17.3 NEW AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
OBJECTIVES:
•Critique Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy as president.
•Explain the Open Door policy & its effects on relations between the U.S. & Asia.
MAIN IDEA: Under President Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. increased
its power on the world stage.
•sphere of influence
•Open Door Policy
•Boxer Rebellion
•“Great White Fleet”
• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
•Roosevelt Corollary
•dollar diplomacy
Theodore Roosevelt’s Rise to Power
• 1900 election: President McKinley defeated
William Jennings Bryan by a wide margin
• On September 6, 1901, Leon Czolgosz shot
President McKinley, who died a few days later
• Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley’s vice
president, became the youngest person to
become president
– believed U.S. had a duty to shape the
“less civilized” parts of the world
– wanted U.S. to become a world power.
CHINA’S OPEN DOOR POLICY
• China had remained a traditional society up until the late 1800s. In 1894, China lost
a war against newly modernized Japan & made China realize they too needed to
modernize & begin trade with other foreign nations.
• China contained on its land some of the world’s best resources. Other world
powers went in & established their own economic zones within the country; these
zones were called “spheres of influence.”
•In a sphere of influence, a foreign country comes into China and sets up their
own economic zone within China; in this zone the foreign power controls the
economy (although politically the land still belongs to China).
•The U.S. did not want to be excluded  Open Door Policy- an international
economic policy in which China opened up its doors for trade to the rest of the
world.
• Exploitation of Chinese resources began and many Chinese nationalists were
angered.
Roosevelt & Asia:
THE GREAT WHITE FLEET
• 1907 Roosevelt sends 16 battleships of the new U.S. navy on a
voyage around the world to showcase the nation’s military
might
– Stopped in Japan to show U.S. would uphold its interests in
Asia (growing tension between the two countries
throughout early 1900s)
A Growing Presence in the Caribbean:
The Panama Canal
•
(1901) Hay-Pauncefote Treaty = signed by the U.S. & G.B. gave the U.S. exclusive
rights to build/control any proposed canal through Central Am.
• French company that had begun to build a canal through Panama offered to sell
its rights & property in Panama to the U.S.
• In 1903 Panama was still a part of Colombia, which refused John Hay’s offer to
purchase the land & gain rights to build the canal.
– Panamanians decided to declare their independence from Colombia & make
their own deal with the U.S. to build the canal  U.S. sent ships to Panama
to prevent Colombia from interfering & U.S. recognized Panama’s
independence & the two nations signed a treaty to have the canal built
A Growing Presence in the Caribbean:
REVOLT IN PANAMA
• Because of the Sp.-Am. war, the US realized
that they needed a quicker route from the
Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. The US navy
would be much more efficient if a shortcut
could be found. The Panama Canal, if built,
would reduce travel time drastically.
• In addition, ownership of the Panama
Canal would mean that the US could make
a lot of $ & possess a lot of influence as the
country who possesses the“key to door” to
the Pacific & Atlantic. It would also increase
& make easier American trade with other
countries.
• President Teddy Roosevelt pushed for the
building of the Panama Canal at all costs 
make America’s presence known
throughout the world.
• After some political/naval maneuvering,
the US was able to obtain from Colombia
(the original owners of the isthmus of
Panama where the canal was to be built)
the isthmus of Panama. American then,
after long years and work, built the canal!
A Growing Presence in the Caribbean:
THE ROOSEVELT COROLLARY
• Increased involvement in world affairs & an increased interest in building the
Panama Canal led Roosevelt to issue the Roosevelt Corollary (1904) to the Monroe
Doctrine = U.S. would intervene in Latin American affairs when necessary to
maintain eco. & pol. stability in the Western Hemisphere
• 1ST applied to the Dominican Republic when it fell behind in its debt payments
to Eur. nations
• “I’m going to build a canal, so stay away! Spain & any power who wants to
intervene in the Americas has to deal with the United States!”
• This statement of intent is a reminder to the rest of the world of the earlier
stated (81 years earlier!) Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which also warned the
world powers of the world to stay out of the western hemisphere.
• Lat. Am. nations resented the growing American influence
A Growing Presence in the Caribbean:
DOLLAR DIPLOMACY
After Teddy Roosevelt, the next president, William Howard Taft, adopted
dollar diplomacy, which agreed to financially aid Panama out of troubles in
order to protect American interests in Panama (specifically, the Panama
Canal, of course).
•William Howard Taft, continued Roosevelt’s policies.
•He believed that if Am. business leaders supported Lat. Am. & Asian
development, everyone would benefit  his policy came to be called dollar
diplomacy.
http://www.schooltube.com/vid
eo/3c0f20ffce0fca65c463/
IMPERIALIST PRESIDENTIAL POLICY
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2Sh6xahbc&feature=endscreen&NR=1