Download American Imperialism

American
Imperialism
Unit 3: Notes #1
Mr. Welch
11/7/2012
Manifest Destiny
 During the 1840s and 1850s thousands of
Americans began migrating West
 Most people moved to the West in search of new
opportunities and a better life
 To most Americans westward expansion was
inevitable
 People believed that it was America’s Godgiven right to settle land all the way to the
Pacific Ocean
 This belief was known as Manifest Destiny
U.S. Expansion
 Manifest destiny helped to justify the
manner in which land was acquired
 Treatment of Native Americans & the war w/
Mexico
 The manifest destiny of the US continued
as the U.S. acquired Alaska in 1890
 The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2
million
 Gold and oil were eventually discovered there
Imperialism
 When a nation tries to extend its power and
influence over other lands this is known as
imperialism
 By the 1890s other European countries were
already adding new colonies to their empires
 Europe looked toward Africa, Asia and Latin
America for their territorial gain
 The U.S. was off to a late start
 The U.S. would begin their quest for new lands
with the acquisition of Hawaii
Reasons for Imperialism
 Industrialization caused nations to look for new
markets and consumers to sell their goods to
 Raw materials for their factories
 Naval ships required naval bases where ships could
refuel and make repairs
 A strong sense of nationalism made people feel that
territorial conquest enhanced a nation’s power and
prestige
 Industrialized nations felt culturally superior
 Less industrialized countries were seen as “backward” &
“primitive”
 Social Darwinism also fed into this idea
Hawaiian Interests
 Americans began investing in
the sugar industry
 The Hawaiian king negotiated
a treaty that allowed Hawaiian
sugar to enter into the U.S. tax
free
 A group of American business
leaders, planters and traders
formed a secret society
(Hawaiian League) to
overthrow the king of Hawaii
 Their goal was to establish a
democracy on Hawaii under
the control of the U.S
Conflict Over Hawaii
 The Hawaiian king refused to give up Pearl Harbor to
the U.S., the Hawaiian League forced the king to sign
a new constitution at gunpoint
 The king called it the bayonet constitution
 It severely restricted his power and deprived most
Hawaiians of the right to vote
 It also forced the king to give Pearl Harbor to the U.S.
 In 1890 the U.S. revoked the sugar treaty in order to
support sugar grown on the U.S. mainland
 This hurt the American sugar planters in Hawaii
Hawaiian Queen
 When the Hawaiian king
died his sister,
Liliuokalani, succeeded
him as queen
 She wanted to do away
w/ the bayonet
constitution
 In 1893 she announced
that she planned to
restore the power of the
Hawaiian monarchy
Annexation of Hawaii
 The American businessmen secretly plotted to
overthrow her
 Jan. 1893, U.S. Marines came ashore & surrounded the
royal palace
 Queen Liliuokalani surrendered under protest
 President Grover Cleveland did not support the
actions of the American businessmen in Hawaii
 Nothing happened to Hawaii until William McKinley
took office
 In 1898 Congress voted and Hawaii became a territory
 In 1959 Hawaii became the 50th state