The Path To Empire
Chapter 27
1890-1899
Isolation
• After the Civil War, the US remained
indifferent to the outside world
• The last decades of the 19th century marked
a shift in US foreign policy
• America would become an imperial power
Imperialist Stirrings
• Farmers and factory owners looked to
foreign markets as production increased
• The US had to expand or explode
• A new sense of power, population, wealth,
and productive capacity engulfed the US
• Imperialism – the economic and political
domination of a strong nation over weaker
nations.
Missionaries
• Pious missionaries
looked to harvest new
souls
• Superior Americans
looked to spread
values and religion to
“backwards” people
Great White Fleet
• The US built a new
and modern navy
• 15 major battleships
made of steel
• US Naval Cpt. Alfred
Thayer Mahan stirred
a world naval race
Captain Alfred T. Mahan
• Captain in US Navy
• Published series of lectures in a book called
The Influence of Seapower Upon History,
1660-1783
• Suggested that a nation needed a large navy
to protect merchant ships and defend right
to trade
• Americans also wanted an isthmus canal
Secretary of State
James G. Blaine
• Proposed idea that the United
States and Latin America work
together…idea became known as
Pan-Americanism
• “Big Sister” policy
• 1899 – presided over 1st PanAmerican Conference
• Set the stage for many American
assemblies
America & Germany
• 1899 – nearly came to
blows with Germany
over Samoan Islands
• Located in South
Pacific Ocean near
Australia
• Germany was looking
to expand empire
International Conflicts
• 1891 – the lynching of 11 Italians in New
Orleans brought the US and Italy to the
brink of war (US paid compensation)
• 1892 – 2 US sailors died in the Chilean port
of Valparaiso (Chile paid compensation)
• 1893 – US and Canada battled over seal
hunting rights near Pribilof Islands near
Alaska (arbitration)
Venezuela-British Guiana
Boundary Dispute
• President Cleveland
claimed Britain was
trying to dominate
Venezuela
• In violation of Monroe
Doctrine
• Gold was discovered
in disputed area
Venezuela-British Guiana
Boundary Dispute
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England denied relevance of M.D.
War seemed inevitable
Brits 32 warships v. U.S. 5 warships
Brits had no real urge to fight
Canada was vulnerable, and British
shipping would be hurt
Germans Anger Brits
• Kaiser Wilhelm II
congratulated Dutch
Boers of South Africa
for capturing British
ship
• Brits turn aggression
toward Germany
• The Great
Rapprochement is
reached with the US
(reconciliation)
The Monroe Doctrine
• Monroe Doctrine is
strengthened
• Most of Latin America
was pleased that US
would protect them
from Europe
Hawaii
• Halfway station for
US ships going to
Asia
• 1st missionaries arrive
in 1820
• Honolulu looked like
a New England town
• US regarded Hawaii
as their own
Hawaii
• 1840s – US State Department warned other
nations to stay away
• 1875 – commercial reciprocity treaty,
meaning sugar could be traded without
subject to tariff
• 1887 – treaty with native Hawaiian
government for rights to Pearl Harbor
Queen Liliuokalani
• Strong-willed native Queen
of Hawaii
• Insisted natives should
control the islands
• 1893 – small group of
Americans org. a successful
revolt against the royal
government
• Openly assisted by federal
troops
Hawaii
• Grover Cleveland denied
annexation b/c he felt Liliuokalani
was wronged
• 1893 – G.C. sent investigators to
Hawaii and found that a majority of
Hawaiians did not favor annexation
• 1st imperialist debate in US History
Jose Marti
• Cuban exile to New York
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City
Led Cuba’s revolt from
Spain
1868 – Cuban rebels
declared independence from
Spain
Attack failed and they fled
to US
10% of Cubans were
enslaved
Cuban Revolution
• 1894 – US imposed new tariff on sugar, and
this devastated the Cuban economy
• 1895 – Rebels seized control of eastern Cuba
• Americans were neutral at first, but newspaper
writers wrote exaggerated stories that got
Americans on Cubans side
• Yellow journalism – exaggerated stories of
Spanish attacks on Cubans
Cuban Revolution
• Cubans used a scorched-earth policy of
destruction
• If they damaged enough, maybe the
Spaniards would leave
• Insurrectos – torched cane fields, sugar
mills, and dynamited trains
• US had $50 million invested in Cuba with
yearly trade at $100 million
Gen. Valeriano Weyler
• 1896 – Spain sent Gen. Weyler
to Cuba
• Weyler a.k.a. “The Butcher”
• Crushed Cuban Rebellion with
barbed wire concentration camps
• Poor sanitation, deadly holes
US Reaction
• 1896 – US Congress called on President
Cleveland to recognize the revolting Cubans
• Cleveland said he would not mobilize army
even if Congress declared war
• Cleveland felt the US should stay out of
Cuba at all cost
USS Maine
• February 1898 – The
USS Maine sent to
Havana harbor to
protect Americans in
Cuba
• Exploded, killing
266 American
officers and sailors
• Cause unknown but
Americans blamed
Spanish
USS Maine
• Feb. 9, 1898 – private letter written by Dupuy de
Lome, a Spanish ambassador to the US,
describing President McKinley as an ear-to-theground politician who lacked good faith
• Hearst published letter
• Feb. 15, 1898 – USS Maine explodes
• 1976 – Adm. H. G. Rickover proves the USS
Maine was subject to an internal explosion
US Clamors For War
• US wanted to go to war with Spain over the
USS Maine explosion
• Madrid had already agreed to end the
concentration camps, and an armistice with
the Cuban rebels
• BUT, the American public wanted a war
• April 11, 1898 – McKinley asked Congress
to declare war on Spain
• Claimed the
Teller Amendment
US would give
Cuba self-rule
after it
defeated Spain
• Imperial
Europe not
sure what to
think over this
declaration
The Spanish-American War
• 1898
• Regular US Army – run by ex-Civil War
officers
• Unready, untrained for a tropical war
• Only 2,100 officers and 28,000 men
• 200,000 Spanish troops in Cuba
The Spanish-American War
• The Spanish Navy was in wretched
condition
• 1000s of miles away from home
• US Navy was new, steel (15 years old)
• 5th largest navy in the world
John D. Long
• Secretary of Navy –
John D. Long
• Asst Sec. Of Navy –
Theodore Roosevelt
• Long rarely left T.R.
in charge b/c he was
unpredictable
Theodore Roosevelt
• 2/25/1898
• Long was away for the
weekend
• T.R. instructed
Commodore George
Dewey to attack Spanish
fleet at Manila,
Phillipines
• McKinley confirmed
orders
Philippines
• May 1, 1898
• 6 warships under
Dewey sailed into
Manila Bay &
defeated Spain’s 10
ship fleet
• 400 Spanish dead
• 0 Americans dead
George Dewey
• Became national hero, but could
not attack land b/c he needed
reinforcements
• Awarded the rank of Admiral
• Other foreign ships besieged
Manila to offer protection for
their citizens
• Germany, England
Philippines
• August 13, 1898
• US troops finally arrive
in the Philippines and
capture Manila
• Assisted by Filipino
insurgent Emilio
Aguinaldo
• Brought in from Asian
exile
Hawaii
• July 7, 1898
• Annexation of
Hawaii rushed
through Congress
• Residents granted
full citizenship
• Full territorial
status in 1900
Invasion Of Cuba
• Spain sent fleet of
ships under Admiral
Cervera to Cuba when
the US declared war
• Eastern US in panic,
so Navy sent useless
Civil War boats to
‘protect’ the east coast
Gen. William R. Shafter
• Sick and gout stricken
• Put in command of unprepared
US forces in Cuba
• Army was in wool designed for
sub zero temperatures
• Shafter nor the Army was
prepared for a tropical war
• Summer clothing didn’t arrive
until the war was over
Rough Riders
• Colorful regiment
of volunteers
• Short on discipline
• Western cowboys
and Eastern polo
players
• Ex-convicts
Col. Leonard Wood
• Commander of the
Rough Riders
• Organized by gloryhungry Theodore
Roosevelt after he
resigned from the
Navy Department
Invasion of Cuba
• June 1898 – 17,000 US troops left Tampa, Florida for
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Cuba
½ of Rough Riders horses didn’t arrive
“Woods Weary Walkers”
Gen. Shafter lands uncontested at Santiago, Cuba
July 1 – fighting at El Caney and San Juan Hill lead to
US victory
RR charge San Juan Hill with 2 black regiments
Heavy casualties
Invasion of Cuba
• US Army gained control of Santiago
• Admiral Cervera wanted to retreat, but was
told to fight for the honor of the flag
• July 3, 1898 – Spanish fleet was destroyed
as wooded decks caught on fire
• 500 Spanish killed
• 1 American killed
Gen. Miles in Puerto Rico
• Gen. Nelson Miles
met little resistance
taking over Puerto
Rico
• Aug. 12, 1898 – Spain
signed armistice
ending the war
Tropical Troops
• Troops were falling to tropical malaria,
typhoid, dysentery, and yellow fever
• 80% of troops were transferred to chilly
Long Island, NY where their light summer
uniforms were delivered
• 400 Americans died in battle
• 5,000 died from disease
Treaty of Paris - 1898
• Spanish and US negotiators
met in Paris in 1898
• Cuba – freed from Spanish
control; US would make
free
• Guam – US secured as a
territory
• Puerto Rico – becomes US
territory
Philippines
• Philippines had 7 million Asians living in its
borders
• US did not want to give back to Spain, and
did not want to leave them alone for fear of
Germany taking over the islands
• US purchases Philippines for $20 million
b/c Manila was captured one day after the
armistice
• McKinley prayed for guidance
America’s Empire
• All previous land acquisitions had been
thinly populated and on the continent
• Philippines, Guam, Cuba, Puerto Rico –
distant, tropical, foreign populations; alien
race, culture, tongue, religion, and
government
•
The Anti-Imperialist League
• Organized to fight
McKinley’s expansionist
policies
• Some of most prominent
people in US
• University presidents,
philosophers, novelists,
Samuel Gompers, Andrew
Carnegie
Puerto Rico
• Nearly 1 million inhabitants,
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most poverty stricken
Foraker Act of 1900 –
Congress gave P.R. limited
popular govt.
1917 – full citizenship
US helped work wonders in
edu, transportation, sanitation,
Many Puerto Ricans moved to
NYC
Insular Cases - 1901
• Did the Constitution follow the flag?
• 1901 – The Supreme Court ruled that the
Constitution did not extend to people in
territories acquired by the US
• Puerto Ricans and Filipinos subject to US
rule, but did not enjoy all American rights
Cuba
• Gen. Leonard
Wood set up a
military govt.
• Advances in
govt, finance,
edu, agr, and
public health
Yellow Fever
• Dr. Walter Reed found
that mosquitoes were
the carrier of yellow
fever
• US forces cleaned up
breeding grounds in
Cuba, and wiped out
yellow fever in
Havana
Cuba
• The US withdrew from Cuba in 1902,
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honoring the Teller Act
Cubans were forced to write the Platt
Amendment into their constitution
1901 – Platt Amendment
Could not incur debt past resources
US could intervene for mutual protection
Guantanamo Bay
• Platt Amendment also
secured Guantanamo
Bay as a military base
for the US
• The lease was to last
until both parties
agreed to end it
• Still in use by US
forces today
Spanish-American War
• Coming out party of US power
• It did not cause the US to become a power,
it just proved it already was
• 113 day war, low in casualties
• American prestige rose sharply, Europe
gave US more respect, A new American
spirit emerged
John Philip Sousa
• The new American
spirit was ushered in
with music by famous
director John Philip
Sousa
• American cockiness
indcreased
“Bloody Chasm” Ends
• The strain between
North and South was
eased after the SpanAmerican War
• 1000s of Southerners
served the military
• Gen. Joseph Wheeler –
ex-Confederate was
given command in Cuba