The Making of Modern America,

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität HeidelbergCurt-Engelhorn Professur für AmerikanischeGeschichteProf. Dr. Manfred BergSummer Term 2011

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

The Making of Modern America, 1861 to 1945

Imperialism and Hegemony in the Western Hemisphere

� The United States and Imperialism

� The Spanish-American War

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

� The Annexation of the Philippines

� The Open Door in China

� The Big Stick in the Caribbean

Seward‘s Ice Box, 1867

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Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1840-1914

The Influence of Sea

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The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1890

Imperialism

� Navalism

� Racism

� Social Darwinism

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

� Colonialism

� Jingoism

� Yellow Press

� Social Imperialism

William McKinley, 1843-1901

U.S. President(1897 – 1901)

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

U.S.S. Maine, 1898

New York Journal Headlines (Feb.17, 1898)

Wreckage of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

The Spanish-American War, 1898

The Battle of San Juan HillU.S. Secretary of State John Hay: “A Splendid Little War”

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Cuba

� Teller Amendment of 1898:

“The United States disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control” over Cuba.

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� Platt Amendment of 1903:

The U.S. reserves the right “to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty.”

Annexation of the Philippines

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

Anti-Imperialist League, 1899

Andrew Carnegie,

1835-1919

Carl Schurz, 1829 - 1906

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The Philippine War, 1899-1902

U.S. soldiers of the First Nebraska volunteers, company B, near

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company B, near Manila, 1899

China Around 1900

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Open Door Notes

� 1899: U.S. does not recognize “exclusive rights of any power within or control over any portion of the Chinese Empire” which must remain “an open market for the commerce of the world.”

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open market for the commerce of the world.”

� 1900: U.S. wants to “preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity” and the

“principle of equal and impartial trade.”

Boxer Uprising, 1900

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Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919

U.S. President,

(1901-1909)

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Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936

“Take up the white man’s burden,

and reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better,

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The blame of those ye better,

the hate of those ye guard.”

“The White Man’s Burden” (1899)

Panama Canal

New Routes of commerce and travel

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Roosevelt Corollary, 1904

“Chronic wrongdoing, or an

impotence which may result in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society...may force the

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civilized society...may force the United States, however

reluctantly,…to the exercise of an international police power.”

Theodore Roosevelt, 1904