The Imperial Republic
Chapter 20
“Progress” and Imperialism
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1. European Nations in Africa and
Asia
2. Americans in Appalachian West,
Louisiana Territory, Florida, Texas,
Oregon, Mexico Territory,
Oregon/Washington… Alaska
William Seward
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1. Alaska (1860s)
• Purchased for $7.2 million
• “Sewards Folly”
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2. Midway Islands (1867)
Stirrings of Imperialism
The New Manifest Destiny
Increase of Foreign Trade
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1870 exports $382 million
1900 exports $1.4 billion “closing of the
frontier” - Frederick Jackson Turner
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demand for new territory
bitter social protests and the need for outlet
Senator Beveridge
from Indiana
“We are raising more
than we can consume.
Today, we are making
more than we can use.
Therefore, we must find
new markets for our
produce, new occupation
for our capital, new work
for our labor.”
Imperialist fever in Europe
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
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“we must not fall out
of line of the march”
• Social Darwinism and
the advancement of
the “Anglo-Saxon
race”
Alfred T. Mahan
• Alfred T. Mahan and
the importance of
naval power
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1870s shipbuilding
program
1898 fifth in the world…
1900 third in the world
Henry Cabot Lodge
Hemispheric Hegemony
• Secretary of State
James Blaine expands
Americas influence in
Latin America
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Blaine wanted interAmerican customs union
and arbitration in disputes
Gets Pan-American
Union… weak
• Cleveland and a near
war with Britain over
boundary dispute with
Venezuela
Hawaii
Pressure for American Presence
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naval base?
Americans who had settled on the islands
Lead-in History
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1500 BC Polynesian people
1790s first American settlers from New England
King Kamehameha welcomes traders
1830s William Hooper = first sugar planter
Prime Minister GP Judd
Hawaii Continued
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American Impact
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Another genocide (disease and
religion)
1875 agreement allows sugar
to enter USA duty free in trade
for Pearl Harbor
sugar planters dominate and
divide
Queen Liliuokalani
American Revolution and the
fight against taxes becomes a
fight for statehood
treaty of annexation tied up
in party politics finally
ratified: 1898
Samoan Islands
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1878 Hayes administration
extracts treaty from
Samoan leaders giving
them access to harbor at
Pago Pago … and a hand in
their dealings with other
countries
Great Britain and Germany
have interest in Samoa…
major division, but deal
made where US keeps
Pago Pago
War With Spain
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Impact: changing American attitude
from idea to fierce expression.
Controversy over Cuba
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Cubans resisting Spanish
rule since 1868… battle
for independence in which
US does not intervene
1895 Cuba rises up again
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due impart to bad economy
caused by American tariffs
on sugar
atrocities by Cubans,
“Butcher Welyer”… American
Press
Butcher Welyer
Pulitzer vs. Hearst = Yellow Journalism
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“you furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war”
Hearst and Pulitzer dressed as “Yellow Kid”
cartoon (printed with yellow ink) and where term
“yellow journalism” comes from.
Cuba Libre clubs
-Cleveland and McKinley: different attitudes
towards war
-1897 Cuban insurrection loosing ground…
looks as if war might be averted
Two events that changed everything
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Dupuy de Lome wrote a letter that was
intercepted that called McKinley weak
American battleship Maine blew up in
Havana harbor
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260 dead
later reports concluded the explosion was
caused inside the ship
Dupuy de Lome
Maine
“Remember the Maine!”
McKinley asks for Declaration of War April 25
“A Splendid Little War”
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April to August 1898
“mopping up” exercise
Problems facing the American
Soldier
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460 Americans killed in battle /
5,200 others died of disease
supply problems
heavy uniforms
malnourishment
poor mobilization effort
from frontier to regimented battle
African American Soldiers
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Segregated regiments
interesting travels through the
South
Cuban insurgents fight blacks
with whites (Antonio Maceo)
Major roll at San Juan Hill and
won many medals
Seizing the Philippines
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No agency in the American
military had clear authority
over strategic planning (prePentagon)
Theodore Roosevelt
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Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Ardent imperialist
Active proponent of the war
Minor figure in the military
hierarchy… but orders
Commodore George Dewey to
attack naval forces in the
Philippines (a colony of Spain) in
the event of the war*
Theodore Roosevelt
Philippines Continued
• On May 1 1898 Dewey sailed into Manila
Bay and completely destroyed the aging
Spanish fleet
• Manila surrenders, Dewey is a hero,
everyone celebrates…
•What had begun as a war
to free Cuba was
becoming a war to strip
Spain of its colonies
Battle for Cuba
• hurried incompetence is the character of the
US invasion
• Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
-jingo fever
-Kettle Hill and
San Juan Hill
-TR unscathed,
but 100 of his
soldiers were
killed or
wounded
-“the greatest
day of my life”
Cuba Continued
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Spanish surrender
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disaster seemed eminent because US ships
could not enter the harbor at Santiago because
of mines
Lack of Communication
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the Spanish gov’t had already decided Santiago was
lost
ordered Cervera to evacuate… out of the harbor
waiting American squadron destroyed his entire fleet
Terms of surrender
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Spain recognizes Cuban independence
Ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United
States
Accepted American occupation of Manila
Puerto Rico and the United States
• many rebellions against Spain during the
1800s
• annexation takes place with little controversy
in the US
• original relationship between PR and US was
colonial
• Jones Act of 1917 makes all PR citizens
• economy very dependent on foreign trade
• continued debate: closer ties to US or
independence
The Debate over the Philippines
• large and densely populated territory
thousands of miles away
• McKinley claimed divine guidance for his
decision to accept responsibility for the
islands
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returning them to Spain “cowardly and
dishonorable”
turning them over to another imperialist power
would be “bad business and discreditable”
Filipinos as “unfit for self-government”
Solution: educate and Christianize them
Treaty of Paris 1898
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Confirmed terms of the Armistice re: Cuba, Guam
and PR
Spain surprised when Americans demand Philippines
Americans offer $20 million for it
Debate Continued
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Powerful anti-imperialist movement in the
United States
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against America’s commitment to human freedom
“polluting” of the American population
Industrial workers feared being undercut by cheap
labor
Large standing army
Anti-Imperialist League
Powerful pro-imperialist forces
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war as good
business opportunities
Republicans saw advantage of winning a war
People thought it would be easy… after all the US
already owned the islands
Debate Continued
• “Uncivilized” Filipinos = status of
American Indians
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14th Amendment
• William Jennings Bryan surprise
support backfires
• Treaty ratified Feb 6 1899
• McKinley wins re-election by a bigger
landslide…with T. Roosevelt on the
ticket
The Republic as Empire
-Governing the Colonies
•
Some “American
Dependencies”
presented little
problems:
Hawaii, Alaska
and Puerto Rico
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territorial status
and citizenship
US navy took
control of Guam
and Tutuila
• Cuba was a problem
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US built roads, schools, hospitals and introduced
legal, financial and medical advances
BUT imperial dominance / economic domination
Cuba passes a constitution with no reference to the
US
US passes Platt Amendment
• gave US right to intervene in Cuba
• American naval stations in Cuba
• Left Cuba with only nominal political independence
• Rebellion to “Yankee Imperialism
The Philippine War
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Results
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American miscalculations
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numbers
level of support for Emilio Aguinaldo
Decision: more brutal
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Filipino prisoners of war executed
Concentration camps
Destroyed villages, crops and livestock
“…shoot everyone over the age of 10”
15 Filipinos for every one wounded… US Civil War 1
person dead for every five wounded
“Secure Possession”
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Aguinaldo captured and signs treaty urging followers
to stop fighting
War revived intermittently until as late as 1906
William Howard Taft: first governor of Philippines
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goal was to prepare islands for autonomy
schools, bridges, sewers, etc…
Gradual autonomy
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Emilio Aguinaldo
One of Americas longest wars (1898-1902)
4,300 American deaths (10x the number that died in
combat during the Spanish American war)
50,000? Filipinos
guerilla tactics by Filipinos
Brutality similar to Spaniards…
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Philippine economy totally linked/dependent United
States
July 4, 1946 “independence”
The Open Door
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China had long represented a major
economic interest to western powers
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By 1900 England, France, Germany, Russia and
Japan were beginning to carve up China among
themselves
“concessions” and territory seizures
McKinley wants America to have trading
power in China but wishes to avoid war
“Asking only the open door for ourselves,
we are ready to accord the open door to
others”
The Open Door Continued
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John Hay comes up with “Open Door
Notes” addressed to England, Germany,
Russia, France, Japan and Italy and had
three parts
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John Hay
Each nation with a sphere of influence in
China was to respect the rights and
privileges of other nations in its sphere
Chinese officials were to continue to collect
tariff duties in all spheres
Nations were not to discriminate against
other nations in levying port dues and
railroad rates within their own spheres
The Open Door Continued, Again
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Some negative response to “Open Door”, but Jay asserts that
its “final and definitive”
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unless US is willing to go to war, it could not enforce the policy
Boxer Rebellion
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martial-arts society takes control of British embassy in Peking
Imperial powers send in combined forces to rescue diplomats
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in August of 1900 breaks the siege
McKinley and Hay use the Rebellion as a springboard for Open
Door policy
Modern Military System
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Spanish American War
demonstrated tremendous
problems in American
military
McKinley appoints Elihu Root,
a corporate lawyer from New
York, to supervise military
overhaul between 1900-1903
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enlarged from 25,000-100,000
National Guard = never again
state militias to fight a war
Joint Chiefs of Staff: military
advisory to Secretary of War
Establishment of a central
planning agency…
Elihu Root