Imperialism and America
APUSH 27
Imperialism
• The policy in which stronger nations extend
their economic, political, or military control
over weaker territories
• By the 1880s, some American leaders
thought the US should be like European
powers and gain colonies overseas
3 Factors that led to American Imperialism
1. Desire for military strength
•
Alfred T. Mahan – US Navy Admiral who pushed the US to
build a stronger military including modern battleships like the
Maine and the Oregon
2. Thirst for New Markets
•
Americans produced more then they could consume and
needed more raw materials and new markets to sell goods
3. Belief in cultural superiority
•
•
•
Social Darwinism – a belief that free market competition
would lead to the survival of the fittest
Belief in the racial superiority of Anglo-Saxons
Some believed the US should spread Christianity and
“civilization” to the worlds “inferior people”
Examples of Social Darwinism
• Rev. Josiah Strong: “Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its
Current Crisis”
• Americans should spread religion and values to “backward” people of the
world
• T. Roosevelt and Henry C. Lodge:
• Used Social Darwinism to justify competing with European powers for
colonial gains – esp in Africa and China
• James Blaine – Sec of State under Garfield and Harrison
• “Big Sister Policy” to get Latin America to follow American leadership and
trade with Am merchants
• Presided over 1st Pan American Conference
Diplomatic Crisis/Near Wars led to Am
Diplomacy
• 1889 – America v Germany over Samoan Islands
Diplomatic Crisis/Near Wars led to Am
Diplomacy
• 1891: US v Italy over the lynching of 2 Italians in New Orleans (US
had to pay Italy damages)
Diplomatic Crisis/Near Wars led to Am
Diplomacy
• 1892: 2 Americans killed in Chili – America demanded indemnity
Diplomatic Crisis/Near Wars led to Am
Diplomacy
• 1893: US v. Canada in dispute over seal hunting in North Atlantic
Diplomatic Crisis/Near Wars led to Am
Diplomacy
• 1895-1896: America gets involved in a border dispute between
Venezuela and British Guiana – situation was complicated when
gold was found in the jungle border
Diplomatic Crisis/Near Wars led to Am
Diplomacy
• America was willing to risk war over distant and minor disputes
America Acquires Alaska
• Alaska – Sec. Of State William Seward
convinced Congress to buy it from
Russia
• He was made fun of and it was
called “Seward’s Icebox”
• Turned out to be a good decision
because Alaska is rich in timber,
minerals, and oil
Seward Negotiates with Russians
Alaska Today
America “Acquires” Hawaii
1820’s – Americans set up Christian schools and planters
move there to produce sugar and tropical produce
 1820 – 1875 Americans controlled most of the wealth of
Hawaii because of their successful sugar plantations
 1875 – Hawaii and America made an agreement to trade
sugar without import taxes
 1875-1898 American planters work to convince America
to annex Hawaii so they do not have to pay the tax
 1887 – Americans build a naval fueling station at Pearl
Harbor
America “Acquires” Hawaii
1890 – McKinley Tariff put a tax back on sugar from Hawaii
 1891 – Queen Liliuokalani took the throne of Hawaii and worked to
give rights back to Hawaiians (and stop the control American planters
had over the government)
1891 – To fight the queen, American businessmen overthrew the
monarchy and set up a government led by Sanford B. Dole
Cleveland tried to get the queen power restored but it was the end of his
presidency
1898 – President McKinley convinces Congress to proclaim Hawaii and
American territory without allowing the Hawaiians to vote on what
they want to have happen
Hawaii
Queen
Liliuokalani
Hawaii Today
The Spanish American War
Lead Up To War
• America was interested in Cuba because of its sugar plantations
• 1868-1878: Cuba revolted against Spain (their colonial mother
country)
• 1886: Cubans force Spain to emancipate its slaves
• 1886-1895: Americans invest a lot in Cuban sugar plantations
• 1894: a tariff hurts the sugar dependent economy of Cuba
• 1895: Jose Marti, a Cuban poet in NYC, launched a Cuban Revolution
• Cuba Libre! - The battle cry for Cuban Revolutionaries
• 1896: Spanish send General Weyler (“The Butcher”) who herds
about 300,000 thousand Cubans into concentration camps where
many died
Lead Up To War
• 1897: Weyler removed from Cuba by Spain,things continue to get worse
anyway (it was too late)
• 1897: President McKinley takes office and tries to avoid war with Spain
despite Americans desire to support Cuba
• 1898: American warship USS Maine sent evacuate Americans if needed
• 1898: DeLome Letter
• 1898: The USS Maine Explosion
• 1898: Teller Amendment (America would overthrow Spain / free Cuabns)
Sugar Plantation in Eastern Cuba
Sugar Mill; Cuba
Jose Marti
Cuba Libre!
The U.S.S. Maine
• February 15, 1898: The USS Maine (an American warship)
blew up in the port at Havana Cuba.
• The newspapers reported it was a Spanish attack on Americans,
but we now know that it’s not true.
• Americans who wanted to fight Spain used the battle cry
“Remember the Maine.”
• Spain claimed it wasn’t their fault and they agreed to do
whatever America said but America still declared war on Spain.
Americans were split:
• Some wanted to stay out of it because it
was not an American fight
• Some business owners wanted the American
government to be involved to protect their
investments (sugar plantations) while other
Americans wanted to be involved because of
the principles of freedom and liberty.
• European Nations were skeptical of
American Actions
Spanish American War
• 1898: America’s first act of war was to open fire on Spanish
Warships at Manila, the Capitol of the Philippines (at that time a
Spanish Colony)
• George Dewey: American General during this battle
• The battle was a complete American success
• Filipinos supported the Americans because they wanted
freedom from Spain
• America also had a land war in Cuba
• The American forces were small, untrained, and poorly
equipped
• America’s 2,100 officers + 28,000 men vs. Spain’s 200,000 troops
• Navy was strong but Army was made up of old Civil War vets and
untrained young men
Yellow Journalism
• American Newspapers sensationalized Weyler’s actions and
Americans were outraged
• Yellow Journalism: sensational writing that exaggerates the
news to lure and enrage readers
• Hearst and Pulitzer: Newspaper owners who wanted war to
sell papers
Yellow
Journalism
Yellow Journalism Activity
Yellow Journalism was a contributing factor to the Spanish
American War. The sensational writing influenced public opinion.
Task: Pretend that you are Pulitzer or Hearst. Create a
newspaper for February 16,1898 reporting on the USS Maine
explosion. Each paper should have:
* A creative name
* An article describing the events
* A picture of what happened
* A political cartoon involving Roosevelt, McKinley,
Weyley, the Rough Riders, or someone related to this war
Rough Riders
• Rough Riders: a group of volunteer Calvary
men (soldiers on horseback) who were led
by Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood
• Led a famous attack on San Juan Hill where they
made way for an infantry attack
Treaty of Paris
• After only 15 weeks of fighting, a peace treaty was signed
• The treaty sparked a great debate:
• Should the US annex the Philippines?
• McKinley said the US should Christianize the Filipino's (but most had
been Christian for centuries)
• He was justifying imperialism
Acquiring New Lands
18-3 Notes
Puerto Rico
Ruling Puerto Rico
• Some Puerto Ricans wanted complete
independence
• Some wanted statehood (as part of USA)
• Some wanted a local government as a US
territory
• Immediately after the Spanish American War
it was unclear what would happen there
Ruling Puerto Rico
• At first the US used military rule in P.R.
• Foraker Act: set up a local government, gave the US President
power to appoint leaders, and did not allow P.R. complete
independence
• U.S. wanted P.R. because we wanted a presence in the Caribbean
• 1901: Supreme Court rules that people in American territories
were not necessarily protected by the Constitution
• 1917: Congress extends US citizenship to Puerto Ricans
TheOnion.com
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48738/print
Cuba
Ruling Cuba
• 1898: United States declare war on Spain
and recognize Cuban independence
• Teller Amendment: said that US had no intention
of taking over any part of Cuba
• After the war, American troops stayed in
Cuba and some kept their political positions
• When Cubans protested this they were arrested
and were exiled
Ruling Cuba
• Platt Amendment: 1903
• Cuba couldn’t make treaties that might limit its
independence or permit a foreign power to control any part
of it
• The US reserved the right to intervene in Cuba
• Cuba was not to go into debt
• The US could buy or lease land in Cuba for naval or fueling
stations
Ruling Cuba
• Platt Amendment-1903
• Cubans did not want this but were forced into it
• It made Cuba a protectorate: a country whose
affairs are partially controlled by a stronger
power
• It lasted for 31 years
Ruling the Philippines
• Emilio Aguinaldo: fought for Filipino independence
against Spain and later the USA
• Philippine-American War: (Feb. 1899; after the Spanish
American War); Filipinos fought USA for independence
• 3 years long
• 20,000 Filipinos were killed
• 4,000 Americans killed
• America won and made the Philippines a
protectorate (like Puerto Rico)
Philippine American War
Foreign Influence in China
• Major powers (USA and Europe) wanted access to China
for trade
• Open Door Notes: written by John Hay, said that
imperialist nations would share trading rights in China
(instead of competing for them)
• Boxer Rebellion: Chinese rebels (boxers) fought against
foreign influence in China
• Thousands of Chinese people died and the boxers
could not get foreign countries out of China
Imperialism
in China
Cartoon
AntiImperialism
Cartoon
Think
Racism
American
Imperialism
in the
Philippines
America on the
World Stage
APUSH 28
“Little Brown Brothers” in the Philippines
• Terrible guerilla and torture tactics taken in SpanAm War.
• “Water Cure” Torture
1901: Americans capture Aguinaldo
McKinley’s “benevolent assimilation”
$ Millions go to roads, sanitation, public health etc
America develops the sugar trade
American Teachers – “pioneers of the blackboard”
***We spend a fortune in money and human resources and the
Filipino people hate us and want independence
“White Man’s Burden”
• Read the Poem by Rudyard Kipling and underline all cases of
blatant racism.
• What point does Kipling make in this poem?
• Can you think of modern examples of this kind of poetrty?
Open Door in China
• Americans worried about losing to Europeans in China
• Missionaries worried about churches
• Businesses worried about trade
• 1899: Sec of State Hay “Open Door Note”
• Europeans should respect certain Chinese rights
• There should be fair competition and trade
• 1900: Boxer Rebellion
• Chinese “boxers” rebelled against all foreign influence
• Battle Cry: “Kill Foreign Devils”
• America and European nations put down rebellion
• China to pay $333 million for the war
Imperialism or Bryanism in 1900
• Election of 1896
• McKinley a strong incumbent
1896
• Needed a new VP – Hobart died in 1899 of heart failure
• Picked T. Roosevelt against the advice of Mark Hanna
• Democrats nominate W. J. Bryan
• Anti-imperialism \ anti-trust platform
1900
T. Roosevelt takes office
• McKinley Assassinated in 1901 by a deranged anarchist
• Roosevelt becomes youngest President at the time (42 yrs old)
• Direct Actionist who believed in “Speak softly and carry a big
stick”
The Panama Canal
• 1902: Congress decides on Panama as the location for a transisthmus canal
• Columbia (who controlled Panama against their will) would not
negotiate the land for the terms that Washington set out
• US secretly supported a Panamanian Revolution against Columbia
• Everyone ultimately knew that Roosevelt was involved and it looked bad
• The Panama Canal
TR and the Monroe Doctrine
• Review:
• Monroe Doctrine: European powers should not intervene in Latin America or
the Caribbean (1823)
• Roosevelt Corollary: “preventative intervention”
• America would become involved in any European activity in Latin America
(wouldn’t let LA become indebted to other countries)
• This was supposed to be an addition to the Monroe Doctrine but
was actually a rewriting of it (much toughter