The Imperial Republic
Chapter 20
“Progress” and Imperialism
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William Seward
• 1. Alaska (1860s)
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• 2. Midway Islands (1867)
Stirrings of Imperialism
The New Manifest Destiny
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“closing of the frontier” Frederick Jackson Turner
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Increase of Foreign Trade
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Increase of Foreign Trade
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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
• “we must not fall out of line of the
march”
– Alfred T. Mahan and the importance
of naval power
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Hemispheric Hegemony
– Secretary of State James
Blaine expands Americas
influence in Latin America
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– Cleveland and a near war
with Britain over boundary
dispute with Venezuela
Hawaii
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Pressure for American Presence
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Lead-in History
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Another Genocide
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Hawaii Continued
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American Impact
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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
War With Spain
• Impact: changing American attitude from
idea to fierce expression.
Controversy over Cuba
– Cubans resisting Spanish
rule since 1868… battle
for independence in
which US does not
intervene
– 1895 Cuba rises up again
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Pulitzer vs. Hearst = Yellow Journalism
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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
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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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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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Theodore Roosevelt
Philippines Continued
– On May 1 1898 Dewey sailed into Manila Bay
and completely destroyed the aging Spanish
fleet
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– What had begun as a war to free Cuba was …
Battle for Cuba
– hurried incompetence is the character of the US
invasion
– Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
Cuba Continued
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Spanish surrender
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Terms of surrender
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Puerto Rico and the United States
– many rebellions against Spain during the 1800s
– annexation takes place with little controversy in the
US
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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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Treaty of Paris 1898
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Confirmed terms of the Armistice re: Cuba,
Guam and PR
Debate Continued
– Powerful anti-imperialist movement in the
United States
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– Powerful pro-imperialist forces
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Debate Continued
– “Uncivilized” Filipinos = status of American
Indians
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– William Jennings Bryan surprise support
backfires
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The Republic as Empire
-Governing the Colonies
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Some “American Dependencies” presented little
problems: Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico
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Cuba was a problem
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Rebellion to “Yankee Imperialism”
The Philippine War
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Results
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American miscalculations
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Decision: more brutal
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“Secure Possession”
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Aguinaldo captured and signs treaty urging followers to stop fighting
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Gradual autonomy
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The Open Door
– China had long represented a major
economic interest to western powers
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– McKinley wants America to have trading
power in China but wishes to avoid war
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“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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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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Boxer Rebellion
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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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