Chapter 20: Foreign Policy and War in a Progressive Era, 1890-1919
1) Continuing Expansion
a. U.S. imperialism
i. Late 1880s
ii. Influence from Britain, France, and Germany
1. Colonizing Africa and Middle East
iii. White race destined to rule the world
iv. Influence of Sea Power
1. Book by Thayer Mahan
2. Foundation for expansion
b. Alaska
i. Russian territory
1. Fished and traded sea otter skins
ii. Bought by Seward
1. Was mocked by congress and critics
2. However, gained valuable territory
a. Fishing
b. Mining
c. Fur trade
d. Sale of ice
iii. 1884, congress created official gov’t
iv. Gold discovered
1. Klondike gold rush late 1880s
2. Expanded population
v. 1912, Taft presented Alaska w/ statehood
c. Hawaii
i. Mahan wanted wider Pacific influence for nation
ii. Strategic location
1. Between Cali and Japan
2. Harbors perfect for whaling vessels
3. Perfect stopping place for refueling
iii. American sugar plantations also popular
iv. Ruled by monarchy until 1893
1. Annexation Club overthrew it and seized power
2. McKinley officially aneexed it in 1897
2) The Splendid Little War…W/ Spain – Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Philippines, 1898
a. Tensions in Cuba
i. War with spain started in cuba
ii. Cuba exported most of its goods to US
iii. American investors owned most of Cuban famr land
iv. Cubans wanted to trow off Spanish rule
1. Wanted independence
v. McKinley wanted spain out of cuba
vi. War started by yellow journalism
1. William Randolph hearst
a. New York journal
2. Joseph Pulitzer
a. New York world
3. Sensational headlines
4. Grab peoples attention
5. Get more readers
b. War in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Philippine Islands
i. Sinking of USS Main in Havana Harbor
1. Feb 1898
2. Americans blamed spain
3. After, US declared “war”
ii. War
1. U.S. invades cuba
a. Wore wool uniforms
b. Unfit for Cuban hot weather
2. U.S. goes to Puerto Rico
a. PR really wanted independence
3. August 1898
a. Spanish wanted peace
b. Teller Amendment
i. US could not annex cuba
4. Treaty of Paris
a. December 1898
b. Spanish ceded control of Cuba, PR, and Philippines
c. U.S. paid $20 million
c. Anti-Imperialists
i. U.S. gained territory
1. McKinley made navy base at Guantanamo Bay
2. Had no idea what to do w/ Philippines
a. SENT MISSIONARIES
b. Filipinos did not want annexation
ii. Anti-imperialists
1. Opposition to war in Philippines
2. Founeded in boston
3. June 1898
4. Members
a. Andrew Carnegie
b. Charles Francis Adams
c. Samuel Gompers
d. Etc
5. Mark Twain William Howells
a. Mocked mckinley’s actions
6. Consititution did not allow for more territiroies
7. “constitution foolows the flag”
a. Civil and political rights apply to everyone under U.S. control
b. Gov’t declared people in territories as subjects
i. Not citizens
3) Foreign Policy, Foreign Adventures, 1900-1914
a. A canal in Panama
i. Build a canol across central America
1. Shorten trip from atlantic and pacific ocean
2. Weather was horrid there
a. Difficult work conditions
3. Mountainous lands
ii. Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
1. Any canal would be joint venture
2. U.S. and Britian
iii. 1901 Nov, Britian gave U.S. right to build canal
iv. “Roosevelt Corollary”
1. 190
2. US had right to intervene in any nation in Americas
a. Could not manage its own affairs
v. Panama declared independence
1. US recognized their gov’t
2. Immediately proposed canal to them
3. 1904 both nations ratified treaty for canal
4. Opened in 1914
b. The US, Russia, Japan, and China
i. Russia was expandidng territory
1. Cossacks controlled Serbia since 1600s
ii. Expansion stopped in 1904
iii. Japan wanted ot stop Russia from taking Manchuria and korea
iv. Roosevelt awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1. Made agreement between Russia and Japan
v. Jewish persecution in Russia
1. Pressured US to do something
vi. San Fran segregated Japanese students
1. Called for war w/ Japan
2. Roosevelt negotiated w/ school board
3. Gentlemen’s Agreement
a. 1907-1908
b. US agreed not to pass any limit on Japanese immigration
c. Japanese agree to limit emigration of laborers to US
4. Great White Fleet
a. Roosevelt appropriated funds to expand US Navy
vii. Boxers in China were attacking foreigners
1. Blamed for demise
c. Woodrow Wilson’s Asian Policy
i. Continue Open Door Policy
1. Roosevelt
ii. Dollar diplomacy
1. American investment wherever there was opportunity
iii. Cali still segregated students
iv. End control of Philippines
1. Congress did not allow it
d. Mexico and Latin America
i. Wilson wanted mexico to be on its own
ii. Did not want another Mexican war
iii. However, americans had major investments in Mexico
iv. Many had jobs there
v. Civil war in Mexico
1. Began in march 1916
vi. Also intervened in Latin American affairs
vii. Panama canal
1. Independence from Colombia
viii. Haiti
ix. Dominacan Republic
x. Marines sent to settle unrest
4) The US and the Great War
a. War in Europe
i. Austrian Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist
ii. Independence movements in Balkan states
1. Challenged central gov’ts
2. Austri-Hungarian
3. Ottoman empires
4. Newly united Germany
a. Shut out of colonies in Africa and Asia
iii. By august, Europe was in the Great War (WWI)
iv. Many Europeans became patriotic
v. US watched these tragedies
1. Wanted to help indirectly
a. Herbert Hoover
i. Organized Commission for Belgian Relief
b. American Red Cross
c. Sent aid to people in path of war
2. Wilson declared neutrality
a. Wanted to stay out of war
b. Would stir up deep tensions w/ Europe
vi. Warfare cut demand for wheat and cotton
1. Hurt US economy
a. Producers could not get products to market
vii. JP morgan gave out loans
1. Bryan banned them
2. Hurt US commerce
viii. Roosevelt wanted to be prepared
1. Raise an army and navy
ix. Submarine
1. German invention
2. U-boat
3. Tnesions between nations
4. “strict accountability”
5. Threatened trade
x. Sinking of Lusitania
1. Americans died on british ship
2. Gov’t tried ot ban ocean going
a. Did not go through
xi. Wilson remarries after wife dies
xii. Election of 1916
1. Wilson won
xiii. Interception of Zimmermann telegraph
1. Release to public
a. Britian
2. Turned americans against Germany
xiv. Wilson asked for authority to arm merchant ships
1. Blocked by senate
xv. Germany sank us merchant ships w/ supplies for Britain
1. Americans died
2. 1917 April2, Wilson asked congress to declare war against Germany
b. The War at Home- Supprt and Opposition
i. Congress approves declaration of war
ii. Many activists opposed war
iii. Committee on Public Information (CPI)
1. Build support for war
2. Show only certain “facts” to public
3. Hired muckraking journalists
a. Wrote on supporting the war
4. Encouraged buying bonds
iv. Most of new agencies lead by businessmen
v. Sedition Act of 1918
1. Illegal abusive language about the gov’t or army
2. Control country’s response to war
vi. Espionage Act 1917
1. Prohibition against war effort
c. War and Victory
i. Congress passed military draft
ii. Training camps set up
iii. Took time to raise an army
iv. Summer 1917, brit and French offensive launch
1. Failed
2. Wanted to be backed by US army
v. Bolshevik Revolution
1. Russia
2. Nov 1917
3. New gov’t which did not want war
4. Made Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
a. Ended war w/ Germany and Russia
d. Peace talks, and Failure of Treaty of Versailles
i. Estimated 65 million fought
1. 8 million died
ii. Wilson was first to leave the US as President
iii. Germany Austria and Ottoman Empire excluded from conference
1. Also Russia
a. Led to longterm tension w/ US
iv. Fourteen points
1. Openness
2. Self-determination
a. Comdemned European imperialism
v. Treaty
1. League of Nations
a. Open to every nation of the world
b. Limit german military power
c. Germany should pay most of war debt
2. Signed on june 1919
3. Senate took 8 months to approve it
e. End of war brought political change to US
i. People who went to war in 1917 came back cynical in 1919
ii. US needed a genial president