America Becomes a World Power
Imperialism
1890-1917
1. Commercial/Business
Interests
In 1893, an economic panic slowed down
industrial growth leading to a search for more
resources and markets
U.S. Foreign Investments Increase
The American economy was increasingly dependent on
foreign trade. A quarter of the nation's farm products
and half its petroleum were sold overseas.
2. Military/Strategic Interests
To expand into the Pacific, coaling stations were
necessary to refuel naval and trading vessels
"Whoever rules
the waves
rules the world,"
“Small states are of the past and
have no future. . . . The great
nations are rapidly absorbing for
their future expansion and their
present defense all the waste
places of the earth. … the United
states must not fall out of the line
of march.”
Henry Cabot Lodge
3. Social Darwinist Thinking
White Man’s Burden
Take up the White Man's burden
Send forth the best ye breed
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
A younger generation believed that the United States had a duty to uplift
backward societies
4. Religious/Missionary
Interests
Mainstream Protestant religious denominations
established religion missions in Africa and Asia,
including 500 missions in China
5. Closing the American
Frontier
Our “Manifest Destiny” shined from sea to shining
Sea, and now shifted toward expansion.
In the late 1800's, which reason led the United
States to give greater attention to the world
beyond its borders?
1. fear of revolution in
Latin America
2. fear of Russian
expansion in Alaska
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3. interest in finding
places to settle
surplus population
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4. interest in obtaining
markets for surplus
goods
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“Seward’s Icebox”: 1867
Or
“Seward’s Folly?”
$7.2 million
Hawaii is located near the center of
major shipping routes in the Pacific
Ocean
U. S. Business Interests In
Hawaii
1893 – American
businessmen backed an
uprising against Queen
Liliuokalani.
Sanford Ballard Dole
proclaims the Republic
of Hawaii in 1894.
The SpanishAmerican War
(1898):
“That Splendid
Little War”
Is it in Our Interest?
U.S. investments threatened
Spanish authorities commit atrocities
against Cuban civilians
Sympathetic to Cubans
Remember
the Maine
and to Hell
with Spain!
“Yellow Journalism” & Jingoism
Joseph Pulitzer
Hearst to Frederick Remington:
You furnish the pictures,
and I’ll furnish the war!
William Randolph Hearst
Theodore Roosevelt
Assistant Secretary
of the Navy in the
McKinley
administration.
Imperialist and
American nationalist.
Criticized President
McKinley as having
the backbone of a
chocolate éclair!
Resigns his position to
fight in Cuba.
Rough Riders
Charge up
San Juan Hill
The Battle of Santiago
Dewey Captures Manila!
Emilio Aguinaldo
Leader
of the Filipino
Uprising.
July 4, 1946:
Philippine independence
The Treaty of Paris: 1898
Cuba was freed from Spanish rule.
Spain gave up Puerto Rico and the island of
Guam.
The U. S. paid Spain
$20 mil. for the
Philippines.
The U. S. becomes
an imperial power!
The American Anti-Imperialist
League
Founded in 1899.
Mark Twain, Andrew
Carnegie, William
James, and William
Jennings Bryan among
the leaders.
Campaigned against
the annexation of the
Philippines and other
acts of imperialism.
Cuban Independence?
Teller Amendment (1898)
Platt Amendment (1903)
Senator
Orville Platt
1. Cuba was not to enter into any agreements with foreign
powers that would endanger its independence.
2. The U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs if necessary
to maintain an efficient, independent govt.
3. Cuba must lease Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. for naval
and coaling station.
During the late 19th century, some United States
newspapers printed exaggerated accounts of Spanish
cruelty in Cuba. These reports helped to bring about
the Spanish-American War primarily by
1. arousing public opinion
against Spain
2. provoking the anger of
the business
community
3. alienating the Spanish
government
4. encouraging the
formation of Spanish
revolutionary groups
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Panama Canal
TR in Panama
(Construction begins in 1904)
The canal would cut travel time
and expense for trade between
the Atlantic and the Pacific
The Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine: 1905
Chronic wrongdoing… may
in America, as elsewhere,
ultimately require
intervention by some
civilized nation, and in the
Western Hemisphere the
adherence of the United
States to the Monroe
Doctrine may force the
United States, however
reluctantly, in flagrant
cases of such wrongdoing
or impotence, to the
exercise of an
international police power .
Speak Softly,
But Carry a Big Stick!
In the early 1900s, one reason the United States
favored building a canal across Panama was that the
canal would
1. reduce shipping costs
on routes that linked
the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans
2. help unify the nations
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of Latin America
3. improve United States
relations with Latin
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America
4. end the need for a “big
stick” policy
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The Open Door Policy
Secretary John Hay.
Give all nations equal
access to trade in China.
Guaranteed that China would NOT be taken
over by any one foreign power.
The
Open Door Policy
Which goal of United States
foreign policy is pictured in
the cartoon?
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allowing China the right to follow
a policy of isolation
establishing a United States
colony in China
assisting in the growth of China's
industrialization
increasing opportunities for the
United States to trade with China
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America as a Pacific Power
Constable of the World
The Great White Fleet: 1907
Route of the Great White Fleet –
1907-08
Taft’s “Dollar
Diplomacy”
Improve financial
opportunities for
American businesses.
Use private capital to
further U. S. interests
overseas.
Therefore, the U.S.
should create stability
and order abroad that
would best promote
America’s commercial
interests.
The early 20th century policy of
dollar diplomacy indicated a
United States desire to
1. institute the dollar as an
international currency
2. give generous amounts of
foreign aid to less
developed countries
3. interact with foreign
countries in ways profitable
to United States
corporations
4. give trade preferences to
nations that follow a
capitalist system
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