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5. American Expansionism
UNIT 5. AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1867
1870
1871
1873
1875
1878
1879
1881
1882
1883
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1898
United States purchased Alaska from Russia. Midway Island are annexed
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston opened
Treaty of Washington between the United States and Great Britain set a
precedent for the peaceful settlement of international disputes
Cable Car is introduced in San Francisco
Reciprocity treaty with Hawaii bound Hawaii economically and politically to the
United States
United States acquired a naval base in Samoa.
Yellow fever epidemic caused 5150 deaths in Memphis and 3977 in New
Orleans.
New York adopted Tenement Reform Law, requiring all rooms to have access to
light and air
President James A. Garfield mortally wounded at a Washington, D. C., train
station. Chester Arthur became twenty-first president
Electric lighting came into widespread use for the first time in New York City
Congress approves funded for construction of the first modern steel ships,
beginning the modern navy
William LeBaron Jenney erected the Home Insurance Building on Chicago, the
first true skyscraper
Statue of Liberty is unveiled
New Treaty with Hawaii gave United States exclusive use of Pearl Harbour
W. K. L. Dickinson and Thomas Edison developed motion pictures
Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal
Regulatory commission, to regulate railways
Richmond, Virginia, introduced the electric-power trolley
First Inter-American Conference met in Washington, D. C.
National American Woman Suffrage Association and American Woman Suffrage
Association merged to form the National Woman Suffrage Association
Literacy tests and residency requirements to restrict African-American voting
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power upon History
asserted that naval power was the key to national greatness
Populist party is formed and receives over a million votes in presidential
elections
Severe economic depression began
American settlers in Hawaii overthrow Queen Lilioukalani; a provisional
Government is established
Coxey's Army marched on Washington, D. C., to protest unemployment and to
urge a public works program to relieve unemployment
Cuban insurgents rebelled against Spanish rule
Venezuela border dispute
President Grover Cleveland vetoed literacy requirement for adult emigrants
William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan to become the
Twenty-fifth president
Battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbour (February)
Congress declared war against Spain (April)
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1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1909
1911
1912
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
Commodore Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay (May)
United States annexed Hawaii (July)
Americans defeated the Spanish at El Caney, San Juan Hill and Santiago (July)
Spain sued for peace (August)
Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War (December)
Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris
Philippine-American War erupted
Gold Standard Act placed the nation on the gold standard.
Foraker Act established civil government in Puerto Rico
Boxer Rebellion, a Chinese nationalist revolt against foreigners erupted
Platt Amendment authorised American intervention in Cuba
Hay-Paunceforte Treaty empowered United States to build an isthmian canal
President William McKinley was assassinated. Theodore Roosevelt became the
Twenty-sixth president
Philippine-American War ended with an American victory
United States secured the Panama Canal Zone.
Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery was the first film to tell a story
Wisconsin became the first state to adopt primary elections
Theodore Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
Theodore Roosevelt helps negotiated an end to a war between Russia and
Japan and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle exposed unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing
industry
Gentleman's Agreement with Japan
Roosevelt dispatched 16 battle-ships /The Great White Fleet on an around-theWorld cruise
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People organised
(NAACP)
Revolution began in Mexico
Theodore Roosevelt and his supporters launched the Progressive Party (Bull
Moose)
Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the twenty-eight president
World War I Began in Europe.
Woodrow Wilson issued an official declaration of neutrality on August 4, 1914
Liusitania torpedoed (May)
Battle at Verdun. General J. J. Pershing leaded a punitive expedition into Mexico
to seize Pancho Vila (April).
Wilson won re-election (November)
Zimmerman Note intercepted United States enters the war.
Espionage Act
Wilson called for "peace without victory" (January)
United States entered World War I (April)
Congress passed the Selective Service Act (May)
First American troops reached France (June)
War Industries Board is established (July)
Wilson outlined Fourteen Points for Peace (January).
Germany asked for peace (October)
Armistice signed ended the war (November)
Eighteenth Amendment prohibited manufacture and sale of liquor
Treaty of Versailles signed but is defeated in the American Senate
U. S. marines took Veracruz, Mexico. Panama Canal is completed
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1. TOWARDS THE NEW IMPERIALISM
In the years following the Civil War, the United States focused on Reconstruction, the
movement westward, and the growing industrial system.
By the 1870s, the American Republic began taking an increased interest in events abroad.
And despite minimal interest in American imperialism, most Americans continued to be
enthusiastic about the expansion in the country's borders. There were a number of events
that combined to shift attention outward across the seas:
-
The end of the frontier was announced officially in the census report of 1890.
Future growth, it seemed, must take place abroad.
Farms and factories multiplied all over the country, producing more goods than
the domestic market could consume.
Political leaders started arguing that foreign markets were of vital importance for
America to continue economic growth.
All over the world the idea of imperialistic expansion was in fashion, and great powers
measured their greatness by the number of colonies they acquired. Inevitably, Americans
entered the international fight for territory.
In the 19th century, large navies were vital in the scramble for colonies, but in the1870’s,
the United States had almost no navy. Conditions changed during the 1880’s. In 1889, the
United States ranked twelfth among world navies, by 1893, it ranked seventh, and by the
end of the decade, the navy had seventeen steel battleships and six armoured cruisers,
and it ranked third in the world.
1.1. Expansion in the Pacific
America’s interest in the Pacific came to focus on the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii had been
discovered by Captain Cook in 1778, and was an important port in the China trade and a
station for American whalers and missionaries. By 1840 Honolulu was a Yankee outpost.
In the 1850s and 1860s there were some intentions to annex these nations, but in 1875
the United States concluded the reciprocity treaty which granted exclusive trading
privileges to both nations and guaranteed the independence of the Hawaiian islands
against any third country. Twelve years later a new treaty was signed, renewing these
privileges and ceding the use of Pearl Harbour to the United States.
The debate over Hawaiian annexation continued throughout the 1890’s. There were two
events that favoured the annexation of these islands: in the Far East, the rise of Japan and
the fear of the Japanese annexation of the Pacific islands, and the prospect of the
annexation of the Philippines. These gave Hawaii new significance. Annexation finally
arrived in July 1898 by means of a Joint Resolution. Two years later, in 1900, an organic
act conferred American citizenship and the full status of a Territory of the United States,
eligible for statehood, on the island of Hawaii.
1.2. The Spanish-American War of 1898
By the 1890s, Cuba and Puerto Rico were nearly all that remained of Spain's once vast
empire in the New World. Cuban insurgents had rebelled several times against the
Spanish government, but they failed to achieve their objectives. The depression of 1893
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damaged the Cuban economy, and the Wilson-German Tariff of 1894 prostrated it. With
the island's sugar market in ruins, discontent with Spanish rule increased, and in late
February 1895, revolt broke out again.
Most Cuban insurgents were confined within fortified areas, and they died by the
thousands, victims of unsanitary conditions, overcrowding and diseases.
The American President, Grover Cleveland, promoted neutrality and, initially, President
William McKinley, who came into office in March 1879, did the same. But McKinley
criticized Spain's uncivilized and inhuman conduct. The United States did not contest
Spain's right to fight the rebellion, but within humane limits. In 1897, a change of
government in Madrid brought a temporary lull in the crisis. The new government offered
the Cubans some form of autonomy. These initiatives pleased McKinley, but in January
1898, Spanish army officers led riots in Havana against the new autonomic policy and this
shook the president's confidence in Madrid.
President McKinley ordered the battleship Maine to sail to Havana to evacuate American
citizens if it was necessary. On February 15, an explosion tore through the hull of the
Maine, sinking the ship and killing 266 sailors. Recent studies of the Maine incident blame
the sinking on an accidental internal explosion, but in 1898, the Americans suspected
Spain and the sinking was attributed to an external explosion.
On April 25, 1898, Congress passed a declaration of war, and late that afternoon McKinley
signed it. In the end, the conflicting national interests of the two countries brought them to
war.
By 1898, it had a detailed plan for operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Mahan's
Naval War College had begun studying strategy for a war with Spain in 1895. The Naval
strategy was to destroy the Spanish fleet, damage Spain's merchant navy and harry the
colonies on the coast of Spain. The army's objectives were: to defend the United States,
invade Cuba and Puerto Rico, and undertake possible action in the Philippines or even
Spain.
President McKinley acted cautiously at the beginning. On the afternoon of April 20, 1898,
he decided to blockade Cuba, sending arms to the insurgents, and annoying the Spanish
with small skirmishes by the army. Victories soon changed the strategy. Ten weeks after
the declaration of war, the fighting was over. The Spanish American War established the
United States as a world power for the 20th century.
1.3. Organized Filipino Resistance
The war with Spain was over in a few months but the war with the Philippines lasted for
more than three years, from 1899 to 1902.
Emilio Aguinaldo was the Filipino leader and he had worked hard for an American victory
in the Spanish-American war. On June 12, 1898, the insurgents proclaimed their
independence from Spain. They drove the Spanish out of some areas of the islands with
American cooperation. Then, Aguinaldo established local government in the liberated
regions. After that, he waited for American recognition, but President McKinley doubted
that the Filipinos were ready to constitute an independent country, so shortly thereafter,
fighting broke out between the Filipinos and the Americans. By late 1899, the American
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army had defeated and dispersed the Filipino army. However, Aguinaldo and his followers
started a guerrilla war.
In 1900, McKinley sent a special Philippine Commission under William H. Taft to establish
a civil government. The Filipino leader, Aguinaldo, was captured the following year and he
signed a proclamation urging his people to end the fighting. On July 4, 1901, authority was
transferred from the army to Taft. The Philippines moved towards independence, which
arrived on July 4, 1946, nearly forty years after Aguinaldo had proclaimed it.
2. THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
The Progressive movement arose in response to many societal changes, the most
powerful of which were the devastating depression of the 1890’s and its attendant social
unrest. The depression brought hard times to the cities, deepened distress in rural areas,
and provoked both the fears and the conscience of the rapidly growing middle and uppermiddle classes. By the turn of the century, so many outraged activists were at work
seeking to improve social conditions and political abuses that people began to speak of a
Progressive Era, a time of fermenting idealism, moral and religious fervour, and
constructive social, economic and political change. Most believed problems could be
legislated away, their typical response to injustice or sin was "There ought to be a law." At
the same time they rejected the individualism of Social Darwinism and believed that
progress would come through cooperation rather than competition. Progressivism was
largely a middle-class movement in which the poor and unorganized had little influence.
Most progressives, however, were middle-class moderates, who did not want radical
solutions. Motivated by a fear and hatred of class conflict, these progressives sought to
save the capitalists from their excesses. Their goal was an orderly and harmonious
society. The different groups reflected the rise of a new professionalism that helped to
create a body of experts to be tapped by progressives wanting to impose order and
efficiency on social institutions.
The Progressive Era was a period of explosive economic growth and the increase of
industrial production, a rapid rise of population and the expansion of the consumer
marketplace. Farm prices recovered from their low rates during the depression of the
1890s, American agriculture had its "golden age". The expansion of urban areas
demanded a large amount of farm goods.
The focus of the Progressive politics and the new mass-consumer society was the city.
The number of great cities multiplied. In the United States, there were fifty cities whose
population exceeded 100,000 people. New York was the largest with 4.7 million residents
in 1910.
2.1. Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal
By 1900 prosperity had returned and was shared by many. The crises of the 1890s had
passed. The nation also revelled in its new international power following the SpanishAmerican War. At that time, a number of problems came to the surface in American
society. Most problems were not new, neither were the proposed solutions:
- Unequal distribution of wealth and income.
- Working conditions were equally horrifying in the different industries.
- American housing conditions were even worse.
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- The middle-class had their economic grievances, however. Prosperity increased the
cost of living by 35% in less than a decade, while many middle-class incomes
remained fairly stable.
- The great democratic experiment seemed to have disappeared.
On September 6, 1901, the anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot President William McKinley.
Eight days later, Theodore Roosevelt became president.
Theodore Roosevelt became the most charismatic president since Abraham Lincoln. His
vitality and wit captivated most Americans. He was not a simple man, however. He was
born into an aristocratic Dutch family in New York.
Roosevelt had two progressive ideas. One was that government should be efficiently run
by competent people. The other was that industrialisation needed an expanded
government action. As a result of these two ideas, Theodore Roosevelt revitalised the
executive branch, modernised the army structure and the consular service, and pursued
the federal regulation of the economy that has characterised twentieth century America.
Theodore Roosevelt used presidential power to add almost 150 million acres to national
forest and to preserve valuable coal and water sites for national development. In 1902,
Roosevelt promoted the Newlands Reclamation Act, which began many years of federally
sponsored irrigation and reclamation projects.
In 1904, he launched into expanding the regulatory power of the federal government. His
first priority was to control the railways by expanding the power of the Interstate
Commerce Commission (ICC).
By 1908, Roosevelt had left his indelible mark on the nation and decided not to run for reelection.
2.2. William H. Taft’s Quiet Progressivism
William H. Taft was a distinguished judge and his public service record was impressive. He
was the Head of the Philippine Commission and later the first civil governor general of the
Philippines. In 1904, Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of War, a post that highlighted his
administrative skill. He preferred diplomacy to warfare. He was honest, kindly and amiable
and he knew how to get things done.
President Taft intended to continue Roosevelt's policies but events turned out differently.
Taft's years as president were not happy. The Payne-Aldrich Act passed in November
1909, called for higher rates than the original House bill, though it lowered them from
Dingley Tariff of 1897. That unpopular law helped discredit Taft and revealed the tensions
in the Republican Party again.
President Taft was very interested in railway regulation. He promoted a bill in 1910 to
empower the ICC to fix maximum railways rates. The Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 gave
something to everyone.
Taft attempted to defeat the progressive republicans in the 1910 legislative elections. The
results were a major setback for Taft and the Republicans, both conservatives and
progressives. For the first time since 1894, the republicans lost control of both the House
and the Senate. Despite the defeat, Taft pushed through several important progressive
measures before his term ended. With the help of the new Democratic House, he backed
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laws to regulate safety in mines and on railways, create a Children's Bureau in the federal
government, establishing employers' liability for all work done on government contracts,
and a mandate of an eight-hour workday for government workers. In 1913, the Sixteenth
Amendment authorising an income tax took effect. In the same year, another important
progressive aim was realised when the direct election of senators was ratified as the
Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Throughout his term, William H. Taft presided over a Republican party torn with tensions.
The tariff, business regulations and other issues split the conservative and progressive
wings of the Republican Party, and President Taft often sided with the conservatives.
Progressive republicans urged Theodore Roosevelt to take control again of the party and
the country. The relations between the two friends, Roosevelt and Taft cooled. In 1912, the
two men engaged in a desperate fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Taft won
the nomination, but Roosevelt formed a new party, the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. In
progressive circles, hopes grew of returning Roosevelt to the White House.
2.3. Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom
The Republican schism between Taft and Roosevelt paved the way for Woodrow Wilson
to win the elections. The democrats also won the control of both Houses of Congress. As
the third progressive-era president, Woodrow Wilson was different from his predecessors
in both appearance and leadership style. Wilson was born in Virginia and raised in the
South, and practised law in Atlanta, but that soon bored him. He shifted to history and
political science and taught at Princeton from 1890 to 1902, when he became president of
that University. He acquired a strong track record as a reformer before being elected
governor of New Jersey in 1910. He was the son and grandson of Presbyterian ministers
and his religion was an important factor in his personality.
Woodrow Wilson thought that the president should be the “political leader of the nation”
and “his is the only national voice in politics.” Wilson argued that the president must be “as
much concerned with the guidance of legislation as with the just and orderly execution of
the laws.” Woodrow Wilson, a distinguished professor, brought both competence and a
grim moral determination to the presidency. Like Roosevelt, he believed in strong
presidential leadership. He collaborated with Democrats in Congress, and his legislative
measures placed him among the most effective presidents. Wilson's activism coincided
with growing demands for further reforms. The result was an outpouring of legislation.
Wilson’s 1913 inaugural address expressed the ideals of economic reform that inspired
many Progressives. He specifically promised a lower tariff and a new banking system. In
1913, his first year in office, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, allowing the imposition
of a federal income tax. It appeared as a provision of the Underwood-Simmons Tariff,
which was passed in a special session of Congress that year. The act reflected the new
unity of the Democrats and the ability of Wilson as a leader.
Wilson also focused on banking reform and Congress passed banking legislative
measures the same year. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was a compromise. It
established the Federal Reserve System of 12 regional banks owned by bankers but
under the control of an appointed Federal Reserve Board.
Most progressives reminded Wilson of the importance of the farm and labour vote in the
elections of 1916. Legislative measures to win those votes soon passed. Farmers were
given the Federal Farm Loan Act and federal supplemental funding for agricultural
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specialists in each county. Labour leaders got the Keating-Owen Child Labour Act; railway
workers got the Adamson Act to limit their work hours, and the Federal employees got the
Workman's Compensation Act. Progressives were also pleased by Wilson's appointment
of Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. All these actions helped ensure Wilson's victory
over the Republicans.
3. PROGRESSIVISM AND WOMEN (No va para el examen)
4. AMERICA’S ENTRY INTO THE WORLD WAR I
More than one third of Americans were first or second-generation immigrants who retained
close ties to their old country. These groups leaned toward the Central powers. However,
old-line Americans, largely of Britain origin, supported the Allied powers. Americans
identified also with France, which had contributed to American culture and ideas and to
independence itself. Britain and France seemed the custodians of democracy, while
Germany seemed the embodiment of autocracy and militarism. If not a direct threat to the
United States, Germany would pose at least a potential threat if it destroyed the balance of
power in Europe.
Most Americans felt relieved when President Woodrow Wilson issued an official
declaration of neutrality on August 4, 1914. Many citizens did not believe their nation's
interest and security hinged on the war's outcome. Privately, his sympathies lay with the
Allies, especially Great Britain, whose culture and government he had long admired. Yet
Wilson saw the war's causes as complicated and obscure, simple prudence dictated that
the United States avoid taking sides.
The American people felt deeply divided over the war. Ties of language and culture
prompted many Americans to side with the Allies, and as the war progressed, the British
adeptly exploited these bonds with anti-German propaganda, especially after the German
invasion of neutral Belgium.
Interpreting his re-election as a vote for peace, Wilson attempted to mediate an end to the
war. In 1917, Wilson urged both sides to embrace his call for “peace without victory,” but
neither welcomed his ideas. Above all else, the belligerents wanted victory. Any hope for a
negotiated settlement ended when Germany announced that after February 1, 1917, all
vessels caught in the war zone, neutral or belligerent, armed or unarmed, would be sunk
without warning. Members of his Cabinet pressed Wilson to declare war, but he only broke
off diplomatic relations.
On February 25, 1917, the British gave Wilson a telegram intercepted from Arthur
Zimmerman, the German Foreign Minister, to the ambassador in Mexico. He proposed an
alliance with Mexico in case of war with the United States, offering financial support and
recovery of Mexico's "lost territory" in the 1840’s. The British revealed this secret message
to Wilson hoping to draw the United States into the war.
The Zimmerman telegram convinced Wilson and the Americans that Germany would stop
at nothing to satisfy her ambitions. On March 9, 1917, Wilson asked Congress for
permission to arm American merchant ships. Between March 12 and March 21, U-boats
sank five American ships, and Wilson decided to wait no longer. The president signed the
declaration on April 7, 1917, and the United States was at war. In the end, the United
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States had little choice but to enter the conflict on the side of the Allies. World War I did not
make “the world safe for democracy” or serve as the “war to end all wars” as President
Wilson promised. Rather, World War I sowed the seeds of World War II.
President Wilson outlined the United States’ war aims in a speech given to Congress in
which he outlined what was to become known as his “Fourteen Points”. He believed the
enactment of these would form the basis for a just, lasting peace. They were however
considered as controversial by America’s Allies in the war, and were resisted during the
subsequent Paris Peace Conference, although they had formed the basis for German’s
surrender in November 1918
DIAGRAMS
 Situation of the United States by 1900:
-
-
Explosive economic growth (Progressive era) provoked important socioeconomic gaps:
- unequal distribution of wealth and income
- harsh working and housing conditions
- rise in the cost of living
Growing discontent and questioning of democratic principles.
 Theodore Roosevelt becomes President in 1901.
-
Acknowledges existing problems
Promotes reforms:
- Internally: revitalising executive branch, modernising the army and
consular service.
- Drawing laws that “treat all sides fairly”
 ‘The Square Deal’: set of domestic programmes focusing on:
-
the conservation of natural resources
direct governmental control over corporations and trusts
consumer protection
 Results:
-
Tighter control over domestic issues.
Implementation of national Acts that set the basis for further legislation.
Roosevelt’s reputation soared and favoured his successor’s access to power
(W.H. Taft).
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AMERICA’S ENTRY INTO THE WORLD WAR I
First World War
1914-1018
was a clash between two
coalitions of European Powers
The Allied Powers
The Central Powers
and
United Kingdom,
France,
Belgium,
Serbia,
Montenegro,
The Russian Empire,
Japan,
Italy and...
Germany,
Austria-Hungary,
Ottoman Empire,
and Bulgaria.
The U.S.A.
- Woodrow Wilson (the president) tried hard to keep the U.S. out of the war and neutral,
but they entered the war on the side of the Allies when German U-boats (submarines)
sank 5 American ships.
- American opinion through the war was divided since they were first or secondgeneration immigrants who kept closed ties with European countries.
- President Wilson outlined the country's war aims in a speech given to the Congress
which later was known as "The Fourteen Points".
1. No secret treaties and diplomacy among countries.
2. Free access to the seas in peacetime or wartime.
3. Free trade b etween countries.
4. All countries to work to disarmament.
5. Colonies to have a say in their future.
6. Evacuation of Russian territories and Russia to enter the League of Nations.
7. Independence for Belgium.
8. Evacuation and restoration of French lands, France regain Alsace-Lorraine.
9. Frontier of Italy to b e readjusted.
10. Self-determination for the former sub jects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
11. Evacuation of Rumania, Serb ia and Montenegro. Serb ia to have access to the
sea.
12. Self-determination for the former sub jects of the Ottoman Empire.
13. Poland to b ecome and independent state with access to the sea.
14. League of Nations to b e set up.
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Although Wils on believed that thes e points
would be the bas e for a jus t and las ting peace,
they were cons idered "controvers ial" by the
Allies and were res is ted at the Paris Peace
Conference. Finally, they becom e the bas is for
the term s of Germ an s urrender in 1918.
However, only Points 8 to 11 were fulfilled.
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