Chapter 27: Labeling United States Foreign Policy 1861 – 1914
Label each of the items below twice.
First, label the item as a political, economic, or ideological, motive, action, or concept.
Second, label the item as an argument, as evidence, that either supports or criticizes U.S. actions
abroad. Third, next to each bold heading, write a phrase to summarize U.S. motives. If the
statements below do not exactly match the info printed in your textbook, make educated guesses and
just do the best you can.
Hawaii
1. The Hawaiian Islands had long commanded American attention, “essentially a
part of the American system” Blaine
2. Hawaiian king forced to accept a constitution, granted foreigners the right to vote,
and shifted decision making authority to the legislature
3. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 created a crisis, eliminated the duty-free status of
Hawaiian sugar exports in the United States
4. Hawaiian white oligarchy formed the subversive Annexation Club
5. John L. Steven, chief American diplomat dispatched troops to occupy Honolulu;
Queen Lili’uokalani arrested, confined, surrendered; relinquished throne to U.S.
government, not Dole
6. Cleveland ordered investigation of the Hawaiian economic elite
7. McKinley maneuvered annexation of Hawaii through Congress, 1898
Venezuela
1. Venezuela asked for U.S. help in dispute with Britain over borders (with Guiana)
2. Cleveland decided “mean and hoggish” British had to be warned away from borders
3. Secretary of State, Richard Olney, lectured British about the Monroe Doctrine, 1895
4. The U.S. state is a “civilized state” (Olney)
5. Anglo-American arbitration board divided disputed territory, Venezuelan Border
Cuba
1. The U.S. battles for Cuban independence from Spain
2. American financial support for Cuban independence from Spain
3. Cubans admired American culture but resented U.S. economic hegemony
4. U.S. and Cuban economies intertwined
5. American investments of $50 million in Cuba
6. 90% of Cuba’s sugar exported to the U.S.
7. Marti: Watch out for a U.S. “conquering policy” that reduced Latin American countries
to “dependence” (Interpret this quote. Is there a difference between conquering and
dependence?)
8. Wilson-Gorman Tariff imposed a duty on Cuban sugar, 1894
9. Cuban economy, highly dependent on exports, plunged into crisis from U.S. tariff and its
further incorporation into “The American System” (Remember Henry Clay’s System?)
10. Marti launched a revolution against Spain: razed mills, guerilla tactics, US. Investments
went up in smoke and Cuban-American trade dwindled
11. Americans sympathized with Cuban insurrectionists who rebelled against Spain
12. McKinley advocated foreign bases for the New Navy
13. McKinley believed that Spain should give up its colony of Cuba
14. “Remember the Maine”
15. McKinley would not tolerate chronic disorder just 90 miles off the U.S. coast
16. McKinley listed the reasons for war: protection of American life and property,
“commerce, trade, the business of our people”
17. Congress declared Cuba free and independent; the Teller Amendment disclaimed any
U.S. intention to annex Cuba
18. McKinley beat back a congressional amendment to recognize the rebel government; the
Cubans needed a period of American tutoring
19. Historian Louis A. Perez, Jr.: McKinley’s decision for war may have been “directed as
much against Cuban independence as it was against Spanish sovereignty.”
20. McKinley’s April message expressed a humanitarian impulse to stop the bloodletting
21. McKinley’s April message expressed the need to end the nightmare
22. Conservatives, alarmed by Populism and violent labor strikes, welcomed the war in Cuba
as a national unifier.
23. Rough Riders’ battles and adventures
24. Private U.S. investments in Cuba grew from $50 million before the revolution to $220
million by 1913; U.S. exports increased from $26 million to $196 million (Who gains?)
25. U.S. restricted voting rights to propertied Cuban males
26. Platt Amendment Prohibited Cuba from making a treaty with another nation, granted the
U.S. the right to intervene
27. 1906 U.S. invasion of Cuba ordered by Roosevelt
28. U.S. develops a transportation system in Cuba
29. U.S. develops public schools in Cuba
30. U.S. helps eradicate yellow fever in Cuba
31. Puerto Rico, also developed under U.S. tutelage
Panama
1. Comparisons to the Suez Canal
2. The Clayton Bulwer Treaty with Britain provided joint control of a canal in Central
America
3. Hay-Pauncefote Treaty to permit a solely U.S. run canal
4. Roosevelt encourage Panamanians to declare independence from Colombia
5. A major technological achievement – the Panama Canal
The Roosevelt Corollary- a rational for frequent U.S. interventions in Latin America
Mexico
1. American capitalists came to own Mexico’s railroads, and mines, and invested heavily in
banking and petroleum
2. U.S. dominated Mexico’s foreign trade, by 1910 controlling 43 percent of Mexican
property
3. U.S. companies produced half of Mexico’s oil
4. Wilson ordered troops onto Mexican soil to overthrow the nationalistic government of
President Victoriano Huerta, who was trying to import German weapons
5. U.S. reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine in the hemisphere
Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine-War, and Differing Views of U.S. Foreign Policy
1. Dewey, Olympia, attack the Spanish in the Philippines, May 1, 1898
2. Manila was/is considered a choice harbor, on the way to China and potentially huge markets
3. Washington Post, 1898: “new appetite, a yearning to show our strength. . . . The taste of
empire is in the mouth of the people.”
4. The United States Declaration of Independence
5. William James: The United States was about to “puke up its heritage”
6. Jane Addams observed Chicago children pretending to slay Spaniards
7. Samuel Gompers, the issue was jobs, “half-breeds and semi barbaric people” of the new
colonies would undercut American labor. (And the similar criticisms of NAFTA today?)
8. Exploitation of the weak abroad would be contagious
9. “Take up the white man’s burden” Kipling
10. National honor dictated that Americans keep what they had shed blood to take
11. William Jennings Bryan
Philippines
1. U.S. officers order Philippine nationalist leader Aguinaldo out of Manila and isolated him
2. U.S. troops in Manila forced residents to live in designated zones, destroyed food
supplies
3. Muslim Filipinos of Moro Province: submit or be exterminated
4. Americanize the Philippines – language and economy
5. The 1916 Jones Act
China and Japan
1. Major powers carved out spheres of influence in China; McKinley opted for an approach
that emphasized negotiations
2. Hay sent the nations with spheres of influence a note, asking them to respect the principle
of equal trade – an Open Door.
3. The Open Door as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy
4. Roosevelt and Taft took an activist approach
5. Many Japanese interpreted U.S. advances as attempts at white supremacy
6. U.S. made concessions to Japan to protect the Philippines and sustain the Open Door
7. Taft-Katusra Agreement, 1905 conceded Japanese hegemony over Korea in return for
Japan’s pledge not to undermine U.S. position in the Philippines
8. Root-Takahira Agreement, 1908 recognized Japan’s “interests” in Manchuria (Interests?
Or right to ensuing rape and plunder?) while Japan again pledged security of U.S.
possessions in Pacific
9. Root-Takahira Agreement – Japanese endorse the Open Door in China
10. Roosevelt built up American naval power to deter the Japanese, Great White Fleet , 1907
11. Tenet: America’s domestic well being required exports
12. Tenet: If U.S. trade was interrupted, U.S. would intervene to implant American principles
and keep markets open
13. Tenet: Closing any area to American citizens or products threatened the survival of the
U.S. (And today’s policy.