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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