Hist 111
American Civilization II
Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer
Upper Iowa University
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: American Foreign Policy, 1776-1867
 U.S. was a weak nation on international
scene for most of 19th century.
 It had a small army whose primary
mission was Indian fighting
 Navy: sent all over the globe, but
also small
 Washington’s Farewell Address
(1797): advised U.S. to avoid
“entangling alliances”
 Monroe Doctrine (1823): U.S. opposed
further colonization in the Americas
 Latin America: Pre-Civil War
 Mexican War (1846-48): U.S. defeats
Mexico, takes half of its territory
 Ostend Manifesto (1854): U.S.
diplomats maneuver to seize Cuba
from Spain--unsuccessfully
 Filibustering (1850s): private armies
from the U.S. try to seize land in
Latin America—William Walker
succeeded for a time in Nicaragua
George
Washington
c. 1796
John Quincy
Adams: architect
of the Monroe
Doctrine
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: U.S. in Latin America, Post-Civil War
 President Grant in 1870 tried to annex
what is today the Dominican Republic—
failed
 U.S. Senate refused to ratify treaty of
annexation
 Signaled an initial reluctance after
Civil War to expand U.S. influence
overseas
 Also evidence of racism—many
people on Santo Domingo had
African ancestry and Congress did
not want to give them access to the
U.S.
 U.S. backed Venezuela in a border
dispute with British Guiana (1895)
 Example of “Twisting the Lion’s
Tail”—Democrats irritating the
British to please anti-British voters
in the U.S., especially the Irish
 British didn’t want war with the U.S.
over the border dispute and agreed
to arbitration to settle the matter
Senator Daniel Vorhees
“Twists the Lion’s Tail”
Harper’s Weekly, 29 April 1882
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: The Spanish-American War
 A turning point for the U.S. foreign
policy
 Turned the United States toward
foreign expansion and a greater
international role
 The U.S. went to war with the Spanish to
free Cuba, avenge the destruction of USS
Maine, and satisfy American honor over
the insults to President McKinley in
DeLome Letter
 “A Splendid Little War”: lasted only four
months
 U.S. invaded and conquered Cuba
 U.S. seized Spanish possessions in
the Caribbean and the Pacific
 U.S. acquired a colonial empire in peace
treaty
 Teller Amendment (1898)
 Platt Amendment (1902)
William Randolph Hearst
Used his newspaper chain to
foment war with Spain in order
to increase circulation
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: U.S. in Latin America, Post-1898
 Panama Canal (1903)
 U.S. wanted to build transithmus
canal in Panama
 When Colombian Senate refused to
accept treaty, TR fomented revolt in
Panama
 Roosevelt Corollary (1904): if American
nations did not keep their finances in
order to prevent foreign intervention,
the U.S. would do it for them
 Dollar Diplomacy
 Pres. Taft used private U.S. credit as
source of leverage over Latin
America
 Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, New
Mexico (March 1916)
 Response showed limits of U.S.
power in Latin America
 U.S. expedition into Mexico failed to
capture Villa
 U.S. could not impose its will in the
Mexican Civil War
Cartoon celebrating the U.S. as the
protector of Latin America from
European imperialism (c. 1896
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: The U.S. and China
 U.S. interest prompted by desire to
acquire Chinese trade goods: tea,
porcelain, etc.
 American missionaries also wanted to
convert Chinese to Christianity
 “Spheres of Influence”
 U.S. forced to compete for influence
in China with other nations who
held monopolies in Chinese ports
they controlled
 Open Door Notes (1899): U.S.
proposed opening all Chinese ports
to all nations—but was rebuffed
 U.S. offered China some protection from
being dismembered
 Boxer Rebellion (1900)
 U.S. helped other foreign powers
crush anti-foreign uprising by the
“Fists of Righteous Harmony” better
known in the West as the Boxers
Cartoon celebrating U.S.
participation in suppressing
the Boxer Rebellion
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: The U.S. and Hawaii
 U.S. enjoyed more exclusive influence in
Hawaii, although the British and the
French also were interested
 Initial contact with the U.S. came in
1820s with the arrival of New England
missionaries
 U.S. pineapple and sugar planters later
established operations, using mostly
Asian immigrants as their labor force
 Hawaii remained an independent
kingdom, although native Hawaiians in
decline due to foreign diseases
 Queen Liliuokalani:
 Promised “Hawaii for the
Hawaiians”
 Deposed in 1893 in coup organized
by planters
 Grover Cleveland declined appeal for
annexation
 Hawaii finally annexed to U.S. in 1898
Queen Liliuokalani
Hawaii’s last monarch
Lecture 5
Foreign Expansion: U.S. and the Philippines
 War with Spain brought U.S. to the
Philippines Islands
 Filipinos hoped U.S. would grant them
independence as the they had fighting a
guerilla war for independence against
Spain for over a decade
 “Philippine Insurrection”
 U.S. fought from 1899 to 1903 to
impose its authority in an often
brutal campaign
 126,500 U.S. troops used—both
regulars, national guard, and
volunteers
 U.S. lost 4,324 soldiers in the
pacification campaign
 About 18,000 Filipino combatants
killed
 About 200,000 civilians died of
famine and disease
 This war is now largely forgotten in U.S.
U.S. troops execute a
Filipino rebel leader
San Fernando, Pampanga