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The Path of
Empire
Chapter 27
189-1899
Imperialist Stirrings
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As America bustled with a new sense of power
generated by the strong growth in population, wealth,
and productive capacity, labor violence and agrarian
unrest increased. It was felt that overseas markets might
provide a safety valve to relieve these pressures.
Reverend Josiah Strong's Our Country: Its Possible Future
and Its Present Crisis inspired missionaries to travel to
foreign nations.
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan's book of 1890, The
Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783, argued
that control of the sea was the key to world dominance;
it stimulated the naval race among the great powers.
Continued
 James
G. Blaine published his "Big Sister"
policy which aimed to rally the Latin
American nations behind America's
leadership and to open Latin American
markets to American traders.
 The willingness of America to risk war over
such distance and minor disputes with
Italy, Chile, and Canada demonstrated
the aggressive new national mood.
Monroe's Doctrine and the
Venezuelan Squall
 The
area between British Guiana and Venezuela
had been in dispute for over 50 years. When gold
was discovered in the contested area, the
prospect of a peaceful resolution faded.
 Secretary of State to President Cleveland, Richard
Olney, claimed that if Britain attempted to
dominate Venezuela in the quarrel and gain more
territory, then it would be violating the Monroe
Doctrine. When Britain flatly rejected the relevance
of the Monroe doctrine, President Cleveland stated
that the United States would fight for it.
Continued
 Although
somewhat annoyed by the weaker
United States, Britain chose to not to fight a
war. Britain's rich merchant marine was vulnerable
to American commerce raiders, Russia and France
were unfriendly, and Germany was about to
challenge the British naval supremacy.
 With their eyes open to the European peril, Britain
was determined to cultivate an American
friendship. The Great Rapprochement, or
reconciliation, between the United States and
Britain became a cornerstone of both nations'
foreign policies.
Spurning the Hawaiian Pear
 The
first New England missionaries
reached Hawaii in 1820.
 Beginning in the 1840s, the State
Department began to warn other nations
to keep their hands off Hawaii. In 1887, a
treaty with the native government
guaranteed naval-base rights at Pearl
Harbor.
Continued
 The
profits of sugar cultivation in Hawaii became
less profitable with the McKinley Tariff of
1890. American planters decided that the best
way to overcome the tariff would be to annex
Hawaii. Queen Liliuokalani insisted that native
Hawaiian should control the islands.
 A desperate minority of whites organized a
successful revolt in 1893. The Queen was
overthrown and white revolutionists gained
control of Hawaii. When a treaty to annex
Hawaii was presented to the Senate, President
Grover Cleveland promptly withdrew it.
Cubans Rise in Revolt
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Sugar production of Cuba became less profitable when
the America passed the tariff of 1894.
Cubans began to revolt against their Spanish captors in
1895 after the Spanish began to place Cubans in
reconcentration camps and treat them very
poorly. Cuban revolutionaries began to reason that if
they destroyed enough of Cuba and did enough
damage, then Spain might abandon Cuba or the United
States might move in and help the Cubans with their
independence.
America had a large investment as well as annual trade
stake in Cuba.
Congress passed a resolution in 1896 that recognized the
belligerence of the revolted Cubans. President
Cleveland refused to budge and fight for Cuba's
independence.
The Mystery of the Maine
Explosion
 William
R. Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer led the
fabricated atrocities of Cuba apart of the new
"yellow journalism." The two men caused the
American people to believe that conditions in
Cuba were worse than they actually were.
 Hearst's Journal published a private letter written
by the Spanish minister in Washington, Dupuy de
Lome in 1898. The letter, which degraded
President McKinley, forced Dupuy de Lome to
resign.
Continued
 On
February 15, 1898, the American ship,
Maine blew up in the Havana port. The
Spanish investigators deduced that it was
an accident (spontaneous combustion in
one of the coal bunkers) while the
American investigators claimed that Spain
had sunk it. The American people were
convinced by the American investigators
and war with Spain became imminent.
McKinley Unleashes the Dogs
of War
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American diplomats had already gained Madrid's
agreement to Washington's 2 basic demands: an end
to the reconstruction camps and an armistice with
Cuban rebels.
Although President McKinley did not want a war with
Spain, the American people did. He felt that the
people should rule so he sent his war message to
Congress on April 11, 1898. Congress declared war
and adopted the Teller Amendment. It proclaimed to
the world that when the United States had overthrown
the Spanish misrule, it would give the Cubans their
freedom.
Dewey's May Day Victory at
Manila
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The American people plunged into the war with
jubilation, which seemed premature to Europeans. The
American army numbered 2,100 officers and 28,000
men compared to the 200,000 Spanish troops in Cuba.
The readiness of the navy (ranked 5th world-wide) owed
much to the navy secretary John D. Long and his
assistant secretary Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt called upon Commodore George Dewey's 6ship fleet to descend upon Spain's Philippines in the
event of war. On May 1, 1898, Dewey slipped by
detection at night and attacked and destroyed the 10ship Spanish fleet at Manila.
Unexpected Imperialistic
Plums
 Foreign
ships began to gather in the Manila
harbor, protecting their nationals. After several
incidents, the potential for battles with other
nations blew over.
 On August 13, 1898, American troops captured
Manila.
 The victory in the Philippines prompted the idea
that Hawaii was needed as a supply base for
Dewey in the Philippines. Therefore, Congress
passed a joint resolution of Congress to annex
Hawaii on July 7, 1898.
The Confused Invasion of
Cuba
 Shortly
after the outbreak of the war, the
Spanish government sent a fleet of
warships to Cuba, led by Admiral
Cervera. He was blockaded in the
Santiago harbor in Cuba by American
ships.
 Leading the invasion force from the rear
to drive out Cervera was General William
R. Shafter.
Continued
 The
"Rough Riders," apart of the invading army,
was a regiment of volunteers consisting of
cowboys and ex-athletes. Commanded by
Colonel Leonard Wood, the group was organized
principally by Theodore Roosevelt.
 William Shafter's landing near Santiago, Cuba was
made without serious opposition.
 On July 1st, fighting broke out at El Caney and San
Juan Hill, up which Colonel Roosevelt and his
Rough Riders charged.
Curtains for Spain in America
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Admiral Cervera's fleet was entirely destroyed
on July 3, 1898 and shortly thereafter Santiago
surrendered. General Nelson A. Miles met
little resistance when he took over Puerto
Rico.
On August 12, 1898, Spain signed an
armistice.
Before the war's end, much of the American
army was stricken with malaria, typhoid, and
yellow fever.
McKinley Heeds Duty, Destiny,
and Dollars
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In late 1898, Spanish and American negotiators met in
Paris to begin heated discussions. The Americans
secured Guam and Puerto Rico, but the Philippines
presented President McKinley with a problem: he didn't
feel he could give the island back to Spanish misrule,
and America would be turning its back upon
responsibilities if it simply left the Philippines.
McKinley finally decided to Christianize and to civilize all
of the Filipinos. Disputes broke out with the Spanish
negotiators over control of the Philippines because
Manila had been captured the day after the war, and
the island could not be listed among the spoils of the
war. America therefore agreed to pay Spain $20 million
for the Philippines.
America's Course (Curse?) of
Empire
 The
Anti-Imperialistic League sprang up and fought
the McKinley administration's expansionist moves.
 In the Senate, the Spanish treaty ran into such
opposition that is seemed doomed to
defeat. Democratic presidential candidate for the
election of 1900, William J. Bryan used his influence
on Democratic senators to get the treaty approved
on February 6, 1899. Bryan argued that the sooner
the treaty was passed, the sooner the Filipinos
could gain their independence.
Perplexities in Puerto Rico and
Cuba
 By
the Foraker Act of 1900, Congress gave the
Puerto Ricans a limited degree of popular
government and, in 1917, granted them U.S.
citizenship. The American regime in Puerto Rico
worked wonders in education, sanitation,
transportation, and other improvements.
 Beginning in 1901 with the Insular Cases, the
Supreme Court declared that the Constitution did
not extend to the Philippines and Puerto Rico.
Continued
 The
United States, honoring the Teller Amendment
of 1898, withdrew from Cuba in 1902. The U.S.
forced the Cubans to write their own constitution
of 1901 (the Platt Amendment). The constitution
decreed that the United States might intervene
with troops in Cuba in order to restore order and
to provide mutual protection. The Cubans also
promised to sell or lease needed coaling or naval
stations to the U.S.
New Horizons in Two
Hemispheres
 Although
the Spanish-American War only
lasted 113 days, American prestige as a
world power increased.
 One of the greatest results of the war was
the bonding between the North and the
South.