DOCUMENT: The Spanish-American War
Pres. William McKinley’s War Message to Congress; April 11, 1898
The present condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant menace to our peace and entails upon this
Government an enormous expense. With such a conflict waged for years in an island so near us and with which our people have such trade and business relations; when the lives and liberty of our citizens are in constant danger and their property destroyed and themselves ruined; where our trading vessels are liable to seizure and are seized at our very door by war ships of a foreign nation…the resulting strained relations, are a constant menace to our peace and compel us to keep on a semi-war footing with a nation with which we are at peace.
1.
What are McKinley’s reasons for declaring war on Spain?
2.
How does this speech reflect a desire to protect American business?

DOCUMENT: The Philippines
Theodore Roosevelt
Annual message to Congress, December 3, 1901
... In dealing with the Philippine people we must show both patience and strength, forbearance and steadfast resolution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for the islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for tropic peoples by even the best foreign governments. We hope to do for them what has never before been done for any people of the tropics -- to make them fit for self-government after the fashion of the really free nations.
History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which a masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies of war to take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its inhabitants with the disinterested zeal for their progress that our people have shown in the
Philippines. To leave the islands at this time would mean that they would fall into a welter of murderous anarchy. Such desertion of duty on our part would be a crime against humanity...."
1.
What are TR’s goals for the Philippines?
2. Give an example of Social Darwinism from this speech.

DOCUMENT: The Roosevelt Corollary
Theodore Roosevelt, The Roosevelt Corollary (1904)
It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger... as regards the other nations of the
Western Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship…
Chronic wrongdoing… [however], 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....
While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others, we must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness.
We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.
1.
Under what circumstances will the United States intervene in other countries?
2.
Why does Roosevelt think this policy is the right one for the United States?
3.
What evidence of Social Darwinism can be found in the Roosevelt Corollary?

DOCUMENT: Annexation of Hawaii
Official Protest to the Treaty of Annexation
Presented by Queen Liliuokalani in Washington D.C.
June 17, 1897
I, Liliuokalani of Hawaii… hereby protest against the ratification of a certain treaty, which…has been signed at Washington…purporting to cede those Islands to the territory and dominion of the
United States. I declare such a treaty to be an act of wrong toward the native and part-native people of Hawaii, an invasion of the rights of the ruling chiefs…and, finally, an act of gross injustice to me.
…the President of the United States… is responsible for the unlawful [pressure] put on my government …by the forces, diplomatic and naval, of the United States;
…my people, about forty thousand in number, have in no way been consulted by those, three thousand in number, who claim the right to destroy the independence of Hawaii…
Therefore I, Liliuokalani of Hawaii, do hereby call upon the President…to withdraw [this] treaty from further consideration…I ask the honorable Senate of the United States to decline to ratify
[this] treaty.
1.
According to the Queen, why is this annexation bad for the people of Hawaii?
2.
What responsibility does the President, William McKinley, have in this situation?

DOCUMENT: The USS Maine Explosion
Pres. William McKinley’s War Message to Congress; April 11, 1898
The destruction of [the Maine] has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror. Two hundred and fifty-eight brave sailors and marines and two officers of our Navy, reposing in the fancied security of a friendly harbor, have been hurled to death, grief and want brought to their homes, and sorrow to the nation…
…the destruction of the Maine… is proof of a state of things in Cuba that is intolerable. That condition is thus shown to be such that the Spanish government cannot assure safety and security to a vessel of the American Navy in the harbor of Havana on a mission of peace, and rightfully there. . . .
In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered American interests which give us the right and the duty to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop.
In view of these facts and of these considerations, I ask the Congress to authorize and empower the President to…use the military and naval forces of the United States as may be necessary for these purposes.
1.
What has been the effect of the sinking of the Maine?
2.
Why is the United States obligated to become involved in the war between Cuba and Spain?

DOCUMENT: The Panama Canal
Theodore Roosevelt, from his autobiography
By far the most important action I took in foreign affairs during the time I was President was related to the Panama Canal.
There are plenty of other things I started merely because the time had come that whoever was in power would have started them. But the Panama Canal would not have started if I had not taken hold of it, because if I had followed the traditional method I should have submitted an admirable state paper to Congress… the debate would be proceeding at this moment… and the beginning of work on the canal would be fifty years in the future. Fortunately [the opportunity] came at a period when I could act unhampered. Accordingly I took [Panama], started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me.
1.
In this document, TR explains he handled the issue of the Panama Canal differently than other issues. What was the usual way? What did TR do instead?

DOCUMENT: The U.S. and China
The Open Door Policy
December 18, 1899
[The United States and its President seek] the adoption of measures insuring the benefits of equality of treatment of all foreign trade throughout China....
We adhere to the policy... of peace with the Chinese nation, of furtherance of lawful commerce, and of protection of lives and property of our citizens by all means.... [We are committed to] affording all possible protection everywhere in China to American life and property;... guarding and protecting all legitimate American interests;... [and] aiding to prevent a spread of disorders
[in China]....
1.
What does the United States want most in its relationship with China?
2.
What is the implied military threat?