American Imperialism

How the United States Became a World Power

Imperialism:

The policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, cultural and/or military

control over weaker nations.

Territorial Expansion

• 1867 Purchase of Alaska

• 1867 Secured the rights to Midway Island

• 1893 Overthrow Queen Liliuokalani in Hawaii

• 1898 Spanish-American War

• 1898 Annexation of Hawaii

• 1899 Open Door Policy in China

• 1904 Construction of the Panama Canal began

• 1904 Issuance of the Roosevelt Corollary to the

Monroe Doctrine

• 1910s Mexican Revolution

Why? • Commercial /Business Interests

– Economic motives, Panic of 1893

• Military or Strategic Interests

• Religious or Missionary Interests

• Ideas of Social Darwinism

• Closing of the American Frontier

• Global Competition

• Nationalism

– Belief in political and cultural superiority

Imperialism and the Balance of Power

US established the Western Hemisphere “off-limits” with the Monroe Doctrine of 1923

Take up the White Man's burden--

Send forth the best ye breed--

Go, bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need;

The White Man's Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

McClure's Magazine 12 (Feb. 1899).

In the back of the classroom students representing California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Alaska are quietly reading. In the front row are boys representing the Philippines, Porto (sic) Rico, Cuba, and Hawai'i looking as if they would rather not be there.

Hawaii • Descendants of New England Missionaries to Hawaii in

the 1820s greatly influenced native monarchs and their policies.

• Hawaii became a protectorate of the US in1849 by virtue of economic treaties

• In 1893, a successful revolt led by a white minority (sugar plantation owners) with the help of 150 US Marines resulted in the removal of the native monarch, Queen Liliuokalani.

• Cleveland refused to annex the island, but McKinley did not share his reluctance.

• Hawaii, annexed in 1898 by joint resolution of Congress, was used as a naval deposit during the Spanish American War.

Queen Lydia Liliuokalani

Sanford Ballard Dole

Spanish American War • Newspaper wars

• Jan - USS Maine was ordered to Havana harbor 15 Feb - USS Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana harbor

• 19-20 Apr - War was declared against Spain

• "a splendid little war" – Of 274,000 men, 5,462 died (362 in battle)

and 1,604 were wounded

Yellow Journalism

William Randolph Hearst

Josef Pulitzer

(New York Journal )

(New York World )

Cartoon. Spanish Ape hunkers over grave of USS Maine sailors. (1898).

THE HEADLINES: •Cuban Babes Prey to Famine

•Thousands of Children of the Reconcentrados Perishing in Island

Towns •Sights that Sicken Strong Men

THE HEADLINES: •Does Our Flag Shield Women?

•Refined Young Women Stripped and Searched by

Brutal Spaniars While Under

Our Flag on the Ollivette

Results of the War

• Cuba becomes a protectorate (US exercises political/economic influence)by Platt Amendment

• Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth (part of the U.S—but with control over local elections/economy)

• Guam is annexed and controlled by U.S.

• The Philippines are ceded to the U.S. for $20,000,000.00

• The U.S. gains an empire

"THE FILIPINO'S FIRST BATH." "McKinley -- 'Oh, you dirty boy!'"

Judge, Arkell Publishing Company, New York, June 10, 1899 [artist: Grant Hamilton]

Gen. Emilio

Aguinaldo,

First Leader of

the Philippines

Philippine-American War First War for Humanity

• 1899-1901

• Revolt led by Emilio Aguinaldo against US rule

• 3 years

• Casualties

– Americans—4,234 dead; 2,800 wounded

– Filipinos—18,000 killed; 20,000 famine

• Cost--$400 million

Post War Philippines

"SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE. (Through Professor Marconi's wireless telegraphy)" "AMERICAN INDIAN (to Filipino) -- 'Be Good, or you will be dead!'" Judge, Arkell Publishing Company, New York, circa 1899 [artist: Victor Gillam]

Japan

• Captain Alfred T. Mahan, cautioned that the Pacific could “be entered and controlled only by a vigorous contest”

• Japan had effectively closed its doors to outsiders, and it restricted foreign ships to a small part of Nagasaki

• Admiral Matthew Perry steamed into Japan and demanded a treaty

• The Japanese reluctantly agreed to trade with the U.S.

Japan

Toda Izu, governor of Uraga

Abe Masahiro, head of the Roju (governing council) under

Shogun Ieyoshi Alfred Thayer Mahan

Open Door Policy • China had a weak central government in 1900

• Japan and several European nations had carved China into spheres of influence

• Secretary of State John Hay sent diplomatic dispatches to these nations, asking that they guarantee two things: – All nations given equal trading rights in

China

– Chinese territorial integrity (the country

could not be carved up among the powerful

nations of the world)

John Hay

A "Boxer" in 1900

Boxer Rebellion

•Boxer Rebellion 1899-1900 •Secret martial arts group—Boxers “righteous harmonious fists” •This nativist group attacked foreigners, Chinese Christians, and gov’t officials •A multinational military force of Great Britain, Russia, France, Japan and the US, put down the •Foreign nations forced China to pay $300 million for damages suffered •China forced to allow foreign soldiers to remain •Americans used most of payments to give scholarships to Chinese studying in America •China would not be recognized as a sovereign state until after World War II.

Chinese Reaction:

Cartoon. "The New Diplomacy." Theodore Roosevelt bowls over

Caribbean and Central American nations with his Indian clubs. (c. 1903).

A history of U.S. intervention in

Latin America and the Caribbean • 1823: The Monroe Doctrine declares Latin

America to be in the United States "sphere of influence."

• 1846: The U.S. provokes war with Mexico and acquires half of its territory, including Texas and California.

• 1855: U.S. adventurer William Walker invades Nicaragua with a private army, declares himself president, and rules for 2 years.

• 1898: The U.S. declares war on Spain and as a result annexes Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Hawaii.

A history of U.S. intervention in

Latin America and the Caribbean • 1901 : With the Platt Amendment, the U.S. declares its

unilateral right to intervene in Cuban affairs. • 1903: The U.S. encourages Panama's independence

from Colombia in order to acquire the Panama Canal rights.

• 1905: The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine declares the U.S. to be the policeman of the Caribbean; the Dominican Republic is placed under a customs receivership.

• 1912 : U.S. Marines invade Nicaragua and occupy the country almost continuously until 1933.

• 1914: Mexican refusal to salute the U.S. flag provokes the shelling of Veracruz by a U.S. battleship and the seizure of parts of the city by U.S. Marines.

Cartoon. Theodore Roosevelt behind big cannon stares down a small

sombrero'd Columbia. (1903).

Mexican Revolution

• The Mexican Revolution was brought by disagreement among the Mexican people over the dictatorship of President Porfirio Diaz

• Francisco I. Madero believed that President Diaz should renounce his power and not seek re-election

• Madero's call for an uprising on November 20th, 1910, marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution

Mexican Revolution

• In March of 1911, Emiliano Zapata led the uprising of the peasants of Morelos to claim their rights over local land and water

• Diaz then resigned as President and fled to exile in France, where he died in 1915

• With the collapse of the Diaz regime, the Mexican Congress called for national popular elections, which resulted in the victory of Francisco I. Madero as President

Mexican Revolution

• Victoriano Hueta seized control of Mexico and put Madero in prison where he was murdered

• Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Alvaro Obregon fought against Hueta

• The U.S. also got involved by occupying Veracruz and Huerta fled the country

• Eventually Carranza would gain power in Mexico

Emiliano Zapata

Pancho Villa

Porfirio Diaz

Francisco I Madero Venustiano Carranza

Victoriano Huerta

Anti-Imperialism

• The American AntiImperialist League was founded in 1899

• Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, and William James were among the leaders

• Campaign against the annexation of the Philippines and other acts of imperialism

UNCLE SAM'S NEW CAUGHT ANTHROPOIDS, HOLDING HIS END UP."

"JOHN BULL -- 'It's really most extraordinary what training will do. Why, only the other day I

thought that man unable to support himself.'" Philadelphia Inquirer, also published in The

Literary Digest, Vol. XVII, No. 8, August 20, 1898, p. 215 [artist: unknown]

In addition to the physical advantages found in North America, Strong listed six features found in Anglo-Saxons which promoted the cause of supremacy:

(1)the love of civil liberty (2)the prevalence of spiritual Christianity (3) a great money making power (England was the richest

country of Europe, Strong asserted, but the United States was even

more wealthy than England.) (4) a genius for colonizing (5) a persistent energy among its people (6) the elasticity of American social institutions (The opportunity for vertical mobility in American society was stimulating.)

Pro Imperialism

"FUTURE AMERICANS." "Member of Congress from the

Philippines: Whatever became of

that bill to annex Mars to the United States? The other M.C.: Oh, we

defeated that at the poles." Life, Life Publishing Company, New

York, February 2, 1899 [artist:

Winsor McCay]

"HURRAH FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY! WE'RE COMING IN ON INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS TOO."

Journal (Minneapolis), also published in Cartoons of the War of 1898 with Spain, From Leading Foreign and American Papers, Chicago:

Belford, Middlebrook and Company, 1898 [artist: "Bart" Charles Bartholomew]

Questions

• How was this era different from previous eras in American history?

• Is imperialism just Manifest Destiny moved off of the continent?

• What role should the U.S. play in the world?

• How successful were we in promoting the White Man’s Burden?