American Imperialism
1889-1917
New “Manifest Destiny”


Previous “Manifest Destiny”: U.S.
expansion in North America
New “Manifest Destiny” extended to
heavily-populated island for the purpose of
becoming colonies, not territories or states
IMPERIALISM IN THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH
CENTURIES
US Foreign Policy
•Traditional U.S. foreign policy was isolationist
• Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
• Monroe Doctrine, 1823
“It is our true policy
to steer clear of
permanent
alliances with any
portion of the
foreign world”
Definition of Imperialism
The policy of extending a
nation's authority by
territorial acquisition or by
the establishment of
economic and political
hegemony over other
nations.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Causes of U.S. imperialism

End of the frontier (1890 Census report)
• Many Americans believed U.S. had to expand or explode

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Foreign trade increasingly important
Cultural Superiority- “White Man’s Burden”
Jingoism = Aggressive Militaristic Foreign Policy
Desire to compete with Europe for overseas
empires
• International status for U.S.
• 1900, Europeans possessed over 1/5 of land and 1/10 of
population of the world

Germany was U.S.’s biggest imperialist foe
Proponents of U.S. expansion

Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan: The
Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890)
• Thesis: Control of the sea was key to world
dominance and empire
• Helped stimulate naval
race among great powers
• By 1898, U.S. had fifth most
powerful navy;
third by 1900
Great Britain, a major world power, served
as a role model of an imperialist power

Missionary Zeal
• Josiah Strong: Our Country(1885)


Superiority of Anglo-Saxon civilization
Urged U.S. to spread religion & democratic values to
“backward” peoples
• Senator Albert Beveridge

U.S. is part of the movement of a superior race,
ordained by God
Today we are raising more than we can consume.
Today we are making more than we can use...
Therefore we must find new markets for our
produce, new occupation for our capital, new
work for our labor... Ah! As our commerce
spreads, the flag of liberty will circle the
globe and the highway of the ocean - carrying
trade to all mankind - will be guarded by the
guns of the republic. And as their thunders
salute the flag, benighted (ignorant) peoples
will know that the voice of liberty is speaking,
at last, for them... that civilization is dawning
at last, for them.
--Senator Alfred Beveridge, 1898

Theodore Roosevelt and
Henry Cabot Lodge
• Social Darwinism meant earth
belonged to the strong & fit –
U.S.
 Stronger nations dominating
weak part of natural law
• If U.S. was to survive in
competition of modern states,
would have to become an
imperial power

“Yellow journalism” of Joseph Pulitzer and
William Randolph Hearst sparked
Americans’ interest abroad
Pan-Americanism

James G. Blaine
• Secretary of State under Presidents Garfield
and Benjamin Harrison
• Sought Latin American support of U.S.
leadership and open markets to U.S.

Essentially guaranteed U.S. domination in Latin
America in 1880s

First Pan-American Conference in
Washington, D.C. held in 1889
• U.S. proposals rejected by Latin American
countries


European goods cheaper
Hemispheric arbitration organization rejected due to
fears of U.S. dominance
• Opened door for future conferences with Latin
America
First Attempts at Imperialism

Samoa
• U.S. and German navies nearly fought in 1889
over control of Samoan Islands
• Issue resolved in 1900 treaty with Germany and
Britain
• U.S. gained 76 square miles: American Samoa
including port of Pago Pago
• Germany received two largest islands
America’s first attempt at
imperialism took place in Samoa

Hawaii
• Since early 19th century, U.S. came to view
Hawaii as extension of Pacific Coast
• 1890, McKinley Tariff raised barriers against
Hawaiian sugar

American sugar planters sought to annex Hawaii: to
eliminate tariffs
• Queen Liliuokalani
insisted Hawaiians
control Hawaii
• Small group of white planters led by Sanford B.
Dole overthrew queen in 1893


Assisted by U.S. troops under unauthorized orders by
U.S. minister in Honolulu, John C. Stevens
Stevens: “The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe and
this is the golden hour for the U.S. to pluck it.”
• Treaty for annexation rushed to D.C.
• Before treaty passed Senate,
Cleveland assumed office,
refused to sign
• Cleveland unsuccessful in reinstating queen
• Revolutionaries proclaimed a Hawaiian
Republic on July 4, 1894 with Dole as president
• Hawaii annexed in 1898

First full-fledged imperialistic debate in U.S.
history
Cuba


Atrocities in Cuba sensationalized (and even made
up) by “yellow press”
Reconcentration -- Spanish military concentrated
masses of Cuban civilians in areas under their
control
• 100,000 died between 1896 and 1898


Spain’s leader in Cuba, Valeriano Weyler, called
“Butcher Weyler” by US
Cleveland refused to intervene, issued neutrality
proclamation


McKinley’s becomes president & began
stronger rhetoric toward Spain
1897, McKinley came close to delivering an
ultimatum to Spain that would have resulted
in war
• Spain ended reconcentration in 1897, removed
Weyler, & gave some autonomy to Cubans

Appeared war avoided , but…

Cuban Revolt
• Spanish in Cuba rioted to protest Spain’s talk of
granting Cuba self-gov’t
• U.S. sent battleship Maine to Cuba in 1898

Explosion of Maine, Feb. 15, 1898 –
immediate cause of Spanish American War
• 266 dead
• Spanish investigation announced explosion as
internal, presumably accidental
• American version reported blast caused by a
submarine mine

Americans accepted mine view and leapt to
conclusion that Spanish gov’t was
responsible
• Yellow press helped to fuel public fire

Americans want war: “Remember the
Maine! To hell with Spain!”
What is the message of this
cartoon?
Spanish-American War - 1898

McKinley, Wall Street not eager for war but
press forced issue
• McKinley criticized by U.S. imperialists
(Theodore Roosevelt)
• Mark Hanna and Wall Street did
not want war: might interfere with
trade in Cuba

Public demanded war to
free abused Cubans


McKinley sent war message to Congress on
April 11, 1898
Teller Amendment: U.S. proclaimed that
once it overthrew Spain in Cuba, Cubans
would have their freedom
• Sought to get international support for war
against Spain

Admiral Dewey victorious at Manila Bay
• While Secretary of War was away,
Undersecretary of War Roosevelt cabled
Commodore George Dewey to attack Spain’s
Philippines in the event of war
• May, 1898, Dewey’s 6 warships sailed into
Manila Harbor and destroyed all 10 of Spain’s
warships; 400 Spaniards killed & wounded; 1
American death
US FORCES CONQUER THE PHILIPPINES
US DESTROYS THE SPANISH FLEET AT MANILA BAY
ADMIRAL DEWEY, HERO OF THE NAVAL BATTLE
OF MANILA BAY


Three months later, American troops arrived
and captured Manila in August
U.S. annexes the Philippines

U.S. invasion of Cuba
• Spanish fleet eventually blockaded in Santiago
Harbor by stronger U.S. fleet


Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders part of the
invading army
Heavy fighting on San Juan Hill where “Rough
Riders” charged up after the hill had been largely
won
BATTLE SCENE WITH TEDDY
ROOSEVELT ON THE HORSE
THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND THE “ROUGH
RIDERS” IN CUBA

July 1, Spanish fleet completely destroyed
• About 500 Spaniards killed; only one American
• Santiago surrendered by Spain shortly after
• U.S. casualties: about 379 dead in battle; over
5,000 dead due to disease
Annexation of Hawaii



July 1898
U.S. used pretense of needing Hawaii as
naval station in to send supplies,
reinforcements to Dewey in Manila Harbor
White-dominated gov’t in Hawaii eager to
be annexed (like TX)

Joint resolution of annexation approved by
Congress and McKinley
• Hawaiians granted U.S. citizenship and
received full territorial status in 1900
Treaty of Paris, 1898


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Cuba freed from Spain
U.S. received Pacific island of Guam
U.S. gained Puerto Rico, the last vestige of
Spain’s American
empire

Philippine issue major dilemma in
negotiations
• U.S. took Manila the day after Spain sued for
peace


Not one of the spoils of war
U.S. agreed to pay Spain $20 million
• McKinley’s dilemma


Philippines larger than British Isles; population of 7
mil.
U.S. should not give islands back to Spain esp. after
fighting war to free Cuba
• If left alone, Philippines might fall into anarchy
US OCCUPIES TWO MORE SPANISH
COLONIAL POSSESSIONS
Imperialism Debate Ensues

Philippines issue created a huge imperialism
debate
• McKinley later said an inner voice told him to
take all the Philippines and Christianize and
civilize them after he had prayed

Democrats tended to be anti-imperialist
especially William Jennings Bryan
• Feared foreign issues would overshadow needed
reforms in U.S.
• Feared foreign workers would lower wages at
home
• Feared American factories would be relocated
overseas
• Colonies would require standing army

Higher taxes
• Some feared mongrelization of America
ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF IMPERIALISM
IN THE PHILIPPINES
Senator Alfred Beveridge (R-Indiana)
From a speech in Congress on January 9, 1900.
. . . [Just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. . . We
will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee of God,
of the civilization of the world. . . Where shall we turn for consumers
of our surplus?. . . China is our natural customer. . . [England,
Germany and Russia] have moved nearer to China by securing
permanent bases on her borders. The Philippines gives us a base at
the door of all the East. . . They [the Filipinos] are a barbarous race,
modified by three centuries of contact with a decadent race [the
Spanish]. . . It is barely possible that 1,000 men in all the archipelago
are capable of self-government in the Anglo-Saxon sense. . . The
Declaration [of Independence] applies only to people capable of selfgovernment. How dare any man prostitute this expression of the very
elect of self-government peoples to a race of Malay children of
barbarism, schooled in Spanish methods and ideas? And you, who
say the Declaration applies to all men, how dare you deny its
application to the American Indian? And if you deny it to the Indian
at home, how dare you grant it to the Malay abroad.
Arguments against imperialism in the
Philippines
“…we do not intend to
free, but to subjugate
the people of the
Philippines. We have
gone there to conquer,
not to redeem.”
Mark Twain, 1900
“In the forcible annexation of
the Philippines our Nation
neither adds to its strength
nor secures broader
opportunities for the
American people.”
William Jennings Bryan, 1899

Anti-Imperialist League
• Formed to oppose McKinley’s expansionism
• Mark Twain, Samuel Gompers and Andrew
Carnegie
• Filipinos wanted freedom and annexation
violated “consent of the governed” philosophy
• U.S. would be entangled politically and
militarily in Asia
THE US BECOMES AN IMPERIAL
POWER
HAWAII: 1898
MIDWAY ISLAND: 1867
WAKE ISLAND: 1898
GUAM: 1898
JOHNSTON ISLAND: 1898
PALMYRA ISLAND: 1898
SAMOA ISLAND: 1899
PHILIPPINES: 1898
PUERTO RICO: 1898
What is happening in this cartoon?
REACTION TO US IMPERIALISM:
ANTI-IMPERIALIST MOVEMENT
What role does the U.S. play?

Expansionists and imperialists
•
•
•
•
Appealed to patriotism and glory of annexation
Played up possible trade profits
Philippines had abundance of natural resources
U.S. should help uplift (and exploit) the world’s
poor
The question of Cuban independence


U.S. military gov’t set up under General
Leonard
U.S. withdrew from Cuba in 1902 in honor of
the Teller Amendment

Platt Amendment
• Sought to ensure Cuba would not be vulnerable
to European powers and to maintain U.S.
influence in Cuban affairs
• Cubans forced to write Platt Amendment into
their own Constitution of 1901
• Provisions:

Cuba bound itself not to impair their independence
by treaty or by contracting a debt beyond their
resources
• U.S. gov’t had right to approve all Cuban treaties


U.S. could send troops to restore order and to provide
mutual protection
Cubans promised to sell or lease needed coaling or
naval stations
• Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Nationalism after Spanish American War
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“Splendid little war”
Established U.S.'s first overseas empire
European powers gave U.S. more respect; Monroe
Doctrine enhanced
Britain became an ally of U.S.
Philippines drew U.S. into Asian affairs; U.S.
concerned with Japanese expansion
U.S. undertook a large naval buildup
War helped heal the rift between North and South
Insurrection in the Philippines



Filipinos assumed they would be granted
freedom, like the Cubans
Philippines became a protectorate
Open rebellion began in 1899 when leader
declared Philippines independent
• More casualties than in Spanish American War
• Guerrilla warfare


Insurrection broken in 1901
Philippine Commission created
• Led by William H. Taft who called Filipinos his
“little brown brothers”
• U.S instituted education, sanitation, public
health, and infrastructure reforms though
Filipinos remained resentful
• Philippines finally got their independence on
July 4, 1946
Open Door Policy in China

Foreign powers in China lured by huge Chinese
market and opportunity to convert Chinese to
Christianity
• By late 19th century, Japan and western European
powers had carved much of China into separate
“spheres of influence”
• In 1850s, U.S. had signed several trade deals with China
while American missionaries were active in China
• U.S. manufacturers feared Chinese markets would be
monopolized by Europeans

Open Door Note (summer of 1899)
• Issued by Secretary of State John Hay

U.S. at disadvantage geographically compared to
Russian and Japan; feared it might lose out if it didn’t
act quickly
• Urged all the Great Powers to announce that in
their spheres of influence they would respect
certain Chinese rights and ideal of fair
competition


Open Door gained wide acceptance in the U.S.
Policy was weak and did not gain international
acceptance
OPEN DOOR POLICY
Boxer Rebellion (1900)



Millions of Chinese enraged over Open Door
Policy
"Boxers," Chinese nationalists,
killed over 200 missionaries &
other whites
Multinational force of
18,000 arrived to put down
rebellion

Victorious allies (U.S., Russia, GB, France,
Germany) assessed an indemnity of $333
million (U.S. share $24.5 million)
• U.S. eventually forgave $18 million

Hay announced in 1900 that Open Door
would embrace territorial integrity of China
and its commercial treaties
• Sought to eliminate carving of China after the
Boxer Rebellion
• Hay did not ask for formal acceptances
• China thus spared partition for several years
WHO ARE THE LAND GRABBERS? WHY DO YOU THINK UNCLE
SAM IS TRYING TO STOP THEM?
Election of 1900

Republicans nominated McKinley
• Had won war, acquired territory, protected gold
standard, and brought economic prosperity
• Platform endorsed prosperity, gold standard,
and overseas expansion

Yet, between 60-88% of Americans were poor or very
poor
• Theodore Roosevelt nominated as vice
president
• Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan

Platform once again pushed for free silver

Campaign similar to 1896
• McKinley: “front porch” campaign
• Bryan criticized Republican imperialism and
support of trusts
• Teddy Roosevelt cut
into Bryant’s Midwest
following
• McKinley d. Bryan
292-155

McKinley assassinated Sept. 1901 by
deranged anarchist (Polish immigrant)
• TR became the youngest president in U.S.
history at age 42
• Roosevelt pledged he would carry out policies of
his predecessor
Theodore Roosevelt



1st President to play significant role in world
affairs
Imperialism in Western Hemisphere:
“Speak softly but carry a big stick [and] you
will go far”
Major proponent of
military and naval
preparedness
TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S
FOREIGN POLICY
WHAT INTERNATIONAL ROLE DID ROOSEVELT
ENVISION FOR THE UNITED STATES?
Panama Canal, 1903

Spanish-American War showed need for a
canal to connect Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
• U.S. now had to protect Puerto Rico, Hawaii,
the Philippines, & merchant ships
US INTERESTS TURNED TOWARD CENTRAL AMERICA AND A
QUICKER WAY OF MOVING SHIPS BETWEEN THE EAST AND
WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA
15,000 MILES
ADVANTAGE OF AN ISTHMIAN CANAL
8,000 miles

Overcoming legal challenges
• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 prohibited any
country from securing exclusive control over a
canal in Central America
• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)

Britain agreed to give U.S. right to build canal
• Colombian Senate rejected a treaty with the U.S.
for a canal in Panama (which was part of
Colombia)
PANAMA, A PROVINCE OF COLOMBIA, WAS CHOSEN
FOR THE SITE OF THE PROPOSED CANAL
COLOMBIA, 1902

“gunboat diplomacy”
• Panama revolutionaries raise tiny army and win
independence from Colombia
• Nov. 3, 1903, Panama revolution

U.S. naval forces did not allow Colombian troops
across the isthmus
• Nov. 6, TR extended recognition of Panama

Roosevelt’s role in Panama issue became
controversial
• Although US public initially saw Roosevelt’s
role in Panama as legitimate, TR in 1911 claimed
“I took the canal,” sparking wave of controversy
• U.S. suffered diplomatically as Europeans map
at U.S hypocrisy
• Latin American countries resented the
“Colossus of the North” after its taking Puerto
Rico, Cuba, and now Panama

Canal completed in 1914 at $400 million
1914 Opening of the Panama
Canal
PRESIDENT
ROOSEVELT VISITS
THE CANAL
CONSTRUCTION
SITE IN 1906
Mira Flores, Panama
Panama canal today
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine


Venezuela Crisis, 1902 -- Germany sank two
Venezuelan gunboats trying to seek
payment for heavy Venezuelan debt to
Germany
TR devised policy of
“preventive intervention”

Policy: In future financial crises concerning
Latin American debt, U.S. would intervene,
take over customs houses, pay off the debts,
and keep European powers out of
Western Hemisphere
• Moral obligation, would not allow European
nations to intervene in bankrupt Latin American
Republics
• Thus, U.S. became "Policeman of the Western
Hemisphere”

Contrasted with Monroe Doctrine

U.S. seen by Latin America as the “Colossus
from the North”
• Bitter relations between U.S. and Latin America

The Corollary was used to justify major U.S.
interventions and in Latin America
Russo-Japanese War (1904)

Russia and Japan went to war over ports in
Manchuria & Korea

As war dragged on, Japanese ran short of
men and money
• TR eager to prevent either side from gaining
monopoly in Asia
• Concerned about safety of Philippines
• Japan secretly asked Roosevelt to help sponsor
peace negotiations

Treaty of Portsmouth (1905)
• Both sides met at Portsmouth, NH, in 1905


Japanese demanded huge indemnity and all of
Sakhalin island
Russians refused to concede defeat
• Agreement: Japanese gained southern half of
Sakhalin but no indemnity

Secretly, TR agreed to accept
future Japanese dominance
of Korea

For his mediation, TR received Nobel Peace
Prize in 1906

Negative results:
• US-Russian relations soured that TR robbed
them of military victory
• Japan felt robbed of its indemnity and blamed
U.S.

Naval arms race between US & Japan in Asia
resulted as mutual distrust grew
San Francisco School Board Incident,
1906


Example of U.S. nativism regarding Asians
1906, 70,000 Japanese immigrants came to
California due to dislocations and tax
burdens caused by the Russo-Japanese War
• Formed influential Asian Exclusion League


San Francisco school officials ruled Asian
children should attend a special school
Japanese furious over discrimination
• Talk of war appeared in “yellow press”
• TR concerned California starting war other
states would have to fight

TR invited entire San Francisco School
Board to the White House
• Coerced Californians to repeal the order and
accept what came to be known as the
“Gentleman’s Agreement”

Provisions:
• Japanese agreed to stop flow of laborers to U.S.
• Californians agreed not to ban Japanese from
public schools

Fearing Japanese perception of U.S.
weakness, TR sent “Great White Fleet” on a
highly visible tour around world in 1907
"Dollar Diplomacy"


President Taft (1909-1913)
Aspects:
• US foreign policy protected Wall Street dollars
invested abroad (Asia)
• U.S. bankers would strengthen U.S. defenses and
foreign policies while bringing prosperity
• Thus, “Dollar Diplomacy” replaced the “Big
Stick”

China -- Manchurian Railroad Scheme
• Taft saw the Manchurian railway monopoly by
Russia and Japan as a threat to the Open Door
• 1909, Taft proposed that a group of U.S. and
foreign bankers buy railroads, turn them over to
China; China could pay U.S. back from railroad
revenues
• Japan and Russia refused
• Demonstrated limits of the Open Door
Imperialism under Wilson

Wilson hated imperialism; recoiled initially
from an aggressive foreign policy
• Repelled by "Big Stick" policy and "dollar
diplomacy“

Yet, Wilson would eventually intervene in
Latin America more than any
other president

Anti-imperialist policies
• Jones Act in 1916: Granted Philippines territorial
status and promised independence when
"stable gov’t" was established
• Jones Act, 1917 -- gave Puerto Ricans status of
citizens

Imperialism under Wilson: aimed to
reinforce Western Hemisphere during WWI
• Wilson kept marines in Nicaragua to maintain
order after they had landed in 1912 and the U.S.
had taken over control of customs

In effect, Nicaragua became a U.S. protectorate (not
officially)
• U.S. forces sent to Haiti in 1914-15 when Haitian
president killed



Purpose: protect US lives & property (urged by large
NY bank)
In effect, Haiti also became a protectorate
Dominican Republic becomes protectorate as well
"Moral Diplomacy"


Wilson, in Mexico
Mexican Revolution began in 1910
• Porfirio Diaz: dictator since 1876 but now
opposed

By 1910 Americans owned 43% of property in Mexico;
other foreigners owned nearly 25%; 50,000 Americans
lived in Mexico
• Francisco Madero,
revolutionary, replaced
Diaz in 1911

Poor Mexicans revolted and in 1913
overthrew Madero
• General Huerta, a full-blooded Indian, installed
as president
• Massive migration
of Mexicans to
U.S. ensued

US interests in Mexico cried for U.S.
intervention for protection
• Wilson eventually massed U.S. troops on border;
sent warships to Mexico warning Huerta that
unless he abdicated, the U.S. would overthrow
him
• Saw Huerta as a "brute“

"I am going to teach the South American republics
to elect good men.” -- “Moral Diplomacy”


With threat of war with
Germany becoming
real, U.S. withdrew
army from Mexico in
February, 1917
Wilson’s foreign policy
so unpopular that it
was flatly rejected in
1920s