FROM ISOLATION TO
EMPIRE
• Isolation or Imperialism?
– while America turned its attention to European
affairs only sporadically, it displayed an intense
interest in Latin America and the Far East
– Americans’ faith in the unique political and
moral qualities of their republic accounted for
their disdain of Europe’s supposedly decadent
affairs
– however, when convinced European actions
threatened their vital interests, Americans
– America forcefully pressed its claims against
England arising from the Civil War and
aggressively sought an end to a ban on
American pork products by France and
Germany
• Origins of the Large Policy: Coveting
Colonies
– in the post-Civil War years, America began to
take hesitant steps toward global policies
– the purchase of Alaska and the Midway Islands
provided toeholds in the Pacific basin
– attempts to purchase or annex the Hawaiian
Islands, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic
signaled growing interest in the outside world
– by the late 1880s, the United States had begun
an active search for external markets for its
agricultural and industrial goods
– with the so-called closing of the frontier, many
Americans looked to overseas expansion
– intellectual trends added impetus to the new
global outlook
– Anglo-Saxonism, missionary zeal, and
European imperialism opened American eyes to
the possibilities inherent in expansion
– finally, military and strategic arguments
justified a large policy
• Toward an Empire in the Pacific
– American interest in the Pacific and the Far
East was as old as the Republic itself
– the opening of Japan to western trade increased
America’s interest in the Far East
– despite Chinese protests over the exclusion of
their nationals from the United States, trade
with China remained brisk
– strategic and commercial concerns made the
acquisition of the Hawaiian Islands an
increasingly attractive possibility
– growing trade and commercial ties, a
substantial American expatriate community,
and, after 1887, the presence of an American
naval station all pointed toward the annexation
of Hawaii
– in 1893, Americans in Hawaii deposed Queen
Liliuokalani and sought annexation by the
United States
– despite opposition from anti-imperialists and
some special interests, the U.S. annexed Hawaii
in 1898
• Toward an Empire in Latin America
– in addition to traditional commercial interests in
Latin America, the United States became
increasingly concerned over European
influence in the region
– in spite of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850),
the United States favored an American-owned
canal; in 1880, the United States unilaterally
abrogated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
– in 1895, a dispute between Venezuela and Great
Britain over the boundary between Venezuela
and British Guiana nearly brought the United
States and Britain to blows
– the United States and Great Britain rattled
sabers, but war would have served neither side
– finally, pressed by continental and imperial
concerns, Britain agreed to arbitration
– after this incident, relations between Britain and
America warmed considerably
• The Cuban Revolution
– Cuban nationalists revolted against Spanish rule
in 1895
– Spain’s brutal response aroused American
public opinion in support of the Cubans
– President Cleveland offered his services as a
mediator, but Spain refused
– American expansionists, citizens sympathetic to
Cuban independence, and press (led by Hearst’s
Journal and Pulitzer’s World) kept issue alive
– publication of de Lôme’s letter and explosion of
battleship Maine in February 1898 pushed the
United States and Spain to the brink of war
• The “Splendid Little” Spanish-American
War
– on April 20, 1898, a joint resolution of
Congress recognized Cuban independence and
authorized the president to use force to expel
Spain from the island
– the Teller Amendment disclaimed any intent to
annex Cuban territory
– the purpose of the war was to free Cuba, but the
first battles were fought in the Far East, where,
on April 30, Commodore Dewey defeated the
Spanish fleet at Manila Bay
– by August, Americans occupied the Philippines
– American forces won a swift victory in Cuba as
well
– Spain agreed to evacuate Cuba and to cede
Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States
– the fate of the Philippines was determined at the
peace conference held in Paris that October
• Developing a Colonial Policy
– almost overnight, the United States had
obtained a substantial overseas empire
– some Americans expressed doubts over the
acquisition of the Philippines, but expansionists
wanted to annex the entire archipelago
– advocates of annexation portrayed the
Philippines as markets in their own right and as
the gateway to the markets of the Far East
– many Americans, including the president, were
swayed by “the general principle of holding on
to what we can get”
• The Anti-Imperialists
– the Spanish-American war produced a wave of
unifying patriotism that furthered sectional
reconciliation
– however, victory raised new and divisive
questions
– a diverse group of politicians, business and
labor leaders, intellectuals, and reformers spoke
out against annexing the Philippines
– some based their opposition on legal and ethical
concerns; for others, racial and ethnic prejudice
formed the basis of their objections
– in the end, swayed by a sense of duty and by
practical concerns, McKinley authorized the
purchase of the Philippines for $20 million
– after a hard-fought battle in the Senate, the
expansionists won ratification of the treaty in
February 1899
• The Philippine Insurrection
– early in 1899, Philippine nationalists, led by
Emilio Aguinaldo, took up arms against the
American occupation
– atrocities, committed by both sides, became
commonplace
– although American casualties and the reports of
atrocities committed by American soldiers
provided ammunition for the anti-imperialists,
McKinley’s reelection settled the Philippine
question for most Americans
– William Howard Taft became the first civilian
governor and encouraged participation by the
Filipinos in the territorial government
– this policy won many converts but did not end
the rebellion
• Cuba and the United States
– at the onset, the president controlled the fate of
America’s colonial possessions, but eventually
the Congress and the Supreme Court began to
participate in this process
– the Foraker Act (1900) established a civil
government for Puerto Rico
– a series of Supreme Court decisions determined
that Congress was not bound by the limits of
the Constitution in administering a colony
– freedom did not end poverty, illiteracy, or the
problem of a collapsing economy in Cuba
– the United States paternalistically doubted that
the Cuban people could govern themselves and
therefore established a military government in
1898
– eventually, the United States withdrew, after
doing much to modernize sugar production,
improve sanitary conditions, establish schools,
and restore orderly administration
– a Cuban constitutional convention met in 1900
and proceeded without substantial American
interference
– under the terms of the Platt Amendment, the
Cubans agreed to American intervention when
necessary for the “preservation of Cuban
independence,” promised to avoid foreign
commitments endangering their sovereignty,
and agreed to grant American naval bases on
their soil
– although American troops occupied Cuba only
once more, in 1906, and then at the request of
Cuban authorities, the threat of intervention and
American economic power gave the United
States great influence over Cuba
• The United States in the Caribbean
– the same motives that compelled United States
to intervene in Cuba applied throughout region
– Caribbean nations were economically
underdeveloped, socially backward, politically
unstable, desperately poor, and threatened by
European creditor nations
– United States intervened repeatedly in region
under broad interpretation of Monroe Doctrine
– in 1902, the United States pressed Great Britain
and Germany to arbitrate a dispute arising from
debts owed them by Venezuela
– the Roosevelt administration took control of the
Dominican Republic’s customs service and
used the proceeds to repay that country’s
European creditors
– the Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
announced that United States would not permit
foreign nations to intervene in Latin America
– since no other nation could step in, the United
States would “exercise . . . an international
police power”
– short run, this policy worked admirably; in long
run, it provoked resentment in Latin America
• The Open Door Policy
– when the European powers sought to check
Japan’s growing economic and military might
by carving out spheres of influence in China,
the United States felt compelled to act
– Secretary of State Hay issued a series of “Open
Door” notes, which called upon all powers to
honor existing trade agreements with China and
to impose no restrictions on trade within their
spheres of influence
– although an essentially “toothless” gesture, this
action signaled a marked departure from
America’s isolationist tradition of
nonintervention outside of the Western
Hemisphere
– within a few months, the Boxer Rebellion
tested the Open Door policy
– fearing that European powers would use the
rebellion as an excuse for further
expropriations, Hay broadened the Open Door
policy to include support for the territorial
integrity of China
– the Open Door notes, America’s active
diplomatic role in the Russo-Japanese War, and
the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907 all
engendered ill feelings between the United
States and Japan
• The Panama Canal
– American policy in the Caribbean centered on
the construction of an interoceanic canal,
thought to be a necessity for trade and an
imperative for national security
– Hay-Pauncefote Agreement (1901) abrogated
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and ceded to the United
States construction rights to such a waterway
– the United States negotiated a treaty for the
right to build a canal across Panama with the
government of Colombia, which the Colombian
senate rejected
– when the Panamanians rebelled against
Colombia in 1903, the United States quickly
moved to recognize and insure Panama’s
independence
– the United States then negotiated a treaty with
the new Panamanian government, which
yielded to the United States a ten-mile-wide
canal zone, in perpetuity, for the same monetary
terms as those earlier rejected by Colombia
• “Non-Colonial Imperial Expansion”
– America’s experiment with territorial
imperialism lasted less than a decade
– however, through the use of the Open Door
policy, the Roosevelt Corollary, and dollar
diplomacy, the United States used its industrial,
economic, and military might to expand its
trade and influence
– at times, America also engaged in cultural
imperialism, attempting to export American
values and American system to weaker nations
– despite America’s emergence as a world power,
the national psychology remained
fundamentally isolationist