Topic Five: Imperialism
I. Define Imperialism
A. American foreign policy up until Civil War was Isolationist
1. George Washington’s Farewell Address/Monroe Doctrine
2. bordered by two oceans
3. agricultural/Jeffersonian policies
B. Why does the U.S. change its foreign policy?
1. Social
a. subjugation of natives
b. “Frontier Thesis” of Frederick Jackson Turner
c. idea of a “redeemer nation”
d. Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism
2.Economic
a. natural resources
b. overseas markets
3. Religious
a. missionaries, “Imperialism of Righteousness”
4. Political and Military
a. Europe and Japan already engaged
b. Alfred Mahan, Influence of Sea Power on History
c. no war between generations
5. Old Manifest Destiny vs. New Manifest Destiny
II. Fledgling Foreign Policy to 1890
A. Alaska and Midway Island
1. Sec. of State Seward, “Seward’s Icebox”
2. $7.2 million
3. Midway Islands annexed
B. Good Neighbor Policy
C. New Navy
1. Under Pres. Arthur
III. Hawaii
A. Sugar was the main export of Hawaii and the basis of its economy
1. Americans were less than 5% of the population but owned 2/3 of the land
a. displaced native Hawaiians and imported Asian workers
2. 1890 the McKinley Tariff hurts the economy
B. This was the situation when Liliuokilani becomes queen in 1891
1. tries to rewrite the constitution to give more power to the monarchy and native people
2. leads to an overthrow of the monarchy by the U.S. Minister with the help of marines
3. by this time, Cleveland is president and he tries to restore Lili to her throne, but to no avail
4. in 1894, Sanford Dole proclaims himself the president of a new Republic of Hawaii
5. after the Spanish American War, Hawaii is annexed by the United States (1898)
IV. The Spanish American War
A. War is foreign policy, by other than “peaceful” means
1. the language that a country uses to justify or “frame” it’s wars are really a way to tell how it’s
citizens view themselves
B. Cuba Libre
1. Cuba tried to win independence from Spain, 1894
2. Spain sends soldiers to Cuba, relocation policy
3. humanitarian crisis, yellow journalism
C. Remember the Maine
1. February 1898, the USS Maine sinks in Havana Harbor
2. by April of 1898, the Spanish-American War begins, Teller Amendment passed
3. the “splendid little war” only lasts for four months, until August of 1898
4. contribution of “smoked Yankees”
5. false sense of war
D. Results of the War
1. United States becomes a world power
a. gain the Phillipines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Wake Islands
b. use moral arguments to keep the Phillipines
2. Filipino Insurgency
a. led by Emilio Aguinaldo
b. American troops use same tactics as Spanish in Cuba
c. ends when Aguinaldo is captured in 1901
3. Insular Cases (1901)
a. the peoples of the lands the U.S. controls are not equal, not citizens
4. the easy victory over the Spanish gives Americans a sense of pride
5. Platt Amendment
a. makes Cuba an American protectorate