What is imperialism and how does it
fit the US in the late 1800s?
Bell Work:
Read through the 2 scenarios below and
decide what action the US should take.
A small island nation near the US has been under the control of a European
nation for the last 100 years. The islanders want their freedom and rebel against
the European nation in control of them. The islanders are brutally defeated. Their
leaders are exiled and supporters placed in work camps. The people living on the
island have no hope of winning their independence. They do not have enough
people to fight or the kinds of weapons that will match the technology of their
European overlords.
1.

Should the US help the islanders fight or not? What would you want our country to do
and why?
A second island off the coast of the US has never been under the control of an
outside nation. However, European nations have begun to trade heavily with them.
The US sugar industry is interested in expanding on this island since their climate
is perfect and their profit would become enormous. It would also help to keep
European sugar industries from the island. The islanders want to stay independent.
The US government is calling for the US to take control of the island nation’s
government and build a military base there to protect the US from powerful
nations in Europe and Asia, this is an idea that is strongly supported by the US
sugar industry.
2.

Should the US take control of this island nation or not? What would you want our country
to do and why?
Vocabulary

Imperialism: A policy of extending a country’s power and influence
through diplomacy or military force.

Isolationism: A policy of remaining apart from the affairs or
interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other
countries.

Annexation: When one country decides to take over another
country and other nations in the world recognize the union. That
second country doesn’t have to agree that it should be annexed, for
it to be annexed.

Nationalism: An extreme sense of pride in ones own country, to
the point where a person feels they are superior to other nations
and countries.

Foreign Policy: how the US interacts with other nations.
Why Imperialism?

Profit
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New markets to sell goods
New source of raw materials
Power and Prestige (big dog syndrome)
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Shows other nation’s that you are a ‘Big Deal’
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Bigger = Better and stronger AKA don’t mess with us
“The sun never sets on the British Empire”
A belief that you’re superior (nationalism)
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Other nations should have the same government, religion,
language, and customs that you do. Basically they should be just
like you. Sound familiar?
What are some pros and cons with this line of thought?
How does this theme fit the US in late
1800s?

US is expanding at home why not compete on the
world stage?
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Industrial Revolution
Increased population through immigration
Westward expansion (manifest destiny)
“Big Dog” syndrome

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We want to out-compete Europe
Britain v. Germany v. US = race to see who can acquire the
most territory
“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. It is a movement which makes for
civilization and the advancement of the race. As one of the great nations
of the world, the United States must not fall out of the line of march.”
- Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Massachusetts
LIE
Caption 1:
“Patient
waiters are no
losers”
Caption 2:
“ I ain’t in no
hurry, it’ll
drop
into my basket
when it gets
ripe!”
Directions

Read through the poems in the packet and analyze their
meaning.
What did Kipling mean by the “White Man’s Burden”
and how does it connect to imperialism?
How do the anti-imperialism poems respond to Kipling?
1.
2.

3.
Each poem has a different perspective.
Which poem do you agree with most and why? (3
examples)
Historical Examples of US
Imperialism
Bell Work

Please take out your “Poem Questions” sheet and show it
to Mrs.V

You will have earned points just for completing the assignment
on time.

We will then discuss your analysis of the poems

Agenda
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
Poems
Quotes
Text Assignment
“The White Man’s Burden” –
Who is doing the
work
The White Man
Rudyard Kipling
What are they doing?
Who ‘benefits’?
Trying to ‘help’ the other races
providing care.
-Feeding the famished
- Taking care of the sick
- ports and roads
- Other countries/races
- to make non whites more
‘civilized’
How do those ‘benefitting’ Respond:
- Start wars, judge you, sullen, lazy foolish they are going to ruin it
Bell Work: the quotes below connect with US Foreign policy in the
late 1800s, what messages do they send to those that live in the US
and those that live outside of our boarders?

“ A new consciousness seems to have come upon us – the
consciousness of strength – and with it a new appetite, the yearning
to show our strength…. Ambition, interest, land hunger, pride, the
mere joy of fighting, whatever it may be, we are animated by a new
sensation. We are face to face with a strange destiny. The taste of
Empire is in the mouth of the people even as the taste of blood in
the jungle. It means an Imperial policy, the Republic, reawakened,
taking her place with the armed nations.”


- Washington Post, June 1896
“Having …. No foreign establishments, either colonial or military,
the ship of war of the United States, in war, will be like land birds,
unable to fly far from their own shores. To provide resting-places for
them, where they can repair, would be one of the first duties of a
government proposing to itself the development of the power of the
nation at sea.”

Alfred Thayer Mahan, Professor of the US Naval War College, 1890s
Read through the 2 examples of US foreign policy and compare and
contrast US action in Hawaii and China.
Hawaii pgs 599-601; China pgs 602-604

Questions
1.
Briefly describe US actions in Hawaii and China.
2.
What were our motivations for being involved in Hawaii? In China?
•
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Nationalism? Profit? Big Dog syndrome?
Why are our actions in China so very different from how we behaved in Hawaii?
How did the Chinese and Hawaiians respond to Imperialism?
How did Japan become a world power in the 1890s and how did the US respond?
Define:
a)
Spheres of influence
b)
Open Door Policy
c)
Boxer Rebellion
d)
Russo-Japanese War
Identify
a)
Henry Cabot Lodge
b)
Kalakaua
c)
Liliuokalani
d)
Sanford B. Dole
e)
John Hay
f)
Matthew Perry
Spanish American War
-Sinking of the Maine
What sank the Maine?
Bell Work

Please take out your text assignment from yesterday
regarding US Imperialism in Hawaii and China. We are
going to correct this in class and then hand it in for
credit.

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Missionaries convert to xnty and sugar plantations
1870 US has control of most of the island to grow sugar
Tariff exemption for Hawaiian sugar
When the exemption expires we ask for pearl harbor to
extend – Kalakaua refuses
US sugar plantation owners force Kalakaua to sign
Bayonet Constitution
L wants Hawaii to be independent – sugar plantation
owners rebel – us sends in military to support rebels
Annexed in 1898 – becomes a state in 1959
Directions:
How do the headlines below differ?
How would a reader respond to each?


Search for Missing Bride Continues
Bride Missing! Groom’s Family Blame History of Mental Illness




What does each headline imply?
Looking at the titles, which would you want to read first?
Which do you think would have the most reliable story?
Why would different newspapers choose to represent the
same event so differently?
Explosion of the U.S.S. Maine,
Havana Harbor, February 15, 1898

Cuba held by Spain



Should the US get
involved?


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Cubans Rebel
Spain crushes
rebellion and
places rebels in
camps
Disgust at Spain’s
treatment of
rebels (work
camps)
Yellow Journalism:
newspapers in the
US write
sensational/embelli
shed stories that
increase sympathy
US has business
interests in Cuba
P. McKinley sends
the Maine to Cuba

Maine explodes
Feb. 15th 1898
leaving us to ask...
Awake United States!
This song was rushed into print between the sinking of the Maine on
February 16, 1898 and the declaration of war on April 25, 1898.
Eagle soar on high, and sound the battle cry!
How proudly sailed the warship Maine,
a Nation’s pride, without a stain!
A wreck she lies, her sailors slain.
By two-faced butchers, paid by Spain!
Eagle soar on high,
And sound the battle cry
Wave the starry flag!
In mud it shall not drag!
•According to this song, what sunk the Maine?
•Does this prove the Spanish blew it up?
Bell Work

Using info we went over yesterday, tell me what are the 4
main reasons for the Spanish American War? Do you
think the US should have gone to war?
Directions

What Sunk The Maine? – 20 minutes

Read through both articles and answer the questions for each


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Journal v. Times
February 15, 1898
Class Discussion

Do you know what happened to the Maine?


Do you think these articles would have been received differently by
their readers in 1898?




Evidence? Can you find an example where SOLID evidence was used?
How so?
What effect might the Journal have had on its readers?
What about the Times?
How significant do you think the Maine explosion was to the
American people at this time? Why?
Outcome of the Spanish American War
(April 1898-July 1898)

Casualties


5,400 dead – 400 in battle and 5000 from disease or food
poisoning
Spain surrenders


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Gives up control of Cuba
Cedes Guam and Puerto Rico to the US
US buys the Philippines for $20 mil

… wait a minute. Do you see hypocrisy here?
Assignment

In 2 well constructed paragraphs, please discuss which
account is more believable and why.

First Paragraph: compare the evidence used by both papers to
support their claims that the Maine was blown up by attack or
by unknown causes. Which uses stronger evidence? Use at
least THREE specific examples/phrases/words from the articles
to support your position.

Second: tell me if this difference in accounts matters? Why or
Why not? Use at least THREE reasons to support your
argument.
Debate: Should the US Annex the
Philippines?
Cartoon Analysis Activity
Bell Work: LIE
Bell Work

Please grab a Semester Final Study Guide and a
“Philippine Island Annexation Debate” packet from the
side table
The Philippines
Directions

Work and prep time

4 Areas for Points: 35 total



Introduce yourself (5)
Discredit your opponent’s argument (10)
Argue your point (10)



You must write out these sections and hand them in for full credit
Answer my questions (10)
Debate tomorrow
Bell Work


Make sure your materials are ready for today’s debate
We will begin 5 mins after class starts…
Teddy Roosevelt and Latin America
The Panama Canal
Bell Work

What are the 5 reasons from the debate yesterday for:


annexing the Philippines
and the 5 for NOT annexing the Philippines?
Pro Annexation v. Anti Annexation
Pro
Anti
The War in the Philippines – 1899-1902

Philippine Rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo


Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and 4,000 Americans are
dead
US ‘grants’ them independence in 1946
Text Assignment

Pgs 612-616 and worksheet

Due tomorrow
Imperialism’s effect today
Puerto Rico and other US commonwealths
Bell Work


On December 5, 2012 Puerto Rico asked its people if
they wanted to become the 51st state in the US. 61% of
voters (about 800,000+) said yes while 39% said no.
Puerto Rico was annexed in the late 1800s as part of US
imperialism and becoming a state is an option open to
them.
Puerto Rico today is a commonwealth of the US meaning
that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but they cannot vote
for president. Puerto Rico is subject to U.S. federal laws,
but they are exempt from some federal taxes. Puerto
Rico has a representative in Congress, but they aren’t
allowed to vote.