Chapter 22
America Becomes A World Power
Important Changes
Alaska acquired in 1867
2. Western frontier settled by 1890
3. American inventors impressed the world
4. Businesses were bigger
1.
Spanish American War
 Cuba was a Spanish colony
 Americans lived in Cuba
 President McKinley offered to buy Cuba
 Spain refused
 McKinley sent the battleship U.S.S. Maine to protect
Americans
Spanish American War
 February 15, 1898
 Maine exploded
 Killed 260 sailors
 America blamed Spain
 Assistant Secretary of Navy—Theodore Roosevelt
sent Admiral Dewey and a fleet to Philippines
 Dewey given orders to attack if war broke out
War Declared
 April 9, 1898 Spain agreed to stop fighting
 “Remember the Maine”
 Americans wanted Spain punished
 April 11, 1898 McKinley asked Congress to declare
war
Yellow Journalism
New York Journal –
William Randolph Hearst
New York WorldJoseph Pulitzer
Late 1800s most newspapers
were not as accurate as they
are today.
Two sensationalistic papers
were competing to see who
could sell more newspapers.
“Splendid Little War”
 Admiral Dewey destroyed Spanish fleet in
Philippines
 Roosevelt organized the “Rough Riders”
 Charged up San Juan Hill
The Unprepared US Army
 Thousands of
volunteers rushed
to join-all kinds of
people from
socialites to
outlaws
 Lacked guns, tents,
and blankets
 Needed training
 Given heavy woolen
uniforms to fight in
the warm tropics
 The food was
leftover canned
rations from the
Civil War –Rotten
and disgusting
 No proper sanitary
areas
AMAZING NUMBERS
 Total in the War—
5,462 Americans lost
their lives
 Only 379 died in
combat
 The rest from
unsanitary conditions
which caused plague
and yellow fever
“Splendid Little War”
 US Navy sank all Spanish ships in Cuban harbor
 Agreed to stop fighting to discuss ending the war
 Armistice
 War ended December 10, 1898
Results
 USA gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines
 Secretary of State—John Hay—declared the Spanish-
American War a “Splendid Little War”
 War lasted 4 months
The Nation Increases Its Power
 Gained the Hawaiian Islands in 1900
Queen of Hawaii-Liliuokalani
The Nation Increases Its Power
 Focused on China
 Afraid other countries were controlling trade
 Secretary of State—John Hay—offered a new trading
policy called the “Open Door Policy”
 Convinced the foreign nation in China to Allow open
and free trade for all countries
 Chinese “Boxers” rebelled
Election of 1900
 William McKinley vs. William J. Bryan
 McKinley reelected—25th president
 Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt
 McKinley was assassinated (shot) in 1901 by Leon
Czolgosz
Theodore Roosevelt
 26th president
 Youngest president to take office (42 years old)
 Believed Americans deserved a better deal
 Interested in Americans receiving a “Square Deal”
Theodore Roosevelt
 Coal Miners Strike 1902
 Used government to bring it to an end
 Big businesses were scared of Roosevelt
 “Trustbuster”
 He believed that big companies should be broken
into smaller companies
Progressives
 Reformers who believed America should make
progress to become a better country
Protecting America
 Passed laws to protect Americans
*Meat Inspection Act
*Pure Food and Drug Act 1906
 Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle
Foreign Policy
 Europe—neutrality
 Latin America—Monroe Doctrine
 Asia—Open Door
Panama Canal
 Wanted to build up the US Navy
 Needed a fast way to get from Atlantic to the Pacific
 Canal—man-made waterway
 1903 Panama revolted against Columbia
 Roosevelt sent battleships to help Panama
 Panama won independence
Panama Canal
 USA paid $10




million
10-mile wide strip
of land
“Big Ditch”
11 years to finish
Saved over 7,000
miles
Big Stick Policy
 Latin America had economic problems
 Borrowed money for European nations
 Roosevelt convinced countries to settle in World
Court
 Roosevelt revised the Monroe Doctrine
 Roosevelt Corollary
 USA became a “police power” in Latin America
Big Stick Policy
 Old African saying “Speak softly and carry a big
stick.”
 Roosevelt’s willingness to use military power was
called “Big Stick Policy”
Election of 1908
Largest US President
7-foot-1-inch-long bathtub custom built for the 340-pound, 6-foot frame
of President William Howard Taft).
Election of 1912