Chapter 20- America and the World (1897-1917)
Section 1 Expansion in the Pacific
 The Impulse for Imperialism
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Imperialism: the quest for colonial empires.
Between 1876-1915 a handful of industrialized nations seized control of vast areas of
Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Imperialism was driven by a need for markets and raw materials as well as the desire
for power and prestige.
Aided by efficient machines and abundent capital, workers in these industrial nations
produced far more goods than could be consumed at home. In response, industrialist
turned to Africa, Asia, and Latin America for new customers and new sources of raw
materials.
To protect these new markets from competition, industrialized nations tried to
colonize these areas.
American enthusiasm for overseas expansion grew as industrial production surged in
the late 1800s.
The United States needed a strong navy to protect its economic interest in foreign
markets. Such a navy required overseas bases.
Supporters of expansion also claimed that the United States had a duty to spread its
polotical system and the Christian religion thoughout the world.
Whatever the reason, many Americans supported expansion.
 Acquiring Hawaii
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The Hawaiian Islands lie in the Pacific Ocean some 2,000 miles west of California.
They were a good place to build naval bases and coaling stations for ships traveling to
and from Asia.
Some Americans viewed Hawaiians as an uncivilized people who needed to be
introduced to modern industrial society and Christianity.
During the 1800s ships began arriving in Hawaii more often.
The ships brough missionaries, settlers, and traders. They also brought diseases that
reduced the Hawaiian population.
Missionaries and their families settled on the islands and began raising crops,
particularly sugar.
American investors in the sugar industry gradually increased their control over the
islands.
Since Hawaiians were dying off at a high rate, planters brough in thousands of
Japanese and Chinese workers, to work on the sugar plantations.
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By the 1870s Americans controlled most of Hawaii’s land and trade.
During the late 1800s there was political instability partially because of the sugar
plantation investors and the Hawaiian Royal family.
Hawaii would eventually become a U.S. territory and the 50th state in 1959.
 U.S. Involvement in China
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Hawaii was valuable to the United States in part because it was a convenient stopping
point for American trading ships sailing to China.
In 1843 China officially opened five ports to trade with the United States and Europe.
For the next 50 years China’s rulers struggled to keep foreign interest from
overrunning the country.
Spheres of Influence: regions where a particular country has exclusive rights over
mines, railroads, and trade.
Spheres of influence usually pertain to Britain, France, Germany, and Russia
(European countries).
The United States was in danger of being forced out of China trade.
In 1899 Secretary of State John Hay called for an Open Door Policy, which would
give all nations equal access to trade and investment in China.
Hay sent a series of Open Door notes to the European powers and Japan that asked
them to agree to three principles. (A) First, he asked that they keep all ports in their
spheres open to all nations. (B) Second, he asked that Chinese officials be allowed to
collect all tariffs and duties. (C) Finally, he requested that they guarantee equal
harbor, railroad, and tariff rates in their spheres to all nations trading in China.
Since the European nations and Japan neither rejected nor accepted the principles,
Hay announced that the Open Door Policy had been approved.
Chinese resentment of foreigners continued to grow.
In the spring if 1900 the Fists of Righteous Harmony, known as the Boxers, attacked
Western missionaries and traders in northern China, killing more than 200 people.
Boxer Rebellion (1900): revolt in which Chinese nationalists known as Boxers
attacked foreigners in order to end foreign involvement in China’s affairs; put down
by an international force after two months.
After the rebellion China was force to pay foreign nations $333 million for damages.
 An Emerging Japan
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In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry and a fleet of Seven U.S. warships sailed into
Tokyo Bay.
Perry presented a letter from President Millard Fillmore to the Emperor. The letter
demanded that Japan open diplomatic and trading relations with the United States.
Perry and his fleet sailed out of the bay with a promise to return.
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The Japanese leaders agreed with the Western demands for trade and diplomacy.
They reasoned that if they did not, foreigners might seize control of their nation.
Japan rapidly transformed itself into an industrial power and built up its army and
navy.
By the early 1900s, Japan had become a modern world power and a rival to the
United States for influence in China and the Pacific.
Section 2
War with Spain
 Conflict in Cuba
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Supporters of U.S. expansion had long been interested in the Caribbean island of
Cuba, located just 90 miles from the Florida Keys.
In the late 1800s Cuba simmered with unrest. Cuba and its Caribbean neighbor
Puerto Rico were the last of the Spanish colonies in the Americas.
Since 1868, Cubans had launched a series of unsuccessful revolts against Spanish
rule.
To put down the rebellion, the Spanish government exiled many leaders of the
independence movement.
 The United States React
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Many Americans saw similarities between the Cubans’ struggle and the American
Revolution and were therefore sympathetic to the Cuban rebels.
Believing that newspapers should shape public opinion and policy, William Randolph
Hearst used sensational reporting or yellow journalism, to influence U.S. intervention
in Cuba.
In 1897 he sent artist Frederic Remington to Cuba to create drawings showing
Spanish cruelty, which Hearst could use to increase U.S. support for war with Spain.
On February 1898, the battleship USS Maine had been sent to Havana to protect U.S.
lives and property. On February 15 the Maine blew up, killing 260 sailors.
“DESTRUCTION OF THE WARSHIP MAINE WAS THE WORK OF AN
ENEMY!” screamed newspapers, although there was no proof of this.
Some historians believed that a fire in a coalbin caused the explosion.
At the time, however, many Americans blamed Spain.
Spanish officials agree to a U.S. – proposed peace plan, but it was too late.
On April 11 McKinley asked Congress to intervene in Cuba “in the name of
humanity, in the name of civilization, and on behalf of endangered American
interests.” On April 25 Congress declared war on Spain. The Spanish-American
War had begun.
 War with Spain
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On April 20, 1898, Congress recognized Cuba’s independence and voted to use
military force to help Cuba attain it.
Congress also adopted the Teller Amendment. This stated that once Cuba won its
independence from Spain, the United States would “leave the government and control
of the Island to its people.”
The war’s first battle was fought in the Spanish held Philippine Islands.
To capture the Philippine city of Manila, the U.S. obtained the support of a rebel
army of Filipino patriots led by Emilio Aguinaldo.
Filipinos had been fighting for independence from Spain for two years.
Cut off by U.S. warships and surrounded by Aguinaldo’s rebels, Spanish forces in the
Philippines surrendered on August 14, 1898.
Victory in Cuba proved more difficult.
Rough Riders: U.S. cavalry unit in the Spanish-American War led by Theodore
Roosevelt.
Because their horses had not been shipped to Cuba, the Rough Riders had to charge
on foot under intense Spanish fire.
The African American 9th and 10th Cavalries cleared the way for the final surge. By
nightfall, U.S. troops controlled the ridge above Santiago.
Then, on July 3, the U.S. Navy sank the Spanish fleet off the coast of Cuba.
The battle resulted in 474 Spanish casualties. Two weeks later, Spanish troops in
Cuba surrendered.
Meanwhile U.S. troops defeated Spanish forces in Puerto Rico.
The war proved costly for Spain.
By the terms of the peace treaty, Spain gave up all claims to Cuba and ceded Puerto
Rico and the Pacific island of Guam to the United States.
Spain also gave up control of the Philippines in return for a U.S. payment of $20
million.
By gaining control of overseas territories, the United States moved into the ranks of
the imperialist world powers. The new trading bases also increased U.S. economic
power.
 Uproar Over the Philippines
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Some Americans questioned whether it was proper to annex a foreign territory and
rule its government and its people.
Expansionists argued in favor of annexation. Business-people wanted the island to
serve as a trading post for goods from Asia as well as a place for merchant ships to
refuel.
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Some other supporters believed that the United States would bring democracy to the
Philippines.
Others held that U.S. rule of the island was necessary to keep out European powers.
Emilio Aguinaldo had already set up a provisional government and proclaimed
himself president of the new Philippine Republic. He warned the Filipinos would go
to war if “American troops attempt to take forcible possession.”
For the next three years, Filipino independence fighters battled U.S. soldiers for
control of the Philippines.
By the time U.S. forces crushed the rebellion in 1902, hundreads of thousands of
Filipinos and more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers had lost their lives.
It was not until July 4, 1946, that the United States finally granted independence to
the Philippines.
Section 3 Expansion in Latin America
 Governing Cuba and Puerto Rico
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Congress agreed to remove U.S. troops from the island of Cuba only if Cuba made
the Platt Amendment part of its constitution.
Platt Amendment (1902): amendment to the Cuban Constitution that limited Cuba’s
right to make treaties and authorized the United States to intervene in Cuban affairs as
it saw necessary. It also required Cuba to sell or lease land to the United States for
naval and fueling stations. This last clause led to the establishment of a U.S. naval
base at Guantanamo Bay.
In effect, the Platt Amendment made Cuba a U.S. protectorate. This meant that the
United States promised to protect Cuba from other nations but reserved the right to
intervene in Cuba’s affairs.
Puerto Rico on the other hand was ruled as a territory. The U.S. appointed the
governor and legislature.
It was not until 1952 that Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the
United States.
 The Panama Canal
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Having interests in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, the United States wanted to
cut the travel time between the seas.
Traveling around South America took several weeks. The United States proposed
digging a canal across Central America.
The best place seemed to be Panama, which was then part of Colombia. A French
company had already started a canal there in 1881.
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When there seemed no other way to gain control of the area, the United States aided a
rebellion in Panama in 1903.
President Theodore Roosevelt sent warships to threaten Colombia.
Colombia had little choice and allowed the rebels to declare independence.
The Panamanians gave the United States control of what became the Panama Canal
Zone. The canal opened in 1914.
 Relations with Latin America
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The United States has a long history of involvement in Latin America. Since the
early 1800s it has sought to limit the influence of foreign nations there.
Beginning in 1823 the Monroe Doctrine cast the United States as protector of the
Western Hemisphere.
For much of the 1800s the doctrine served as little more than an idle threat. This
changed following the Spanish-American War.
President Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson actively
enforced the Monroe Doctrine as a way to protect U.S. interest in Latin America.
Latin American wealth of raw materials and its many potential laborers and
consumers attracted a flood of European and American capital during the late 1800s.
Much of this capital was in the form of high-interest bank loans.
Many Latin American countries welcomed the loans but the high interest rates made
them difficult to repay. Foreign powers often intervene to collect the loans.
In 1904, Venezuela could not repay debts to German and British businesses and
investors. It looked as though these foreign governments might send troops to collect
payment.
President Roosevelt acted first. He announced in 1904 that the United States would
police the Western Hemisphere. It would keep order and prevent wrong doing.
Great Britain, Germany, and Venezuela negotiated a settlement.
President Roosevelt’s policy is known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine.
Roosevelt Corollary (1904): President Theodore Roosevelt’s addition to the Monroe
Doctrine; stated that the United States would police affairs in the Western
Hemisphere to keep Europeans from intervening in the region. => Roosevelt’s
“Speak softly and carry a big stick” policy.
The United States used it self-appointed police powers the following year.
Several European nations appeared ready to invade the Dominican Republic to collect
its citizens’ debts. Instead, Roosevelt insisted that the president of the Dominican
Republic ask the United States to collect taxes.
U.S. officials used the tax money to repay the foreign businesses and took a fee for
the United States.
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The United States remained in the Dominican Republic until 1941.
Eventually, the U.S. government sent military forces into Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, and Haiti to protect U.S. interest.
Sometimes they stayed for years. This action often gave rise to hard feelings against
the United States.