationale for Canal:– Revolution in Panama – Columbian Influence– U.S. connection from Pacific to Atlantic

• Military• Imperialism and trade / spheres of influence• Future income from use• Limit availability and control/persuade other

nations for use agreements.

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)

• Great Britain agreed to abrogate an earlier 1850 agreement in which a Central American canal would be U.S. and British. Abrogate = cancel

• U.S. can now build canal without British control.

Building the CanalBuilding the Canal

• Started in 1904 – completed in 1914

• George Goethals and Dr.William Gorgas

– Goethals: Chief engineer and canal zone administrator

– Gorgas: Minimizes yellow fever do to mosquitoes

Roosevelt Corollary to the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine Monroe Doctrine

• Latin American financial debt to Europe.

– 1902 – British war ships dispatched to Venezuela for repayment of debt.

– 1904 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: European repayment of debt and land disputes.

– Dec. 1904 – U.S. will intervene instead. (Roosevelt Corollary) U.S. would occupy major ports collection of taxes to satisfy foreign debt.

– 1912 - Lodge Corollary

Roosevelt Corollary in UseRoosevelt Corollary in Use

• Over the next 20yrs:– Haiti– Honduras– Dominican Republic– Nicaragua– Long-term result is U.S. negative (resented)

relationship with Latin America.

Presidency in TroublePresidency in Trouble• Latin America angered at T.R.’s role in Panama

Revolution.• Teller Amendment – U.S. limited imperialists• Philippine and Cuban Annexation are contended

and quite different. The U.S. has an Interventionist motive.

• In 1921, U.S. will pay Columbia $25 million for its loss of Panama.

Taft’s message to CongressTaft’s message to Congress

• On December 3, 1912, President Taft looked back at the foreign policy followed by the United States during his administration and noted:

"The diplomacy of the present administration has sought to respond to modern ideas of commercial intercourse. This policy has been characterized as substituting dollars for bullets. It is one that appeals alike to idealistic humanitarian sentiments, to the dictates of sound policy and strategy, and to legitimate commercial aims."

Root–Takahira Agreement Root–Takahira Agreement

• An agreement between the United States and the Empire of Japan negotiated between U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root and Japanese Ambassador to the United States Takahira.

• Signed in November of 1908, the agreement consisted of an official recognition of the territorial status quo as of November 1908, affirmation of the independence and territorial integrity of China. (i.e. the "Open Door Policy" as proposed by John Hay), maintenance of free trade and equal commercial opportunities.

Wilson’s Moral DiplomacyWilson’s Moral Diplomacy• Wilson abandoned the imperialist policy and brought to the

White House a new way of looking at America's relations with the outside world.

• The U.S. was the most politically enlightened nation under God, he felt that all peoples throughout the world had the right to:

self-determination – that the people in every country should have the right to choose their own governments.

• Secretary of State Bryan, felt that it was America's duty to protect democracy and free peoples in other countries rather than to spread it throughout the globe.

Moral DiplomacyMoral Diplomacy• Moral Diplomacy??

• He persuaded Congress to repeal the 1912 Panama Canal Act which exempted many American ships from paying the required toll for passage through the canal. He signed a treaty with the South American country of Colombia to apologize for Roosevelt's acts of aggression during the American- driven Panama Revolution in 1903.

• Wilson's attempt to help Nicaraguan rebels eventually required him to occupy the country by force in 1914. The same blunder occurred in Haiti in 1915 and the Dominican Republic in 1916, when Wilson eventually sent in American troops to occupy the islands. During Wilson's Presidency, the United States also purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark. It is ironic that despite his loathing of imperialism and his deep belief in self-determination, Wilson resorted to military action in Latin America just as his predecessors had.

Progressive ImperialismProgressive Imperialism• Big Stick Policy

– “speak softly and carry a big stick”

– Strong Military but use diplomacy

• Dollar Diplomacy

– Using foreign aid to ($) manipulate other nations. - Builds dependency

• Moral Diplomacy

– Right past wrongs.

– US to expand the Constitution and Progressive Reforms.

Wilson and MexicoWilson and Mexico• Although Wilson had problems in the Caribbean, his greatest challenge came from Mexico. In 1913, Mexico fell into a bloody revolution

when Mexican general Victoriano Huerta overthrew the nation's government and declared himself its military dictator. Wilson immediately denounced Huerta, Wilson permitted Huerta's enemies, the Constitutionalists, to purchase military equipment and arms in the U.S. in order to stage a counterrevolution.

• When the dictator's army seized a small group of American sailors on shore leave in Mexico, Wilson demanded an apology. He also demanded that Huerta publicly salute the American flag in Mexico, which Huerta naturally refused to do. Wilson responded with force: in April 1914, he sent American Marines to take and occupy Veracruz, Mexico's primary seaport. Veracruz was taken, but eighteen Americans were killed in the battle. Not wanting to commit the U.S. to war, Wilson also requested the ABC powers–Argentina, Brazil, and Chile–to mediate the dispute. With their arbitration, the conflict was eventually resolved. Huerta fled the country, and a new government was established in 1915 under the leadership of Constitutionalist President Venustiano Carranza.

• Despite the settlement, Wilson's Mexican troubles were not yet over. Soon after Carranza was instated as Mexico's new president, one of his chief generals, Pancho Villa, led a second revolution to depose Carranza. A second bloody civil war erupted in Mexico barely after the first had ended. To encourage the American military to enter the conflict, Villa sent his forces into the U.S., where they destroyed the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and killed nineteen Americans. This produced the reaction Villa sought: within days of the raid on Columbus, Wilson sent the Punitive Expedition of 5,000 U.S. Army regulars, led by General John J. Pershing, into Mexico to find Villa.

• Within a month, Pershing and his men had traveled over 300 miles south into the heart of Mexico in an unsuccessful pursuit of Villa. Wilson ignored President Carranza's threats of war, and the two armies eventually clashed on April 12, 1916, and again on June 21, 1916. Both countries prepared for war; Wilson mustered 100,000 troops on the border in Texas. Fortunately, however, war was averted when Carranza petitioned for mediation. An agreement was reached in early January 1917 when Wilson recalled Pershing and officially recognized Carranza's government.