American Imperialism
Manifest Destiny and Beyond
1844-1902
Manifest Destiny
John L. O’Sullivan coined the phrase (1844), arguing that it
was America’s “manifest destiny to overspread and
possess the whole of the continent which Providence has
given us…”
Within four years, President James K. Polk
(Democrat) made the dream a reality by:
1. annexing the Republic of Texas (1845),
2. negotiating with the British for control
of Oregon south of the 49th parallel (1846)
3. provoking a war with Mexico (1846-48)
that ended in U.S. victory and the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo (1848), which ceded one third of Mexico to U.S.
By 1849, the U.S. extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Eyeing Mexico and the Caribbean
• Democratic Party elements were disappointed that the
U.S. didn’t annex all of Mexico in order to expand slave
territory; the Gadsden Purchase (1853) added southern
Arizona and New Mexico to make way for a railroad
• Southern slaveholders planned an expedition to seize
Cuba in 1854 - called off when anti-slavery Northerners
protested; Ostend Manifesto (1854) still called upon the
U.S. to seize control of Cuba using any means available
• Between 1853-60, William Walker, a Southern
adventurer, led several military expeditions attempting to
take over several Central American countries
• U.S. quietly supported the Mexican government in the
Franco-Mexican War (1861-67); rejected French
occupation of Mexico and provided money and arms
after the end of the Civil War
Reaching Out in the Pacific
1853-54: Commodore Perry forced the opening
of Japan to trade with the U.S.; helped
contribute to the Meiji Restoration and
Japan’s modernization
1867: Secretary of State Seward purchased
Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million
(derided as “Seward’s Ice Box”)
1887: American planters (the Hawaiian League)
forced King Kalakaua to accept a new
constitution; U.S. Navy obtained basing
rights at Pearl Harbor
1893: Hawaiian League toppled Kalakaua’s
sister, Queen Liliuokalani, and established
the Republic of Hawaii
Mahan and Sea Power
• Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea
Power Upon History (1890) influenced the
views of expansionists, who argued that
America must build a large ocean-going naval
fleet in order to effectively promote its international
commercial interests and assert its newfound power
• Central thesis: Great Powers require a strong industrial
economy matched with commensurate sea power; he who
masters the sea, masters the situation
• Mahan praised the British as an excellent example of
how to combine military and economic strength
• America’s navy was woefully inadequate in the early
1890s (smaller than Chile’s navy); Mahan’s work
prompted a warship building program and calls for
annexation of Hawaii
Motives of Imperialism
• Proponents of American expansion in the 1890s
offered several reasons for doing so:
1. promotion of U.S. commercial interests
2. “survival of the fittest” – U.S. must join the
race for territory or lose out to other aggressive
powers, such as Britain, Japan, and Germany
3. U.S. need for naval bases in the Caribbean and
the Pacific and a canal through Central America
4. expansion of American ideals – “the white
man’s burden” (as best expressed by Senator
Albert Beveridge); a logical extension of
Manifest Destiny and exceptionalism
The War Drums of Empire
• By early 1898, war fever in the U.S.
erupted after the mysterious explosion of
the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor
(February 15)
• The major New York newspapers
(Pulitzer’s World and Hearst’s Journal)
beat the drums of war against Spain and
sold newspapers recounting horrific
stories of Spanish oppression against
Cuban nationalists
• Despite the efforts of Speaker Thomas B.
Reed (R-ME) and others, Congress
declared war against Spain (April 25)
The Spanish-American War (1898)
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Theodore Roosevelt, a disciple of
Mahan, had already issued orders to
the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, under the
command of Commodore George
Dewey to sail for Manila Bay
• Dewey steamed into Manila Bay and
destroyed the Spanish fleet within a
day (April 30)
• U.S. naval forces also blockaded
Cuba, stranding the Spanish army
• American forces, including TR’s
“Rough Riders,” finally defeated the
Spanish and forced their surrender
The Anti-Imperialist League
• Many Americans resisted the imperialist urge
and fought to stop expansion, based on a range
of reasons, including:
1. fear of abandoning American ideals
2. unproductive foreign wars
3. fear of an American empire becoming “unAmerican” in cultural make-up due to large
numbers of prospective non-white citizens
• The Anti-Imperialist League (founded in 1898)
became active in opposing annexation of Hawaii
and the Philippines; included such national
figures as Grover Cleveland, Jane Addams,
Andrew Carnegie, and Samuel Gompers
War in the Philippines
America’s empire expanded to include Puerto Rico,
Guam, Hawaii, Samoa, a protectorate over Cuba,
and the Philippines (which was annexed over
anti-imperialist protests)
Emilio Aguinaldo’s Filipino nationalist
movement felt betrayed and went to
war against the U.S. occupation
The Filipino-American War (1899-1902)
resulted in the loss of thousands of lives,
and the commitment of 125,000 U.S. troops
Aguinaldo eventually surrendered and called on his
followers to declare loyalty to the U.S.
An “Open Door” to China
By 1899, most major European powers
had obtained trading concessions in
China, prompting Secretary of State
John Hay to issue the “Open Door” note,
requesting open access for U.S. trade in
China
Hay’s focus was to secure American trading
interests (a realist goal) by invoking free trade
(an idealistic principle)
America later joined with other major powers in
crushing the anti-Western Boxer Rebellion in
1900 but also asserted U.S. determination to
protect China’s territorial integrity against
foreign encroachment