Download Empire Beyond the Seas

Empire Beyond the Seas
What were the primary motivations for America to seek an expansionist policy in the 1890s?
What were the justifications used to explain the need for an expansionist policy?
Why did certain Americans object to American imperialism?
“In strict confidence…I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one.”- Theodore Roosevelt.
I. After about a century, ending in 1867 with the purchase of Alaska and annexation of Midway by
Seward, the nation lapsed into isolation, withdrawal, and preoccupation. After a quarter of a century, the
urge for expansion grew again, this time for overseas expansion.
A. Expansionists did exist. There were people who wanted to annex Canada, intervene in Cuba during
the rebellion of 1868-78, gaining a naval station in Samoa, and grabbing harbors in Haiti during the
1880s.
B. The arguments against these expansionists were that it was against American principles to govern
without the consent of the governed, that we should abstain from foreign entanglements, avoid large
naval commitments and expenditures, and refrain from absorbing peoples of alien race and tradition.
C. America did not need to worry about threats. National security came in the absolutely free form of
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and weak neighbors to the north and south.
D. Most foreign affair issues were with Great Britain. These “tying of the Lion’s tale” maneuvers
were usually used by political parties to gain favor with the Irish voters. These disputes were over
fishing rights in the northeast and fur trade rights in the Bering Sea. Cleveland’s first administration was
able to secure a tripartite agreement with Great Britain and Germany for use of the harbor at Pago Pago
in the Samoan Islands. (see political cartoon)
1. It is also important to remember America’s power relative to Great Britain at this time. One
hundred years after American independence Britain was still the global superpower. Britain’s
Army was five times as large as the United States, and Britain’s navy was ten times as large as
the United States.
II. Causes of Expansionism
A. Social Darwinism. Anglo-Saxon superiority. Protestant missions established abroad. The Protestant
missionaries were the first converts to the new definition of the American mission, which was that the
republic was destined to spread the national example abroad.
B. The late 1880s and 1890s also saw the construction of a modern navy and the rise of navalism.
Capt. Alfred T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History. Mahan led the Cabal of other
young leaders at the time, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (MA).
“Whoever rules the waves rules the World.”
Mahan’s book was so influential that the German Kaiser Wilhelm II had copies of Mahan’s book placed
on every ship in the Kriegsmarine.
The Japanese had the book place in all of the Japanese Imperial Bureau offices.
C. The other world powers were carving up the underdeveloped world. Africa was divided, France
took Indochina, British took the Yangtze, Russian moved deeper into Siberia, Japan took Formosa from
China after the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-95.
D. Economic motivations of finding markets for America’s overproduction. For example, Albert
Beveridge of Indiana said, “American factories are making more than the American people can use;
American soil is producing more than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of
the world must and shall be ours.”
E. Jingoism- Irresponsible talk of war with Italy because 11 Italians were killed in New Orleans, then
again with Chile because two sailors were killed in Valparaiso.
F. Venezuela- Boundary dispute with British Guiana when gold was discovered in the disputed
territory. Cleveland’s Sec. of State, Richard Olney demanded that Britain conform to the Monroe
doctrine and put the issue before arbitration. As Cleveland used jingoistic language in Washington, the
Boers began to frustrate Britain in South Africa and submitted to an American decision.
G. Hawaii- First of all, why take Hawaii? Hawaii had and has the Pacific’s most strategic port, Pearl
Harbor. Hawaii also had a lucrative sugar production industry. By 1891 Hawaiians were less than 50%
of the population of their home islands.
1893- Queen Lilioukalani was overthrown by a group of American sugar producers with American
military support
1894-Sanford Dole proclaimed the Republic of Hawaii with himself as the head of the government. He
tried the deposed queen for treason and sentenced her to five years in prison/hard labor. The hard labor
portion was never actually served.
Cleveland stood firm in his decision not to annex Hawaii. The Congress was ready to at the very end of
Harrison’s term, but Cleveland’s declared preference was not to annex the island chain.
1959- Hawaii became a state with 90% of its population supporting statehood
1993- Clinton signed a congressional resolution apologizing for the overthrow in Hawaii one hundred
years prior. 35 senators voted against the resolution.
III. War with Spain- Cuban crisis- The Cuban Crisis of 1895 was precipitated by the USA raising tariffs,
therefore deteriorating the Cuban economy. The Cubans burned crops and other property. Spanish General
Valeriano Weyler started “concentration camps”. Left without food or sanitation, the prisoners fell victim to
famine and or disease killing 200,000 Cubans.
A. Yellow Press.
B. De Lome Letter
C. USS Maine- 260 deaths
D. Teller Amendment- The Teller Amendment was passed before war broke out. It stated the USA had
no intention to annex Cuba and promised to leave control of the government to the people of the Island.
E. War was declared and over within 10 weeks. Dewey decimated the Spanish fleet without
casualties.
1. Once the war was over. Industrial interests understood the importance of the Philippines in
trading with China. Missionaries claimed the new territories as fulfilling the “civilizing and
christianizing mission of the United States”, even though the Filipinos were already Catholic.
IV. Anti-Imperialists- Grover Cleveland, Samuel Gompers, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Eliot (Harvard),
Mark Twain.
V. War in the Philippines- February 1899 the Filipinos revolted against American rule. Seventy thousand
troops and heavy casualties were needed to quell the rebellion.
“The present war is no bloodless, opera bouffe engagement; our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women,
children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from the lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the
Filipino as such was little better than a dog… Our soldiers have pumped salt water into men to make them talk, and have taken
prisoner people who held up their hands and peacefully surrendered, and an hour later, without an atom of evidence to show that
they were even insurrectos, stood them on a bridge and shot them down one by one, to drop into the water below and float down,
as examples to those who found their bullet loaded corpses.”- Philadelphia Ledger
A. The Philippines war also demonstrated the double standard that was faced by African Americans,
who were mistreated at home, and expected to do the same to the Filipinos. During the time of the
Philippine insurrection, approximately two African Americans were lynched weekly in the United
States.
“It may be necessary to kill half of the Philippinos in order that the remaining half of the population
may be advanced to a higher plane of life than their present, semi-barbarous state affords.”American General in the Philippines.
VI. People to know in the age of Imperialism…
 Alfred T. Mahan
 Henry Cabot Lodge
 Theodore Roosevelt
 Admiral George Dewey
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William McKinley
Hearst and Pulitzer
William Howard Taft
Sanford Dole
Jose Marti
Emilio Aguinaldo
Senator Albert Beveridge (Indiana)