Imperialism
The White Man’s Burden
By Rudyard Kipling (1899)
TAKE up the White Man's burden -Send forth the best ye breed -Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild -Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden -In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
What is expansionism?
It is the act of increasing one’s territory through force, coercion, or mutual
agreement.
The British
Empire
1900
Europeans embarked on an imperial and expansionist journey in the 19th
Century with Great Britain leading the way.
Reasons for European Expansion
Economic:
1. High tariffs against each other reduced
trade between industrial nations
2. Countries were forced to look overseas
for new markets
3. Investment opportunities in Western
Europe slowed so Countries looked
overseas to invest their capital
4. Investments in Asia and Africa grow and
prove to be beneficial to European
economies
Reasons for European Expansion
Political:
1. Social Darwinism: nations compete
politically, economically, and militarily as it is
part of nature with only the strong surviving;
2. Anglo-Saxonism: a belief in the superiority
of white, English-speaking, educated
Christians over “lesser” peoples; [White
Man’s Burden]
3. Manifest Destiny: a belief that expansion
throughout the world was both justified and
inevitable (a US doctrine that can be
applied to Europe as well)
Reasons for European Expansion
Military:
1. Bases are needed throughout the
world to protect economic and political
interests overseas
2. Bases ensure military superiority and
intimidate the “lesser” peoples
3. Bases ensure military alliances in
specific areas of the world
…and “What would happen to
democracy if there was no frontier to
vent steam and offer fresh starts?”
America Needs a New Frontier
“For nearly three hundred years the dominant act in
American life has been expansion. With the settlement
of the Pacific coast and the occupation of free lands,
this movement has come to a check... the demands for
a vigorous foreign policy, for an inter-oceanic canal, for
a revival of our policy upon the seas, and for the
extension of American influence to the outlying islands
and adjoining countries, are indications that the
movement will continue.”
With these words, Frederick Jackson Turner laid the foundation
for a modern historical study of the American West and
presented a “Frontier Thesis” in 1893 that influenced
imperialistic thinking in the US.
Frederick Jackson Turner:
Turner's 1893 thesis
"The Significance of the Frontier in American History"
is important to the birth of U.S. imperialism. In it Turner points out
the end of the American frontier in the West and calls for new
frontier abroad. He laid the groundwork for a new kind of
U.S. foreign policy—one that led the United Stated into
Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam
during the Spanish-American War.
Reasons for American Expansion
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The American frontier (the West) is settled and the US has
nowhere else to expand except across the Pacific Ocean and
into Latin and South Americas
We had a tradition of expansion - Manifest Destiny. Rev.
Josiah Strong, author of Our Country, claimed Americans
were a special, God-favored Anglo Saxon race who were
representatives of the ‘purest Christianity, the highest
civilization.” Americans had “instinct or genius for colonizing”
and had a destiny to “lift up” other civilizations.
The US needs to compete with other nations economically,
[investing in and trading with foreign markets would profit the
United States], politically, and militarily to become a world
power… Nationalism….Security
Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660 1783. To be a strong in this new world the US must sell its
products abroad. To secure and protect these interests, we
needed an improved, large and powerful navy that required
overseas naval bases.
Belief that American security needed to be protected by
maintaining strategic lands
Expansionism helped to formulate
American foreign
policy…Imperialism
What is imperialism?
It is the economic and political domination
of a strong nation over weaker nations.
It is caused by an “extreme” desire for a
strong nation to expand in order to gain
and maintain power in the world.
Japan
1852:
Commodore Matthew Perry takes a naval expedition to Japan
to force Japan to trade with the US
1853:
Four American warships (steamships) enter Tokyo Bay
displaying their superior technology and firepower to intimidate
the Japanese government which is forced to open its ports to
America in 1854
ALASKA
The US purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire
in 1867 at the behest of Secretary of State William
Seward. The territory was 586,412 square miles.
Seward’s Folly
Seward’s Folly
Congress believed it to be foolhardy to spend so much
money on the remote Alaskan region. However,
Secretary of State Seward,who long favored
expansion, argued that the nation's strategic interests
favored the purchase. After all, Russia was a valuable
ally of the Union during the Civil War.
As it turned out, Alaska was a boon to the US
economy because of its rich natural resources:
gold, natural gas and oil.
Cuba
Causes of Spanish American War
A. American power in Latin America
1.
2.
3.
Chile paid US families $75,000 when 2 were killed and 17 injured
Cleveland sent Naval units to protect American interests in Brazil
during revolt
England forced to back down in Venezuela
B. Reports of brutality to Cuban Rebels
1.
Spain sent General Weyler to put down Cuban rebellion. He set up
concentration camps to prevent Cuban citizens from aiding rebels
C. American Newspapers and Yellow Journalism
1. Newspapers wrongly accuse Spain of destroying the USS Maine.
Remember the Maine becomes a battle cry.
D. De Lome Letter
Why America was
interested
1. Cuba was a Spanish
colony in the 1800s
located 90 miles from
Florida - extension of
US. In 1868 Cuban rebels
declared independence
but rebellion collapsed.
2. It was valued for its sugarcane producing 1/3 of the world’s sugar in the
late 1800s. By 1890 the US invested more than $50 million in Cuban sugar
plantations, railroads, and mines. In 1894, the US imposed a tariff on sugar
and arranged reciprocity agreements with Spain. Sugar prices fell and the
Cuban economy was thrust into chaos
3. Many rebels fled to the US, including rebel leader, Jose Marti. Marti
lived in NYC and raised money from sympathetic Americans to buy
weapons and to train troops to eventually invade Cuba to gain
independence.
1895 - Marti launched a revolution
from the US thinking that if they did
enough damage, Spain would leave
Cuba. Marti and his followers
burned sugar fields, destroyed mills
and fought Spanish soldiers.
Spanish troops under the command
of Valereano “Butcher” Weyler,
forced hundreds of thousands of
Cubans into concentration camps to
separate them from Cuban rebel
fighters. Horrifying conditions such
as hunger, starvation and diseases
led to the death of tens of
thousands of Cubans, up to one
fourth of the island’s population.
Marti was killed in the revolution
President Grover Cleveland declared
neutrality in 1895. The public did not agree.
American newspapers led the charge to support
Cubans. The Journal owned by publisher, William
Randolph Hearst, sensationalized the conflict,
printing anti-Spanish stories. Graphic illustrations
by the country's most-talented artists and stories
by journalists were fodder for fueling the war.
Together, Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, of The New
York World, created a frenzy among the American
people, reporting alleged brutality of Spanish
toward the rebels. [General Weyler and his
concentration camps ] These publishers
transformed newspapers with sensational and
scandalous news coverage, using drawings and
more features such as comic strips to sell papers.
This was called yellow journalism.
Pulitzer published color comic sections
that included a strip entitled "The Yellow Kid" in
early 1896, this type of paper was labeled "yellow
journalism” thus the nickname came about.
"The Yellow Kid"
Americans
Support Cubans
American Newspapers Accuse Spain
of Sinking the Maine
In 1898 newspapers were the only
news medium available to the public.
America's most powerful publishers
howled for war with Spain.
William Randolph Hearst's New York
Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New
York World competed for circulation
with inflammatory headlines and
exaggerated stories
about Spanish atrocities.
New York Journal, February 17, 1898: a sample
of Hearst's tabloid treatment of the SpanishAmerican War and the events which led up to it.
YELLOW JOURNALISM
Remember the Maine
January 25, 1898 -The U.S.S. Maine enters Havana harbor, about three weeks before it was blown up.
February 15, 1898: The USS Maine was on a mission to evacuate
Americans from Havana in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
Suddenly an explosion rocked the ship. Ship’s Captain Charles
D. Sigsbee wrote on that fateful day…
Remember the Maine…
“I laid down my pen and listened to the notes of the bugle, which were
singularly beautiful…I was enclosing my letter in its envelope when the
explosion came. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing roar of
immense volume, largely metallic in character. It was followed by
heavy, ominous metallic sounds. There was a trembling and lurching
motion of the vessel, a list to port. The electric lights went out. Then
there was intense blackness and smoke.” (Sigsbee 15 February 1898)
Remember the Maine…
Captain Sigsbee reached the slanted, sinking
deck. Fires burst out all over. In Havana lights
illuminated broken windows that had just been
smashed by the blast. Most crewmen had
been asleep in the forward part of the ship,
which was already at the bottom of the harbor.
The stern sunk slowly.
Crews from nearby ships manned lifeboats to
rescue the surviving crewmen of the Maine.
"Chief among them," Sigsbee wrote, "were the
boats from the Alfonso XII. The Spanish
officers and crews did all that humanity and
gallantry could compass."
Captain Sigsbee abandoned the Maine, which continued to burn and explode.
Remember the Maine…
Did You Know?
Crews from nearby ships manned lifeboats to rescue the surviving
crewmen of the Maine. "Chief among them," Sigsbee wrote, "were the
boats from the Alfonso XII. The Spanish officers and crews did all that
humanity and gallantry could compass." Reluctantly, Captain Sigsbee
abandoned the Maine, which continued to burn and explode throughout the
night.
The twisted, burnt wreckage of the Maine 's stern and bridge was still
above water in the morning. It remained there for years. Two hundred fiftyfour seamen were dead, and fifty-nine sailors were wounded. Eight of the
wounded later died. The navy conducted an investigation into the cause of
the disaster, but it never discovered who was responsible for the explosion.
De Lome Letter
The De Lôme Letter was written by Enrique
Dupuy de Lôme, the Spanish Minister at the
Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C. The
letter, which was intended to be private, was
sent to his friend, Don Jose Canelejas, and
was stolen from the Post Office in Havana
and released by Cuban revolutionists to
Hearst's newspaper. In it, the minister wrote
of US President William McKinley "...
McKinley is: weak and catering to the rabble,
and, besides, a low politician, who desires to
leave a door open to me and to stand well
with the jingoes of his party." On February 9,
1898, the letter was published in the New
York Journal, headlining it "THE WORST
INSULT TO THE UNITED STATES IN ITS
HISTORY".
This event fired up an otherwise inactive
President McKinley and helped foment
public sentiment in favor of the Cubans and
against the Spanish.
Spanish American War
Before fighting began in Cuba, Assistant Secretary of the Navy,
Theodore Roosevelt, orders Commodore Dewey to move six
U.S. ships from Hong Kong to the Philippines. On May 1, just
days after war was declared, Dewey attacked the Spanish
ships in Manila. In seven hours, all ten Spanish ships were
destroyed
Dewey could not storm Manila with his sailors so he waited for 11,000 reinforcements
and joined with Emilio Aquinaldo, a patriot who wanted independence from Spain. He
believed the US would grant the Philippines independence but we’ll get to that later.
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Rider’s charge up San Juan Hill
Cuba:
Under the command of General Nelson Miles
and General William Shafter, 17,000 troops
landed near Santiago including many African
Americans of African mixed descent.
One unit was the “Rough Riders” under the
command of Roosevelt. They were cowboys,
college students, the adventurous type who
were undisciplined and not very effective but
whose enthusiasm led them to charge up San
Juan Hill surrounding Santiago. They
demoralized the Spanish troops. Two days
after the battle, on July 3, the Spanish tried to
run a US blockade of Santiago Harbor but
were destroyed.
The “Splendid Little War” cost 385 American
lives. Another 5,000 died from bad food,
tainted meat, supplied by the army
Charge up San Juan Hill
While Teddy’s Rough Riders
got all the glory, it was the
Ninth and Tenth African
American cavalries that saved
the day.
As these troops passed
through the South on the way
to Cuba, they were called
names, refused service in
restaurants, saloons and
other public places. One
group waited for a week on
board a government ship in
Tampa, Florida. While there,
they were not allowed to go
ashore to bathe or exercise
unless accompanied by a
white officer.
Tensions were so high that
race riots occurred in June
1898
1898 Spain grants Cuba independence but Cuban government was at a
standstill, sanitation was almost non-existent, and disease was rampant
1899 President McKinley sets up a US military government under a US
military governor who begins programs for public works, education,
sanitation, court reform and self-government
1901 Cuba drafts a constitution but US insists it include the Platt
Amendment that limited its right to borrow money from foreign powers,
gave the US right to intervene in Cuban affairs to protect American lives
and property, gave US two naval bases - Guantanamo Bay
1906 Cubans revolted against new government and US went in to
restore order and set up a temporary government until we could reform
the election process. We returned the country to Cuban control in 1909
What did Cuba gain?
1. A brief independence from Spain
2. Annexation by the US 1899
3. A provisional military government. under the US to restore order 1899.
The government started programs of public works, education, sanitation,
court reform and self-government.
4. Two US bases
5. A democracy imposed on the people
6. Economic interests of the US preserved
United States ratified a tariff pact that gave Cuban sugar preference in
the U.S. market and protection to selected U.S. products in the Cuban
market.
What did the US gain?
Economic: US preserves its $50 million investment in Cuba
Economic: US ratifies a tariff pact that gives Cuban sugar
preference in the U.S. market and protection to selected U.S.
products in the Cuban market. As a result, sugar production
completely dominates Cuban economy
Political: US occupies Cuba and sets up a provisional military
government in 1899 and remains until 1902
Political: US assumes and discharges any obligations under
international law that result from its occupation.
Military: US gains two military bases one is Guantánamo Bay
The
Philippines
The Philippines was also a Spanish colony that revolted. During the Spanish American
War, the US sought to take over this colony as a key base to protect our Asian Trade.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, T.Roosevelt, ordered Admiral Dewey to attack the
Spanish fleet here but US troops could not get to the Philippines Dewey needed the
help of a Filipino patriot Emilio Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo agreed to aid the US in exchange
for independence. With his help, Dewy captured Manila but independence never came.
Instead, President McKinley decided the best choice for the US was to “take the islands
and educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them.”
When Aguinaldo refused to accept US government
he was deported. A three year battle between the
US and Filipinos ended in 1901 when the US
crushed the rebellion at a cost of $600 million.
The new government Under Taft reduced disease,
built highways, railroads, telegraph and telephone
lines. Education reduced illiteracy from 85% to
37%, exports and imports increased due to 25% tariff
reduction.
In 1946, the Philippines was granted independence
The Philippines can be considered a vital link in a chain of military bases that
will one day encircle the globe to protect American strategic and commercial
interests.
- Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, U.S. Navy
Puerto Rico
The Treaty of Paris gave Puerto Rico to the US but it did not gain
independence, instead it became a US territory. Under the Foraker Act the
US government selected a US governor and Executive Council to rule, and
appointed US justices to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.
New Government controlled malaria, yellow fever and other diseases.
Also sponsored labor to repair harbors, build roads and irrigation
projects. Jones Act of 1916 and 1917 gave Puerto Ricans right to
elect own government officers and granting Puerto Ricans US
citizenship. During WWI, 17,000 Puerto
Ricans served in the US military helping guard the Panama Canal
By 1930, US owned 60% of public utilities, sugar
banking industry, 80% of tobacco. Puerto Rican
farmers had to sell their land because they could not
compete.
After 30 years unemployment was over 30 %, living
conditions were deplorable with little sanitation,
disease and low life expectancy
In 1952, after a constitution, PR became a
commonwealth of the US
Hawaii
1810
King Kamehameha the Great unites all the
Hawaiian islands into one kingdom.
1819
The first American missionaries settle to
convert the natives to Christianity
American whaling ships use HI as a base
US merchant ships use HI as a stopover for
its trading vessels going to China
Hawaii
1820s
Americans start sugarcane & fruit plantations; thus begins economic &
political dominance of HI
1872
Hawaii struck by recession
1875
US agrees to exempt HI from its sugar tariffs to prevent it from going to
Britain or France for help
1887
America extends the no-tariff agreement providing it gets a naval
base..thus the US has exclusive rights to Pearl Harbor
Hawaii
1887
Prominent planters (of American descent) force
King to accept the Bayonet Constitution,
giving them more power while limiting the king’s,
and disenfranchising the Hawaiian people
Hawaiians are angry; fear the loss of their
country
Tensions mount between planters and natives
1890
McKinley Tariff eliminates all duties on sugar
and gave subsidies to sugar producers in the
US, crippling HI sugar trade…HI sugar more
expensive than US sugar; HI economy hits
bottom
1891
Queen Liliuokalani assumes the throne
Queen
Liliuokalani
1893
Lili'uokalani attempts to implement a new constitution to restore power to the
throne and restore the voting rights to Hawaiians. She is overthrown by local
businessmen with the help of the U.S. Marines (USS Boston) and is forced to
surrender the Hawaiian kingdom to the United States.
1894
Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed with Sanford Dole as president
1895
Liliuokalani is arrested, accused of plotting an attempt to restore the throne.
Sanford B. Dole
Sanford B. Dole was born in Honolulu of white Protestant Christian missionaries
from Maine. He was of a wealthy, elite immigrant community that was a dominant
presence in politics and economics. He was a lawyer for planters.
Dole was the self-proclaimed President of the Republic of Hawaii and was
inaugurated July 4, 1894, under a constitution that was also declared law by
proclamation.
Dole's supporters were businessmen, primarily American by birth, the group
known as the Committee of Safety, which had overthrown the Hawaiian
Constitutional Monarchy in 1893 and set up a provisional government until
annexation became official in 1898.
Hawaii
1898
Hawaii is annexed by U.S. President William McKinley; Sanford Dole
became the first territorial governor
1900
Hawaii becomes a U.S. territory
US Gains from Hawaii:
1820-1900s
US controls sugar industry in HI for economic gain
1840s
gain
1875
grasp
1887
to get
US warns others to keep out of HI for economic & political
US lifts tariff on Hawaiian sugar to keep them in its economic
Planters of American descent force new constitution on king
power, Pearl Harbor falls under US jurisdiction for military
gain
1893
in power
1893
backing
1898
US military intervention helps dethrone queen; keep planters
Planters set up provisional government with US political
US annexation of HI
1900
Hawaii becomes a territory under US political, economic,
and military
jurisdiction
China
During the 1800s, the ruling Manchu Dynasty weakened and
Russia,Japan, Britain, France, and Germany divided the country
into their own spheres of influence, demanding that China give
them special trade privileges and lease them land to build naval
bases to protect strategic interests.
This prompted the US to enforce its OPEN DOOR policy
•No power should prevent others from trading in spheres of influence
•All taxes on imports or exports would be collected by the Chinese government
•No power would ask for harbor or railroad duties that discriminated against
the other powers
Dollar
Diplomacy
China Reacted:
Boxer Rebellion
Nationalists - Sun Yat-sen
Communists - Mao Tse-tung
Spheres of Influence
Open Door
Policy
Harper’s
Weekly
November 18, 1899
Panama
American interest
Shorter route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans for faster and cheaper shipping
and to allow the US Navy to move from one ocean to another in times of war
Problem:
Panama was part of Columbia
The French had a 25 yr agreement with
Columbia to build a canal through
the Isthmus but yellow fever and mismanagement
caused them to abandon the project
America gets a Canal
• Spooner Act authorized the purchase of French assets
•Offered to lease 6 mile zone for $10 million and annual
payment of $250,000 but rejected by Columbia
•Roosevelt secretly encouraged revolt in November 1903
•Hay Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave Panama independence. US got
permanent grant of 10 mile strip and Panama got $10 million.
US & Panama sign Treaty to build canal
The Big Stick Policy
The Roosevelt Corollary
The US would intervene in South
America to collect debts before foreign
nations took over these nations to collect
their debts. The US became the
international police force
Dominican Republic
DR gained independence from Spain in the 1800s Ulises Heureaux took power and
improved education transportation and roads. He also encouraged foreign nations
to invest and they did selling equipment developing water and power supplies,
investing in land to export crops. They wanted to be paid back
Heureaux was corrupt and was assassinated in 1899 leaving the country in debt to
foreign nations. To prevent other countries from taking over the DR [located near
the US] The US collected Dominican import duties for two years to pay off its debt
Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
Before Taft was President, he was
Roosevelt’s Secretary of War and Governor
of the Philippines.
Taft’s foreign policy was to increase trade
with Asia and to substitute dollars for bullets.
He kept order in other countries by
encouraging American investment in those
countries.
The US invested in railroad projects in China
but Russia and Japan blocked American
influence here. Besides, American
investments in China were lost when the
Chinese government collapsed in 1911
Mexico
Woodrow Wilson Moral Diplomacy or Watchful Waiting
Will citizens make the moral decision about their
government so other nations do not intervene?
Diaz resigns from power under a revolution power
passes to
Madero - priest who supported lower classes,
assassinated by
Huerta - comes to power as a murderer, US refused to
recognize his power but US has $1 billion invested in
Mexico. Will the Mexican people oust Huerta
Carranza
Villa