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Chapter 20
Seizing an
American
Empire,
1865-1913
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
American Imperialism
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Toward the New Imperialism
• Imperialism in a Global Context
• The Second Industrial Revolution had generated a desire for new markets in which
American manufacturers could sell their wares. Added to this was renewed
European competition to colonize, this time in Asia and the Pacific Rim. Many of
these nations pursued these colonies for religious reasons, to bring Christianity to
the new territories.
• American Imperialists
• According to Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, a strong nation competing globally required
a strong navy to protect its shipments. His book would spark a renaissance in how
the world thought about their individual navies, and many countries began to
modernize their fleet.
• Imperialist Theory
• expansion used the concept of social Darwinism to bolster their
claims on foreign lands, citing the superiority of the English-speaking
races over the colonies’ inhabitants.
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Expansion in the Pacific
• Samoa
• William H. Seward secured the purchase of Alaska from the Russians
in 1867. From there, Samoa would grant the United States a naval
base and request U.S. intervention to settle disputes if necessary.
• Hawaii
• Hawaiian royalty had, in 1875, entered into an agreement with the
United States to import sugar duty free.
• This created a boom in the production of sugar, and soon American
planters had flooded the island nation. Eventually, the royal family
was ousted by these same planters and a new government was
established requesting territory status. Presidents Benjamin Harrison
and Grover Cleveland refused to accept it, as they did not want to
reward the dishonorable actions of the planters. President William
McKinley had no such concerns and secured the ratification of the
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“Our New Senators”
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The War of 1898
• “Cuba Libre”
• 1895, the Spanish commander placed all of the Cubans in detention
centers to prevent more joining the cause. His actions would be
luridly portrayed by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William
Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal newspapers, then locked in a
competition for the most readers. Cleveland, still president at this
time, tried to protect American interests in Cuba, while the
newspapers engaged in sensationalist stories about Cuba that were
dubbed “yellow journalism.”
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• Pressure for War
• battleship Maine was sent to Havana harbor to protect
American citizens and interests. Around the same time, a
letter sent from the Spanish ambassador to a friend in
Havana and published in American papers denounced
McKinley as a weak politician.
• Shortly thereafter, the Maine exploded, killing 260 sailors.
(At first, the explosion was blamed on a mine in the harbor,
but a 1976 study revealed that it had been an internal
explosion.) On these grounds McKinley asked Congress for
a declaration of war, which was granted. Shortly after, a
Spanish official offered to give McKinley an official
surrender.
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The War of 1898, continued
• Manila
• “The Splendid Little War” lasted only 114 days and marked the finale
of Spain’s overseas empire. On April 30, Commodore George Dewey
destroyed the Spanish flotilla in Manila Bay in the Philippines. Once
done, Dewey had to rely on Filipino guerrillas to hold the islands until
a contingent of American troops arrived.
• The Cuban Campaign
• U.S. Navy blockaded the Spanish navy while the army was
transported to the island. One regiment, led by former assistant
secretary of the navy Theodore Roosevelt and dubbed, the Rough
Riders became famous for their role in the Battle of San Juan Hill. The
Spanish navy stationed at Havana was defeated and the peace treaty
was signed on August 12, less than four months after it started. Spain
was required to relinquish Cuba, Puerto Rica, and Manila.
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Pacific Expansion
• The Debate over Annexation
• The proximity of the island to China, the availability of vast quantities of natural
resources, and the opportunity to “Christianize” its inhabitants marked it as a sure
bet for colonization. Eventually, the peace treaty was ratified.
• The Philippine-American War
• 1899, an American solider outside Manila fired on a group of Filipino nationalists,
and a new war erupted. 3 years to suppress the nationalist uprising that followed.
The same guerillas that Dewey had relied on to secure Manila before the army
could arrive now turned against their American saviors.
• Religion and Empire
• many Protestant ministers promoted what they saw as a ripe opportunity to begin
the evangelization of the world. Many unabashedly promoted the benefits of the
Anglo-Saxon race and the Christian religion. Many Americans found themselves
divided by religious affiliation concerning the annexation of the former Spanish
colonies. Protestants favored annexation, while Catholics warned that trying to
convert the colonies to Protestantism would only exacerbate the problems.
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Turmoil in the Philippines
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U.S. Interests in the Pacific
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Administration
• Organizing the Acquisitions
• Philippines eventually would be added as a territory of the United
States and future president William Howard Taft would be named the
first governor.
• Succeeding legislation would provide for greater Filipino control of
the islands, culminating in their independence in 1946.
• Puerto Rico had come under U.S. control in the peace treaty, and it
was organized to provide a bastion from future European aggression
and as a guard post for a future isthmus canal linking the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans.
• Cuba would be allowed to craft its own constitution but was limited
in its freedom by the Platt Amendment, which placed restrictions on
its rights.
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“Well, I Hardly Know Which to Take First!”
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Imperial Rivalries in East Asia
• 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry had sailed to Japan to force its
acceptance of items from Western markets. By 1895, Japan had
begun to expand by defeating China in the First Sino-Japanese War
(1894–1895), taking several islands and revealed China’s weakness
against aggression.
– The “Open Door”
• Germany, France, Russia, and Great Britain began dividing China into
markets for their expansion. Unwilling to accept a China that was
divided so many ways, the US issued the Open Door Note, which
proposed leaving China open to trade by all nations.
• The Boxer Rebellion
• Chinese nationalists known as the Boxers would rebel against the
foreign encroachments into their country, but put down by
intervention from a joint assault of British, German, Russian,
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Japanese,
andInc.American forces.
V. The United States and the World
3. The Boxer Rebellion
missionary activity and Western enterprise touched off a series of antiforeign uprisings
in China that culminated in the Boxer uprising of 1900; Boxers terrorized missionaries
and Christian converts throughout northern China; in August 1900, 2,500 U.S. troops
joined an international force sent to rescue foreigners besieged in Beijing; put down
the rebellion the following year; in the aftermath of the Boxer uprising, missionaries
voiced no concern at the paradox of bringing Christianity to China at gunpoint.
B. The Monroe Doctrine and the Open Door Policy
1. Protecting American hegemony
• the Monroe Doctrine and Open Door policy; American diplomacy worked to buttress
the Monroe Doctrine’s assertion of American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere.
•
2. American business in Central America
risked war with Great Britain over America’s role in a conflict between Venezuela
and British Guiana; in Central America, American business triumphed in a bloodless
takeover that saw French and British interests routed by behemoths such as the
United Fruit Company of Boston.
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Big-Stick Diplomacy
• Roosevelt’s Rise
• Theodore Roosevelt was the first modern president.. After his role in
the Spanish-American War, he became governor of New York, and in
1900, he was elected vice-president under McKinley. Then, in 1901,
McKinley was assassinated, making Roosevelt the youngest president
ever to hold the office.
• The Panama Canal
• Two paths were proposed, one through Panama, a province of
Columbia, and one through Nicaragua. Eventually Panama was
chosen, and when Columbia refused to go along, the Panamanians
declared their independence, and Columbia was unable to respond
due to U.S. warships “conveniently” located in the way. The canal
would eventually open in 1914.
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U.S. Interests in the Caribbean
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Theodore Roosevelt
• The Roosevelt Corollary
• Caribbean was ripe for armed intervention from European powers
on the premise of collecting debts owed them by those nations. In
1904, Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine, which stated that if a foreign nation had an issue with a
Western nation, it should come to the United States for redress of its
grievances and the United States would take care of it.
• The Russo-Japanese War
• Japan attacked Russia in 1904, when Japan felt that Russia’s
ambitions counteracted its own. In a brilliant attack on the Russian
navy, Japan destroyed its fleet. Roosevelt sponsored a meeting
between the two nations, and the result was the Treaty of
Portsmouth of 1905.
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Big-Stick Diplomacy
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The audience is people against the expansion. The reason this was
made was to show audiences how America was taking land as if it was
nothing. The main idea is that McKinley was taking land for America as if
it was as simple as ordering off a menu
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Big-Stick Diplomacy, continued
• Relations with Japan sent William Howard Taft to Tokyo to secure
an agreement with Japan in which Japan disavowed any claim to the Philippines in
return for U.S. recognition of Japanese control of the Korean peninsula. However,
distrust reigned on both sides, and when the city of San Francisco ordered Asian
students to attend separate schools, Japan protested the action vigorously.
• Roosevelt would force the city to change its policy while at the same time securing
an agreement that Japan would no longer issue visas for its citizens to visit the
United States.
• The United States and Europe
• In 1905, the German kaiser, Wilhelm II, brought the world to the
precipice of war with his remarks. Roosevelt intervened and secured
a peace between the aggrieved nations. The capstone of Roosevelt’s
successes as president came in 1907 when he sent the entire navy,
dubbed the Great White Fleet (which had been painted white in time
of peace) across the globe. It landed at every major port, illustrating
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
• earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his role
in negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War
• arranged the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” in 1907,
which allowed the Japanese to save face by
voluntarily restricting immigration to the United
States
• to demonstrate America’s naval power and to
counter Japan’s growing bellicosity, Roosevelt
dispatched the Great White Fleet, sixteen of the
navy’s most up-to-date battleships, on a
“goodwill” mission around the world
• American relations with Japan improved, and in
the 1908 Root-Takahira agreement, the two
nations pledged to maintain the Open Door and
support the status quo in the Pacific.
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
© 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint
presentation for
Chapter 20
Seizing an American Empire
1865-1913
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