
The following quotes come from the Age of
Imperialism. They are numbered. For each
quote, write
A.) how you think the quote is related to American
Imperialism
› Justification for Imperialism?
› Argument against Imperialism?
› Not nice, but necessary?
› Just good business strategy?
› Nationalistic and war-hungry?
B.) do you agree with the quote?
“I should welcome almost any war,
for I think this country needs
one.”
 -Teddy Roosevelt 1897
“We want a foreign market for our
surplus products.”
 President William Mckinley 1899
“American factories are making more than
the American people can use, American
soil is producing more than the American
people can consume. Fate has written
our policy for us, the trade of the world
must and shall be ours.”
› Senator Albert Beveridge , 1897
“the countries with the biggest
navies will inherit the earth.
Americans must now begin to
look outward.”
 Cpt. A.T. Mahan, late 1890’s
“This is a crime against white civilization. All
the great masterful races have been
fighting races…No triumph of peace is
quite so great as the supreme triumph of
war.”
 T. Roosevelt – 1893 after U.S. decided,
temporarily not to annex Hawaii.
"Could there be a more damning indictment
of that whole bloated idol termed 'modern
civilization' than this amounts to? Civilization
is, then, the big, hollow, resounding,
corrupting, sophisticating, confusing torrent
of mere brutal momentum and irrationality
that brings forth fruits like this?
….G*$ d@$& the United States for its vile
conduct in the Philippine Isles!“
-William James, early 1900
Spark # 12
 Business Items
 Finish film notes –
 Terms
 Imperialism – pro/con
 Span Am War


Nationalism-

Imperialism

Jingoism

Dollar Diplomacy

Muckracker

Suffrage

Civil Disobedience
-On the left side of the
line on your sheetpredict what these
words/terms mean or
refer to
-You will put actual
meaning on right side of
line

Nationalism- devotion to one’s nation – usually
accompanied by belief of superiority

Annex- to join a new territory to an existing country

Jingoism- intense burst of national pride and desire for
aggressive foreign policy-largely attributed to
MEDIA!!

Dollar Diplomacy – policy used by Pres. Taft –
maintain “orderly societies” abroad through dollarsnot bullets

Muckracker – journalists that alerted the
public to wrongdoings in business and
politics

Suffrage – the right to vote --- in this era
the term is dominated by women’s fight
to gain the right to vote

Civil Disobedience – peacefully
disobeying laws of the land

The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 defined United States foreign
policy in the Americas for the rest of the nineteenth century
and beyond. It declared that the United States had an interest
in the Western Hemisphere and that European powers must not
meddle in the affairs of any developing nations there.
However, the policy was used to justify the sending of U.S.
troops into Mexico in 1866 (to intimidate the French) and the
purchase of Alaska in 1867.

The idea of manifest destiny gained popularity in the 1830s
and 1840s. (The term was coined in 1845 by newspaper
columnist John L. O'Sullivan.) As people began settling the
western territories, wresting control of the land from the original
Native American inhabitants, many Americans came to
believe that it was their nation's "manifest destiny" to possess all
of the North American continent. Later in the century, this idea
easily gave way to larger dreams of expanding America's
influence around the world.
 By
the late nineteenth century, the
growing industrial economy of the
United States was producing many
more goods than the nation itself
could consume. This overabundance
of industrial goods led the United
States to look for new markets abroad.

European nations such as
England, Spain, France,
Russia, Portugal, Germany,
and Belgium had already
carved up Africa and large
parts of Asia into colonies
and "spheres of influence"
by the late 1800s. To
remain competitive, the
United States reacted
to European imperialism by
looking for a way to secure
its own economic future
through a policy of
expansionism
4 Factors:
 Economic factors

Nationalistic factors

Military factors

“Humanitarian factors”
Farewell Address in 1796??
 “Stay away from alliances”
 “Stay out of foreign affairs”


Economic Growth
› Overproduction, financial panics, expanding
markets
› Biz r/ships + political advising = “banana
republics” (United Fruit Company and Nicaragua,
Guatemala, and Honduras)

Protect American Security
› Navy-Cpt. Mahan- argued for Navy to protect US
$$ and influence abroad
› Battleships, gun boats, torpedo boats, cruisers –by
1900

Preserving “American Spirit”
› Men like Henry Cabot Lodge and T. Roosevelt
felt America “losing its vitality”
› Frontier closed- new project=Empire Building

Social Darwinism
› “Civilized races vs. savage races”
› “noble pursuit for the civilized peoples of the
world to endow the savages and heathen
peoples of the world with Christianity”
Spark needed to start “Imperial fire”
 Spain controlled Cuba, Cubans revolt
 Yellow Journalism and Jingoism

› Fight for readers ($$$)
› W.R. Hearst, Pulitzer
› Made up stories, exaggerated headlines




USS Maine explodes off
Cuba
Spain immediately
blamed
“how long shall the U.S.
sit idle and indifferent
within sound and
hearing of rape and
murder?”
“Remember the Maine!”
McKinley pressured to
declare war





Maps on p. 691 – Philippines/Cuba
Roosevelt and Rough Riders
3 month war ends July 3 1898
Navy gets practice
only 400 KIA
Foreign Policy forever altered
 World policeman
 Imperialism skyrockets

› Cuba
› Phillippines
› Puerto Rico
› Hawaii
› Samoa
› China
Open Door-China
 Panama Canal
 Roosevelt corollary & Big Stick
 Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy

Jingoism?
 Yellow Journalism?
 Involvement in foreign affairs?


Isolationism / Anti
Imperialism

Pro Imperialism