Download Imperialism

Presidential Imperialist Policies
1901-1917
Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson
The Insular Cases (1901-1903)
• Question: Do provisions of the U.S.
Constitution apply to whatever territories fell
under U.S. control?
• Decision: The Court ruled that constitutional
rights were not automatically extended to
territorial possessions and that the power to
decide whether or not to grant such rights
belonged to Congress.
Prelude to Teddy
• McKinley was reelected in 1900 with the new
war hero Teddy Roosevelt as vice president
• In 1901, only a few months after being
inaugurated, McKinley was fatally shot by an
anarchist
T. Roosevelt’s “New Diplomacy”
• “Speak softly but carry a big stick.”
• Panama Canal (1904-1914); Hay-Pauncefote treaty
cancelled British rights; Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty with
Panama gave U.S. long term control
• Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904)
justified intervention in Haiti, Honduras, Dominican
Republic, and Nicaragua
• Russo-Japanese War- mediated by Roosevelt (1905)
• Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan (1908)
• “Great White Fleet” tour (1907-1909)
• Root-Takahira Agreement with Japan(1908)
William Howard Taft’s
“Dollar Diplomacy”
• mildly expansionist but depended more on
investor’s dollars than on the navy’s battleships
• tried to promote U.S. trade by supporting
American enterprises ; ex. sent in marines to
Nicaragua in 1912 during their civil war to protect
American investments
• U.S. bankers helped to finance the building of
railroads in China
• The Lodge Corollary (1912) excluded nonEuropean powers from owning territory in the
Western Hemisphere
Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom”
• promised a moral approach to foreign affairs; said
he opposed imperialism and the policies of the
previous two presidents
• Jones Act of 1916 granted Filipino citizens more
rights
• 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico and
provided limited self-government
• Repealed an exemption of the U.S. from paying
Panama Canal fees
• His Sec. of State, Wm. Jennings Bryan, negotiated
several treaties with Latin America
However….
• Almost went to war with Mexico after a
military dictatorship took over in 1913
• Pursued Pancho Villa, a Mexican
revolutionary, across the border in 1916-1917
• Ultimately engaged in WWI in 1917, largely to
protect U.S. banking and business interests