Chapter 10: America Claims an
Empire
Objective
 To understand how individuals and events moved the United
States into the role of a world power and to recognize the
effects of economic policies on U.S. diplomacy
Journal
 When should the U.S. intervene in the affairs of another
country?
Imperialism
 The policy in which stronger nations extend their economic,
political, or military control over weaker territories
Global Competition
Global Competition
Three Factors Fueled American
Imperialism
 1. Desire for military strength
 2. Thirst for new markets
 3. Belief in cultural superiority
Desire for Military Strength
 Admiral Alfred T. Mahan of U.S. Navy urges govt. to build up
American naval power
 Modern battleships
 Maine and Oregon
Thirst for New Markets
 Better technology -> farms + factories overproduced ->
new markets needed for agricultural and manufactured goods
 U.S. needed raw materials for factories
Belief in Cultural Superiority
 Social Darwinism – survival of the fittest
 Racial superiority of Anglo-Saxons
 Moral responsibility to spread Christianity
Acquiring Alaska
 Seward – Sec. of State – persuades Congress to buy Alaska
(1867)
The U.S. Takes Hawaii
 Important port on the way to Asia
 U.S. imports Hawaii sugar tax-free (1875)
 McKinley-Tariff of 1890 palaces tax on Hawaiian sugar
 American planters ask U.S. to annex Hawaii
 Naval base at Pearl Harbor (1887)
The U.S. Takes Hawaii
 Queen Liliuokalani (1891)
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wants to remove property
qualifications for voting
American business groups
organize a revolution
New govt. led by Sanford
B. Dole
1898 Hawaii is named
American territory
Statehood = 1959
Assignment
 What were the economic and cultural factors that fueled the
growth of American imperialism?
 How did the U.S. acquire Alaska?
 How did the U.S. acquire Hawaii?
 http://www.history.com/topics/spanish-american-
war/videos#mckinley-faces-war-assassination
Groups
 1. http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/spanish-
american-war#sect-preparation
Section 2
 THE SPANISH – AMERICAN WAR
Cubans Rebel Against Spain
Cubans Rebel Against Spain
 Jose Marti starts a
revolution (1895) against
the Spanish
 American sugar plantations
are destroyed
 American opinions are split
War Fever Escalates
 Spanish General Valeriano
Weyler sends 300,000
Cubans into concentration
camps (1896)
Yellow Journalism
 Sensational style of
writing/exaggerated news
 Hearst’s NewYork Journal vs.
Pulitzer’s NewYorkWorld
 “You furnish the pictures
and I’ll furnish the war” –
Hearst
War Fever Escalates
 Pres. McKinley wants to avoid war with Spain
 de Lome (Spanish minister) writes letter and calls McKinley
“weak”
War with Spain Erupts
 “Remember the Maine!”
 260 Americans die when
U.S.S. Maine explodes
 U.S. declares war on Spain
War with Spain
 George Dewey (Navy Admiral) takes over Philippines
 Filipino rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo aid the Americans
 Naval blockade of Cuba
 125,000 volunteers with inadequate supplies fought
 Rough Riders, cavalry unit led by T. Roosevelt, and two African American
regiments take San Juan Hill
 Spain loses Cuba and then Puerto Rico
War with Spain Erupts
 Treaty of Paris ends the war in 1898
 U.S. buys Philippines (then annexes it) and Spain hands over
Guam and P. Rico
Assignment
 Page 351
 Questions 2,3, and 4
Panama Canal
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pan
ama/player/
12/9 – Journal
 1. What is imperialism?
 2. Why did the U.S. get involved?
 3. What were the three factors that pushed the Americans
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into becoming an imperial power?
4. What lands did we take over first?
5. What happened with Hawaii?
6. What triggered the Spanish-American War?
7. What lands do we acquire?
Section 3: Acquiring New Lands
Ruling Puerto Rico
 Controlled by U.S. military
 Strategic importance = close to
Panama
 1900 Foraker Act = ends military
rule, U.S. Pres. appoints governor
of P. Rico
 1917 American citizenship for P.
Ricans
 Now -> P. Rico is a commonwealth
 move freely, cannot vote in.
presidential elections
Cuba
 Officially independent
 Occupied by American military troops
 1901- Platt Amendment
 Cuba could not make treaties that might limit its independence
or permit a foreign power to control any part of its territory
 The U.S. reserved the right to intervene in Cuba
 Cuba was not to go into debt
 The U.S. could buy or lease land on the island for naval stations
and refueling stations
Cuba
 Becomes a U.S. protectorate – a country whose affairs are
partially controlled by a stronger power
 American businesses = sugar, tobacco, mining, railroads
Philippine-American War
 U.S. annexes the Philippines
 Emilio Aguinaldo feels betrayed and organizes revolt
 1899-1903
 200,000 Filipino civilians die
 20,000 Filipino rebels
 4,000 Americans die (many African Americans)
 Cost $400 million
 U.S. sets up govt. and selects a governor
 Philippines become independent in 1946
China
 European nations had spheres of influence
 U.S. Secretary of State, John Hay, issues Open Door
notes (1899)
 Letters addressed to leaders of imperialistic nations supporting
open trade
China
 Boxer Rebellion (1900)
 Secret societies kill thousands of missionaries and foreigners
 International forces put down rebellion
 A new Open Door note -> 1. U.S. economy depended on
exports, 2. U.S. had right to intervene abroad to keep markets
open
The Impact of U.S. Territorial Gains
 Anti-Imperialist League – U.S. should not rule other people
without their consent
 1900 –William McKinley, an imperialist, is reelected
Discussion Questions
 1. Why was Puerto Rico important to the U.S.?
 2. Why did the Filipinos rebel?
 3. Why did Secretary of State John Hay issue the policy
statements known as the Open Door notes?
Section 4:America as a World
Power
Teddy Roosevelt and the World
 1904 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia declares war on Japan
 Japan is defeating the Russians but runs out of money
 T. Roosevelt arranges a deal
 Japan takes over Russian land in Korea and Manchuria but takes
back the cash payment
Teddy Roosevelt and the World
 Panama Canal = greatly reduce travel time for commercial
and military ships
 U.S. buys French company route for $40 million
 Philippe Bunau-Varilla, French agent, helps organize
Panamanian rebellion against Colombia
 U.S. pays Panama $10 million and annual rent of $250,000
Constructing the Canal
 1904-1914
 Malaria, yellow fever, soft volcanic soil
 $380 million
 5,600 workers died from accidents or disease
 Damaged U.S. relations with Latin America even with $25
million payment to Colombia
Roosevelt Corollary
 Latin American nations
took out loans from
European banks
 1904 Roosevelt adds the
Roosevelt Corollary to
the Monroe Doctrine =
U.S. would use force to
protect its economic
interests in L. America
Dollar Diplomacy
 Pres. Taft supported American business owners/bankers
loaning money to L. American countries to pay off debts to
Europeans
Woodrow Wilson’s Missionary
Diplomacy
 U.S. has moral responsibility to deny recognition to any L. American govt. it
viewed as oppressive, undemocratic, anti-U.S. (1913)
 Mexican Revolution
 Porfirio Diaz, military dictator, encouraged foreign investments
 Americans owned Mexican oil wells, mines, railroads
 1911 – Francisco Madero organizes a group of peasants/workers to
overthrow Diaz
 General Huerta orders execution of Madero and takes control of govt.
 Wilson will not recognize the new Mexican govt
 Wilson sends troops to occupy Veracruz (Mexican port) after American
sailors are arrested near by
 Venustiano Carranza becomes Pres. Of Mexico in 1915 and U.S. removes
troops
Rebellion in Mexico
 Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata opposed
Carranza’s govt.
 Zapata = land reform
 Villa = against foreign powers in Mexico
 Followers killed 17 Americans in New Mexico
 Pres. Wilson orders General John J. Pershing to capture Villa
 150,000 National Guardsmen stationed at Mexican border
 U.S. and Mexican troops clash
 With a war in Europe to fight Americans back off
Questions Section 4
 1. Using American Power (list ways they used American
power around the world during their presidency)
 2. What do you think were the similarities and differences
between Roosevelt’s Big Stick Policy and Wilson’s missionary
diplomacy?
 the goal of each of these foreign policies
 How the policies defined the role of U.S. intervention in
international affairs
 How the policies were applied