Seward purchase of Alaska (1867)

• Treaty negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward

• U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million

• Made to eliminate Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere and expand U.S. territories

• Thought to be a great Arctic wasteland

• Many Americans (including Radical Republicans) called it “Seward’s Icebox” or “Seward’s Folly”

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1890)

• Naval strategist and historian

• Wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783

• Emphasized importance of sea power

• Influenced growth of the U.S. Navy

Queen Liliuokalani/Hawaii (1893)

• The only state that was once an independent monarchy

• Queen Liliuokalani opposed American political and business influence

• Was deposed in a bloodless revolution led by Americans

• Pineapple grower Sanford Dole became president of the “Republic of Hawaii”

Annexation of Hawaii (1893)

Upon assuming office, Grover Cleveland reviewed the pending Hawaiian annexation and concluded that a majority of the natives did not favor the change.Acting on principle, Cleveland withdrew the treaty from Senate consideration, angering the growing body of expansionists.

Grover Cleveland

“Yellow” journalism (1896)

• Use of extreme sensationalism to attract readers

• Derived from an early comic strip character called the “Yellow Kid”

• First appeared in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World

• He and William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) exaggerated stories to attract readers and sell papers

• Contributed to U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War

William McKinley(1897-1901)

• 25th president• Won Republican

presidential nomination in 1896 (with help of millionaire Mark Hanna)

• Defeated William Jennings Bryan

• Helped acquire Guam, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and American Samoa

• Six months into his second term, shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY

De Lôme Letter(February 9, 1898)

• Letter written by the Spanish minister to the U.S. to a friend in Cuba

• Described President McKinley as “weak” and a “cheap politician”

• Stolen and published in The New York World, letter caused DeLôme’s resignation

• Used as propaganda—one of the factors turning American public opinion against Spain

ENRIQUE DUPUY DE LOME

U.S.S. Maine (1898)

• On February 15, the Battleship U.S.S. Maine was blown up by accident when spontaneous combustion in a coal bunker caused a powder magazine to explode

• Yellow Journalism exaggerated the story and blamed the Spanish

U.S.S. Maine (1898)

Spanish-American War (1898)

• Conflict between U.S. and Spain

• Begun over the cause of Cuban independence

• Marked the emergence of U.S. as a world power; the beginning of American overseas imperialism

• Most of the fighting took place in Spanish possessions of Cuba and Philippines

Teller Amendment (1898)

• Passed by Congress in response to McKinley’s war message

• Put conditions on U.S. involvement in Cuba

• Said U.S. would not annex Cuba

• Promised to leave “control of the island to its people”

Rough Riders (July 1, 1898)

• First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment

• Col. Leonard Wood originally headed the group of 1,000 cowboys, miners, football players, and others

• TR commanded the unit and led them in a successful charge up Kettle Hill near San Juan Hill

• Having been forced to leave their horses in Florida, most were on foot

Sanford Dole/Hawaii (1898)

• Sanford Dole hands sovereignty over Hawaii to the U.S.

• Was annexed as a possession in 1898

• Became a U.S. territory in 1900

George Dewey/Manila (1898)

• Commodore Perry’s Asiatic Squadron was alerted to possible war with Spain as early as December, 1897

• On May 1, 1898, the Spanish fleet in the Philippines was destroyed

• Manila surrendered on August 13

• Spain agreed to a peace conference to be held in Paris in October 1898

Treaty of Paris (1898)

• Cuba became independent• United States claimed Puerto

Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands

• The treaty barely passed the Senate, with only to votes over the two-thirds needed for ratification

Open Door Notes (1899)• In 19C Japan and other

nations had divided China into “spheres of influence”

• Principle stating that all nations have equal trading rights and commercial opportunities in China

• Sought privileges for the U.S.

• Proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay

• Most nations (especially Japan) disregarded the provisions

• Ended with recognition of China’s sovereignty after World War II

Secretary of StateJohn Hay

Platt Amendment (1901)

• Agreement between the U.S. and Cuba

• Gave U.S. the rights to intervene in Cuban affairs and to lease naval bases on the island

• Made (in effect) Cuba a U.S. dependency

• The U.S. invoked the amendment several times before its repeal in 1934

Insular cases (1901-1903)

• The Supreme Court decided that constitutional rights did not extend to territorial possessions

• “The Constitution did not follow the flag”

• Congress had the right to administer each island possession without constitutional restraint

• Inhabitants of these possessions did not have the same rights as American citizens

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)

• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) between the U.S. and Great Britain ensured that neither country would seek individual rights over a canal to be built in Central America

• Hay-Pauncefote superseded this, when British relinquished any claims and gave the U.S. sole rights to construct and control the canal

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)

• Panamanian uprising supported by the U.S. led to Panama’s independence

• Allowed the U.S. to build the Panama canal

• Construction, begun in 1906, spanned eight years

Roosevelt Corollary (1904)• Foreign policy statement

attached to the Monroe Doctrine by President Theodore Roosevelt

• Directed at Europe• Declared that U.S. would

exercise police power to maintain stability in the Western Hemisphere

• The U.S. would consider any interference in the affairs of small, poor Latin American nations a violation of the Monroe Doctrine

• First used in 1905, when TR sent Marines to the Dominican Republic to manage the country’s European debts

Dollar diplomacy (1909-13)

• U.S. foreign policy in the early 1900s

• Using American diplomatic influence to protect American investments in Latin America and Asia

• To encourage more stable governments

• Begun under Roosevelt, expanded by Taft (1909-1913)

• Wilson repudiated when he became president

Boxer Rebellion(1900)

• Chinese nationalists struck at foreign settlements in China

• Attack also directed at Ch’ing dynasty Manchu government in Beijing for allowing foreign industrial nations large concessions within Chinese borders

• An international army helped put down the rebellion and aided the Chinese government to remain in power

Filipino insurrection (1899)

• Filipino nationalists under Emilio Aguinaldo rebelled against the U.S. when they learned the Philippines would not be given independence

• The U.S. used 70,000 men to suppress the revolutionaries by June, 1902

• A special U.S. commission recommended eventual self-government for the Philippines

Pancho Villa (1917)

• Made attack in Columbus, New Mexico in 1916

• Attacked U.S. Cavalry regiment, burned the town and seized horses

• About 18 Americans and 80 followers of Villa were killed

• In response to Villa’s attack, President Wilson sent 10,000 men under General Pershing into Mexico

• The search for Villa was unsuccessful, but outraged Mexicans

Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909)

• Controversial tariff• Payne(NY

representative) introduced bill to lower tariff

• Senator Aldrich (a protectionist) added amendments to the bill, which preserved a high protective tariff

• Taft had campaigned on promise to lower tariffs, but DIDN’T veto this bill.

Underwood Tariff (1913)

• Passed by Congress under Woodrow Wilson’s administration

• Lowered tariffs on hundreds of items that could be produced more cheaply in the U.S. than abroad

• Reduced tariff rates from Payne-Aldrich by about 10%

• MADE UP FOR LOST REVENUES BY CREATING INCOME TAX

Venezuela boundary dispute (1895)

• Conflict between Great Britain and Venezuela over the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela

• The culprit: Gold was discovered in the area

• U.S. said GB’s claim to this territory violated the Monroe Doctrine

• Threat of war was averted when GB agreed to arbitration in 1897

• Paris tribunal gave land back to Venezuela (1899)

General John Pershing(1860-1948)

• Military leader• Led expedition of

11,000 men into Mexico to find Pancho Villa

• Commanded American Expeditionary Forces in France during WWI

• First to achieve rank of General of the Armies

• Got a missile named after him!

Taft-Katsura Memo (1905)

• The U.S. and Japan pledged to maintain the Open Door principles in China

• Japan recognized American control over the Philippines and the U.S. granted a Japanese protectorate over Korea

Russo-Japanese War (1904)

Treaty of Portsmouth (1905)

Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907)

• An informal agreement between Japan and the U.S.

• Japan agreed to halt unrestricted emigration of its citizens to the U.S.

• In return, the U.S. promised to stop discrimination against Japanese

• Ended its segregation of Asian children in San Francisco schools

Root-Tahahira Agreement (1908)