Download America Becomes A Colonial Power

Foreign Policy in the Gilded Age
1880—1890
• Population growing: @ 50 million (1880)
• Industry: # 2 in the world (UK = #1)
• America turned their attention inward after 1860
• Navy was small and inadequate
• State Dept. was on the sidelines as Congress controlled the country
• However U.S. was beginning to out-grow it’s borders
• The West was closed off: (Turner Thesis) so now what?
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“American diplomacy in these years has been
characterized as a series of incidents, not the
pursuit of foreign policy.”
“Seward’s Folly”: 1867
$7.2 million
WHY did the U.S. buy Alaska??
• Alaska had been settled by Russian
fur traders in the late 1700s, but by
1867 fur sources were becoming
scarce.
• In addition, Russia was struggling to
recover from the Crimean War. As a
result, Russia offered to sell Alaska
to the United States.
• Overcoming strong opposition from
Congress, Secretary of State William
Seward bought Alaska for $7.2
million in 1867.
• Critics scoffed at “Seward’s Folly,”
thinking that the territory was a
frozen wasteland. But after gold and
oil were discovered, Americans
appreciated the bargain. Seward
also acquired the Midway Islands
that same year.
Case Study:
Hawaii and Gilded Age Expansionism
• 1870’s: American businessmen invested in Hawaiian
sugar
• 1875: the sale of Hawaiian sugar in the U.S. became
duty-free.
• Over the years American businessmen increased their
investments and control over the Hawaiian economy.
• 1887: Hawaiians forced to sign the “Bayonet Constitution:”
a) forced King Kalakaua to change the Hawaiian
constitution only allowing wealthy (American!) landowners
voting rights
b) allowed for the construction of Pearl Harbor
- to protect American businessmen and their
business interests.
• 1890: McKinley Tariff eliminated duty-free Hawaiian
sugar, thus creating more competition for sugar in
the American market . . . And Americans in Hawaii were
NOT happy . . .
U. S. View of Hawaiians
Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani
Hawaii for the
Hawaiians!
The Hawaiian
“Republic”
• 1893: Sugar planters, already upset at the tariff, revolted
against the Queen when she suggested drafting a new
constitution that would take voting rights away from America.
• USS Boston sailed into Honolulu; Marines on shore to
“protect American interests.”
• US took control of the government and sets up a
provisional government led by Sanford B. Dole.
• Stevens immediately recognized Dole’s government and
sent it to Washington asking to annex the island.
• Cleveland said no to annexation, but recognized Republic
of Hawaii.
• 1898: McKinley  Hawaii becomes a territory
U. S. Business
Interests In Hawaii
Sanford B. Dole
1. Commercial/Business
Interests
U. S. Foreign
Investments: 18691908
2. Military/Strategic Interests
Alfred T. Mahan -- The Influence of Sea Power on
History: 1660-1783
3. Social Darwinist Thinking
The Hierarchy
of Race
The White Man’s
Burden
4. Religious/Missionary Interests
American
Missionaries
in China, 1905
5. Closing the American Frontier
Frederick Jackson Turner’s
“Frontier Thesis”
Spanish Misrule in Cuba
• Since the 1860s, Cuba sought independence from Spain
• 1895 Jose Marti began a guerilla war rebellion to obtain Cuba
independence from Spain.
•
Valeriano Weyler (Span. Com.) – adopted a round then up (concentration
camp) style response.
Valeriano “The Butcher” Weyler’s
Reconcentration Policy
1. “Yellow Journalism” & Jingoism
Joseph Pulitzer –
“New York World”
Hearst to Frederick Remington: You furnish the
pictures, and I’ll furnish the war!
• Pres. McKinley was more concerned about
the disruption of business and called for the
war to end in Cuba – immediately – or else.
William Randolph Hearst • Jingoism—extreme nationalism marked by a
belligerent foreign policy.
— “New York Journal”
2. De Lôme Letter
Dupuy de Lôme,
Spanish
Ambassador to the
U.S.
Criticized President
McKinley as “weak
and a
bidder for the
admiration
of the crowd!”
3. Remember the Maine
and to Hell with Spain!
Funeral for Maine
victims in Havana
The Spanish-American War:
Causes:
3) The USS Maine Explodes:
• 260 seamen dead
• McKinley now had to look at war as a possibility
• Tried to negotiate with Spain, but they rejected the
peace offering
• War hawks in Congress pushed for war
• McKinley reluctantly went to war; eventually saw it
as an opportunity for American expansion
Theodore Roosevelt
Assistant Secretary of
the Navy in the
McKinley
administration.
Imperialist and
American nationalist.
Criticized President
McKinley as having
the backbone of a
chocolate éclair!
Resigns his position
to fight in Cuba.
The Spanish-American War (1898):
“That Splendid Little War”
BEFORE TR headed to
Cuba, he gave orders
to attack Philippines.
U.S. destroyed
Spanish fleet in a
matter of hours.
Dewey received help
on the mainland from
rebel leader Emilio
Aguinaldo.
Dewey Captures Manila!
Meanwhile . . .the War in Cuba
•U.S. issued Teller Amendment: promised to allow Cuba to
govern itself once freed from Spain.
•Wool uniforms and mess kits from Civil War slowed efforts!
•Rough Riders (on foot) charged San Juan Hill.
•In less than 4 months, Spain was defeated.
The Treaty of Paris: 1898
Cuba was freed from Spanish rule.
Spain gave up Puerto Rico and the island of
Guam.
U.S. agreed to pay $20 million for
Philippines.
The U. S. becomes
an imperial power!
Annexing the Philippines
• Having been promised independence for
fighting alongside the Americans against
Spain, Filipinos expected independence.
Is He To Be a Despot?
The American Anti-Imperialist
League
Founded in 1899.
Mark Twain, Andrew
Carnegie, William
James, and William
Jennings Bryan among
the leaders.
Campaigned against
the annexation of the
Philippines and other
acts of imperialism.
The Philippines
•
US refused to acknowledge the Filipino request for independence.
•
Feeling betrayed, Emilio Aguinaldo & Filipino rebels enter a war against the U.S.
•
Jan. 1899 Aguinaldo proclaimed the Philippines independent
Philippine-American War (1899—1902) U.S. deaths: 4,200
Filipino deaths: 20,000
•
Long-drawn out conflict with the use of some brutal tactics by both sides.
William H. Taft, 1st
Gov.-General of the Philippines
Taft (governorgeneral)
promised indep.
and high degree
of self-rule.
The Philippines
would not be
granted
independence
until 1946.
Cuban Independence?
Teller Amendment (1898)
Senator
Orville Platt
Platt Amendment (1903)
1. Cuba was not to enter into any agreements with foreign
powers that would endanger its independence.
2. The U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs if necessary
to maintain an efficient, independent govt.
3. Cuba must lease Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. for naval
and coaling station.
Our “Sphere of Influence”
America as a Pacific Power
The Background Story
How Did Panama Become Independent?
•In 1903, French canal builders agreed to sell their holdings/materials in their
bankrupt Panama company to the United States for $40 million—but the U.S. still
needed the rights from Colombia.
•Colombia (of which Panama was a province), rejected the U.S. treaty offer of $10
million + $250,000 yearly.
•Unwilling to give up . . . and recognizing Panama’s desire for independence
(there was a small, established movement for independence), the United States
(TR) quietly encouraged Panama to rebel.
•The ensuing four-hour revolution,
under the watchful eye of two U.S.
gunboats, created the
Republic of Panama.
•A few days later, the United States
Panama signed a treaty to build the
canal.. .
… “I took the Isthmus, started the canal and
then left Congress not to debate the canal,
but to debate me." --Theodore Roosevelt
and
Speak Softly,
But Carry a Big Stick!
Panama
Canal
TR in Panama
(Construction begins in 1904)
The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine: 1905
“Chronic wrongdoing…
may in America, as
elsewhere, ultimately
require intervention by
some civilized nation, and
in the Western
Hemisphere the
adherence of the United
States to the Monroe
Doctrine may force the
United States, however
reluctantly, . . . to the
exercise of an
international police
power.”
U. S. Interventions in
Latin America: 1898-1920s
The Cares of a Growing Family
Constable of the World
The Great White Fleet: 1907
Taft’s “Dollar
Diplomacy”
Improve financial
opportunities for
American businesses.
Use private capital to
further U. S. interests
overseas.
Therefore, the U.S.
should create stability
and order abroad that
would best promote
America’s commercial
interests.
Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy”
The U. S. should
be the conscience
of the world.
Spread democracy.
Condemn
colonialism, but . . .
Uncle Sam: One of the “Boys?”