U.S. Expansion and the
Spanish-American War (1898)
• Explain why significant events and individuals including, the Spanish–
American War, (US.S. Maine) ; U.S. expansionism (Hawaiian Islands,
Puerto Rico, Guam and Philippine Islands), [Henry Cabot Lodge, Alfred
Thayer Mahan], and Theodore Roosevelt, moved the U.S. into the
position of a world power. (TEKS US 3A) (TAKS 1)
• 56. Describe the economic effects of international military conflicts,
including the Spanish–American War, on the United States (new colonies
and trading partners). (TEKS US 12E)
• 57. Analyze the effects of economic policies including the Open Door
Policy and Dollar Diplomacy on U.S. diplomacy. (TEKS US 12D) Describe
the dynamic relationship between U.S. international trade policies and
the U.S. free enterprise system. (Open Door Policy) (TEKS 14E) (TAKS 3)
• 58. Analyze the effects of physical and human geographic factors on major
events including the building of the Panama Canal. (TEKS US 9A) (TAKS 2)
• 59. Identify and explain reasons for changes in political boundaries such as
those resulting from statehood and international conflicts (Spanish–
American War). (TEKS US 9B)
The US Becomes A World Power
U.S Expansion and the Spanish American War (1898)
Key Terms
• Imperialism: the actions used by one nation to exercise economic and
political domination of a strong nation over other weaker nations
• Annexation: incorporating a territory within the domain of a country
• Pan-Americanism: the popular idea that emerged in the 1880s that the
United States and Latin America should work together to support peace
and increase trade
• Protectorate: a country that is technically independent but is actually
under the control of another country
• Yellow Journalism: a type of sensational, biased, and often false reporting
for the sake of attracting readers
• Jingoism: extreme nationalism marked by aggressive foreign policy
• Anglo-Saxonism: belief shared by many Americans that it was the destiny
of the United States to expand overseas and spread its civilization to other
people
Arguments in Favor of U.S. Expansion
• Colonies could provide raw materials for American
industries
• Americans can raise and maintain a powerful navy with
naval bases around the world
• Missionaries and other Americans believed that they
could share American ideas to help less fortunate
people
• Expansionism allowed the U.S. to become more
competitive with European nations
• Alfred Thayer Mahan – The Influence of Sea Power
upon History – a powerful navy was essential to a
country that wanted to achieve world power
Arguments Against American
Expansion
• Imperialism violated the U.S. foundation of
self-rule and went against President George
Washington’s foreign policy advice on
remaining neutral and an isolationist nation.
• Groups like the American Anti-Imperialist
League – were against U.S. involvement in
foreign policy that involved subjugation of
people.
What is foreign policy?
• A policy pursued by a nation in its dealings
with other nations, designed to achieve
national objectives.
• What were the national objectives of the USA
in the late 1800s?
– Promote democracy?
– Safeguard US economic interests in Latin America?
• Canal?
– Asia market (China, Japan, etc.)
A desire for new Markets
• Over the last 19th century, European nations were
expanding their power overseas.
• This expansion became known as the “New
Imperialism”
• Imperialism: the actions used by one nation to exercise
economic and political domination of a strong nation
over other weaker nations.
• Why?
– Raw Materials
– Tariffs reduced trade among European nations
– Search for new investment opportunities
• To build railroads, mines, and factories
New markets
• As the USA industrialized in the late 1800s,
Americans also looked abroad.
– Closing of the American frontier
– Anglo-Saxonism: the belief shared by many
Americans that it was the destiny of the United
States to expand overseas and spread its
civilization to other people
• John Fiske (historian)
• Josiah Strong (American missionary)
Expansion in the Pacific
• Japan
– Americans began looking
overseas in the late 1800s
and naturally looked
westward.
– Japan and China offered
tremendous opportunities
for trade.
• President Franklin Pierce
sent Commodore
Matthew C. Perry to
Japan in the early 1850s
and forced Japan to open
their ports to Americans.
Expansion in the Pacific
• Annexing Hawaii
– Americans were interested in
Hawaii as a “steppingstone”to China.
– American settlers in Hawaii
grew sugar-cane that they
sold to the US in the mid
1800s.
• US Sugar growers were not
required to pay a tariff when
they sold sugar in the US
• In return, the US obtained a
naval base in Pearl Harbor
Expansion in the Pacific
• Annexing Hawaii
– In 1891 Queen Liliuokalani ascended
to the Hawaiian throne. She tried to
limit the power of the Americans
and created a new constitution less
favorable to the American sugar
growers
Expansion in the Pacific
• Annexing Hawaii
– The American planters
reacted by
overthrowing the
queen.
– They requested that the US
annex Hawaii.
– In 1898, the US annexed
Hawaii.
Expansion In the Pacific
•
As imperialist ideas and AngloSaxonism gained popularity in the
late 1800s, the US became more
aggressive in foreign affairs.
– Alfred T. Mahan: The Influence of Sea
Power Upon History, 1660-1783
– His book argued that a strong nation
needed a large navy to protect its
merchant ships and defend its right to
trade.
– His book helped build support for a big
navy.
– Back by U.S. Senators
•
•
Henry Cabot Lodge and Albert J.
Beveridge
By the 1890s, the US was on its way
to becoming a top naval power.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
• Causes of the War
– Direct Cause:
• The explosion on the
U.S.S. Maine killing 266 of
the 354 sailor and officers
in February 15th, 1898.
– Indirect Causes
• U.S. Support for Cuban
Independence
• Yellow Journalism
• jingoism
The Spanish-American War
• Indirect Causes
– Cuban Insurrection
• Cuba was one of Spain’s
oldest and most profitable
colonies
• Led by Jose Martí, Cuban
rebels launched a
movement for
independence from Spain
in February, 1895.
• Many Americans supported
the Cuban rebels and their
struggle for Independence
– Compared it to the
struggle for US
independence
The Spanish-American War (1898)
• Indirect Causes (cont’d)
– Yellow Journalism
• US support for Cuban
Independence grew as the
nation’s newspapers reported,
exaggerated, and at times made
up stories of Spanish atrocities
in Cuba.
• William Randolph Hearst
– New York Journal
» Sold 1 million copies
daily during the Cuban
crisis
• Joseph Pulitzer
– New York World
– Spanish atrocities were real
• Spanish General Valeriano
Weyler, a.k.a. “El Carnicero”
• “Reconcentration camps”
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•
Steps to War
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
William McKinley (Rep.) became
president in 1897. He wanted to avoid
war.
Sent the U.S.S. Maine to Havana, Cuba
in January, 1898 to protect Americans
in Cuba
In February, 1898, the Spanish
ambassador to the US Enrique Dupuy
de Lome wrote to Spain that McKinley
was “weak.”
On Feb. 15, 1898, the Maine exploded
in Havana harbor.
On March 28, 1898, a naval inquiry
concluded that a mine had destroyed
the Maine.
On April 11, 1898, McKinley called for
war against Spain.
Teller Amendment: declared the US
would guarantee Cuba independence
after the Spanish were forced out.
April 29, 1898: US declares war on
Spain
Spanish American War (1898)
• The US Takes the
Philippines
– On May 1, 1898,
Commodore George
Dewey led his squadron
into Manila Bay in the
Philippines and destroyed
the Spanish fleet.
– With the help of Filipino
nationalists led by Emilio
Aguinaldo, U.S. forces
captured Manila on August
13, 1898.
Spanish American War (1898)
• American Forces Enter Cuba
– On June 14, 1898, 17,000 US
troops landed on the southern
coast of Cuba and advanced
on Santiago.
– Led by the “Rough Riders,” a
volunteer cavalry made up of
cowboys, miners and law
officers.
• Theodore Roosevelt: Second in
command of the Rough Riders
• Captured San Juan Hill
– The American destroyed the
Spanish fleet at Santiago
Harbor on July 3, 1898.
– On August 12, 1898, Spain and
the US agreed to a cease fire.
Spanish American War
The New American Empire
• On December 10, 1898, the
US and Spain signed the
Treaty of Paris. Under the
treaty:
• Cuba became an independent
country
• the US acquired Puerto Rico
and Guam
• the US agreed to pay Spain
$20 million for the
Philippines
The Spanish American War: Aftermath
• Rebellion in the Philippines
– The US fought and finally
defeated Filipino nationalists
in 1901.
– 4,000 American died and
20,000 died in combat 18991901 suppressing the
insurgency
– Granted independence in 1946
• Puerto Rico
– Foraker Act (1900): made PR
an unincorporated territory
• “Commonwealth Status”
– 1917: Puerto Ricans allowed
US citizenship
– 1947: PR can elect a governor
• Cuba
– US established a military
government in Cuba after the
war
– Platt Amendment (1901)
• Cuba could not make any treaty
with another nation that would
weaken its independence or
allow another power to gain
territory in Cuba
• Cuba had to allow the US to buy
or lease naval stations in Cuba
(Guantanamo)
• Cuban debts had to be kept low
• The US would have the right to
intervene to protect Cuban
independence and keep order
• Repealed in 1934
American Diplomacy in the early
1900’s
• Monroe Doctrine (1823): Issued by President James Monroe in
1823; declared that the American continents were closed to
European colonization; advised that Europe respect the sovereignty
of the Latin American nations.
• Sphere of influence: section of a country where one foreign nation
enjoys special rights and powers
• Open Door Policy (1898): a policy that allowed each foreign nation
in China to trade freely in the other nations’ spheres of influence
• Roosevelt Corollary (1904): an addition to the Monroe Doctrine;
stated that the US would intervene in Latin American affairs when
necessary to maintain economic and political stability.
• Dollar Diplomacy: foreign policy of President Taft (1909-1913); use
the power of the dollar, not guns, to promote stability in Latin
America.
Theodore Roosevelt’s Rise to Power
• Theodore Roosevelt
became a war hero of the
Spanish-American war in
1898.
• Elected governor of New
York in 1898.
• In 1900, he became VicePresident under President
William McKinley.
• In September, 1901,
Theodore Roosevelt
became the 26th President
following the assassination
of President McKinley.
Roosevelt and Foreign Policy
• Roosevelt became a strong
advocate of increasing and
using American power on
the world stage.
• He believed that the US had
a duty to lift up the “less
civilized” corners of the
world
• He wanted to make the US
a world military power.
• Big Stick Policy: “Speak
softly and carry a big stick.”
The Open Door Policy
• Over the 1890’s, European
powers and Japan
established “leaseholds” or
spheres of influence over
large parts of China.
• A sphere of influence was a
section of a country where
a foreign nation acquires
special rights and
privileges.
– The foreign nation controls
economic development (such
as railroad construction and
mining) in this foreign
territory.
Open Door Policy
• To counter these spheres of
influence in China,
President McKinley and
Secretary of State John Hay
supported the Open Door
policy.
– The policy that each foreign
nation should allow other
nations to trade freely in
each other’s spheres of
influence
– Allowed US access to China’s
lucrative trade in tea, spices,
and silk and a larger market
to sell US goods
China’s Boxer Rebellion
•
Secret nationalist societies formed in
China in the early 1900s to counter
foreign influence. Westerners
referred to some of these groups as
“Boxers.”
– Chinese nationalists believed foreigners
were corrupting Chinese society.
•
•
•
Boxer Rebellion: In 1900, these
groups attacked foreign embassies
and killed over 200 foreigners.
In August, 1900, an international
force, including US troops, entered
China and crushed the rebellion.
Secretary of State John Hay played a
major role in preventing European
nations from using the rebellion as
an excuse to partition China.
The Panama Canal
• One of Roosevelt’s most
important actions in Latin
America was the acquisition of
the Panama Canal Zone in 1903.
• TR and others believed a canal
through Central America to be
vital for projecting American
power throughout the world.
• The canal was needed to save
time and money for trade and
military shipping.
– A canal through Central America
would shorten the distance
between the Atlantic and the
Pacific by about 8,000 nautical
miles.
The Panama Canal
• In 1901, the US and Great
Britain signed the HayPauncefote Treaty, giving
the US the exclusive right to
build and control a
proposed canal through
Central America.
• In November, 1901,
President Roosevelt sent
ships to Panama in support
of a military uprising for
independence from
Colombia.
The Panama Canal
• In 1903, the US signed the
Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty
granting the US the control
over 10-mile wide Panama
Canal zone.
• Construction of the canal
began in 1904.The project
was completed in 1914 at a
cost of $400 million and
approximately 5,600 lives.
– Obstacles
• Malaria
• Yellow fever
• Swamps
The Roosevelt Corollary
• TR expanded on his “big
stick” policy as the US
became more involved in
world affairs abroad.
• In 1904, TR pushed a new
form of diplomacy called
the “Roosevelt Corollary.”
– the policy that the US would
intervene in Latin American
affairs when necessary to
maintain economic and
political stability in the
Western Hemisphere
US intervention in Latin America
(1895-1930’s)
William Howard Taft
and “Dollar Diplomacy”
• William Howard Taft,
Roosevelt’s successor,
continued TR’s policies.
• Placed less emphasis on
military force
• Advocated Dollar
Diplomacy: using the
power of American
business and trade to
promote economic
growth and stability in
Latin America