American History
Mrs. Shafer
United States Imperialism
T-Notes – Master
Expansionism

In 1896
William McKinley
was elected president. His strongest supporter was
Theodore Roosevelt
so McKinley
appointed him assistant secretary to the Navy.
Roosevelt believed in
Expansionism
or the idea that America should expand its power to
the western hemisphere and the
world
.
The biggest opponent to expansionism was
William Jennings Bryan
who
ran against McKinley for president.

European countries were starting to practice
Imperialism
, or building
empires by taking control of the governments and
economies of other countries.
Asia and the Pacific

America started its expansion in
Asia
.
Americans wanted to expand in order to be able to
Trade
. Most of Europe had already
taken over China
. So the United States
made a treaty with
Japan
instead.
We began occupying islands along the way that
served as fuel
stops for our ships. The
first islands we took were Midway Islands
Hawaii

.
Next, we looked to Hawaii, but the natives there
already had a government and were ruled by their
own
Queen Liliuokalani
.
They did allowed the United States to build a Navy
base at
Pearl Harbor
.
Many U.S. sugar cane farmers began moving to
Hawaii and requested it to be
annexed
The Hawaiians did not like this and neither did
Queen Liliuokalani
President Cleveland, but when McKinley became
president he annexed it in
1898 .
.
Spanish-American War

American farmers also established farms on the
Caribbean islands of
Cuba
Puerto Rico
and
. They wanted the U.S. to annex
these islands as well.

Cubans themselves wanted independence from
Spain
. They tried to revolt and failed.
The Spanish severely punished the Cubans and
forced them into camps where they had no

toilets
,
food
.
medical care
beds ,
, or
Americans wanted to get involved to help the
Cubans. Some newspapers even started reporting
using
yellow journalism
, or
sensational or shocking reports.

To help the Cubans, America sent a battleship
named
Maine
. On February 15, 1898
the ship exploded and sank in Havana Harbor killing
260
American sailors. Spain was
immediately blamed and America declared war on
Spain on

April 19, 1898
The army grew from
.
30,000
to 274,00
with so many men wanting to fight. Theodore
Roosevelt resigned his office and made his own
regiment called the
Rough Riders
They were able to capture
.
Santiago
and force the Spanish to surrender.
The Aftermath:

The war lasted
4 months
and had
345
deaths. In the treaty Cuba got its independence
“The Maine was sunk by an act of dirty
from Spain but had to allow the Americans to keep
treachery on the part of the Spaniards!”
their
– Theodore Roosevelt
military base
also had to give up
to the United States.
Puerto Rico
there. Spain
The Philippines

When the United States declared war on Spain
Roosevelt ordered
to attack the
Admiral George Dewey
Philippines
which
were owned by Spain. The Philippines also
wanted their independence from Spain. Their
revolt was led by
On
Emilio Aguinaldo
.
May 1, 1898 the Americans attacked
the Spanish fleet in Manila. By
11 AM
all of the Spanish fleet had been demolished.

After the war America bought the Philippines for
$20 million
and did not give
them their independence. The Filipinos began
attacking the Americans fighting for their freedom.
The struggle between the US and the Philippines
lasted
3 years
Filipinos lost
lost
. In the end the
20,000
men and the U.S.
4,000 men. America
annexed
the Philippines and did not give them their
independence until
“Is America a weakling, to shrink from the
work of the great powers? No. The young
giant of the West stands on a continent
and clasps the crest of an ocean in either
hand.” – Theodore Roosevelt

1947
.
In 1901, Roosevelt, who was now Vice President,
wanted to build a
canal
connecting
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in order to better
protect America’s new territories. In September
President McKinley was
assassinated and
Roosevelt became President. Roosevelt offered
The Panama Canal
Colombia $10 million
for part of Panama,
which they owned, and they refused. So
Roosevelt sent warships to Panama and started a
revolution
against Colombia.
Panama won the war and accepted the money
to build a canal. The canal was finished in 1914
and we returned the canal zone to Panama in
2000
. In 1921 the United
States paid Colombia $25 million
to apologize for the Panamanian Revolution.