Download Emergence of the US in World Affairs

Emergence of the
US in World Affairs
Economics and National Defense
• Imperialism – end of 19th
century idea that US needed
to look beyond its own
borders to acquire overseas
colonies
• Stronger countries take over
weaker countries
• To expand its sphere of
influence for economic
purposes
• Mercantilism – idea that a
nation should accumulate
wealth by exporting more
than it imports
• Alfred T. Mahan –
wrote book The
Influence of Sea Power
Upon History – the US
must build a powerful
navy to be a world
power and protect
interests abroad
• By 1900, the US had
one of the most
powerful navies in the
world
National Spirit and “Destiny”
• Many believed the idea of Social Darwinism
applied to US imperialism (racial superiority)
• Frederick Jackson Turner – expansion was
necessary to keep the nation strong
• “Manifest Destiny” idea reopened to other parts
of the world
• Josiah Strong – “Anglo-Saxon superiority”
Preacher and Early leader of the Social Gospel
Movement – spawned by religious motives
The White Man’s Burden
• Poem written by British
writer Rudyard Kipling
• Some argued it to be a
warning to US concerning
the cost of imperialism
• Some believed it to be
endorsing white men to help
the poor
• Many believe it to be
pointing to white men and
their duty to colonize and
rule other nations.
• Take up the White Man’s
burden—
• Send forth the best ye breed—
• Go send your sons to exile
• To serve your captives' need
• To wait in heavy harness
• On fluttered folk and wild—
• Your new-caught, sullen
peoples,
• Half devil and half child
• Take up the White Man’s
burden
• In patience to abide
• To veil the threat of terror
• And check the show of pride;
• By open speech and simple
• An hundred times made plain
• To seek another’s profit
• And work another’s gain
• Take up the White Man’s
burden—
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And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah slowly) to the light:
"Why brought ye us from
bondage,
“Our loved Egyptian night?”
Take up the White Man’s
burdenHave done with childish daysThe lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your
manhood
Through all the thankless
years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought
wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
Areas of US Involvement
Seward’s Folly
• William Seward
negotiated the buying
of Alaska from Russia
• Most in US thought it
was a useless
purchase
• Seward saw Alaska as
a land rich in natural
resources and full of
great economic
potential
Intervention in Hawaii
• 1850’s US business
leaders in US invested in
sugar plantations in Hawaii
• In 1893, owners of these
plantations rebelled
against Queen Liliuokalani
• Hawaii would be a good
place for a naval base
• With the help of US troops,
they succeeded
• US annexed Hawaii and
made it a territory.
US Imperialism
The Spanish – American
War
• Cuba under Spanish
control
• 1895 Cuban people
rebelled - fighting for
independence
• Spain sent 150,000
troops
• 300,000 Cuban’s died
in concentration camps
established by Spain
• American newspapers owners William
Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer
printed abuses carried out by the
Spanish
• Yellow journalism – stories were often
exaggerated and untrue
• Hearst and Pulitzer exaggerate events
in Cuba
• “You provide the pictures, I’ll provide
the war” – Hearst
• Ambassador Enrique Dupuy de Lome
of Spain insulted President William
McKinley
Hearst
“McKinley is weak and catering to the rabble and, besides, a low
politician who desires to leave a door open to himself and to stand
well with the jingoes' of his party."
• Yellow journalists published "the end of
the world started this day "
Pulitzer
• Jingoism – extreme
nationalism citizens in US began
to call for a tougher
stance towards
Spain and more
aggressive foreign
policy
• Theodore Roosevelt
– asst. secretary of
navy called for war
• Became Lt. Colonel
and commanded a
group of volunteers
known as the Rough
Riders
They help win the
decisive battle at San
Juan Hill.
Roosevelt becomes a
national hero.
Rough Riders
• Battleship USS Maine
exploded while
anchored in a Cuban
harbor
• Newspapers blamed
Spain
• Explosion known later
as an accident
• Congress declared
war on Spain April,
1898
Yellow Journalism
WAR
• Upon hearing the
declaration of war, US
Commodore George
Dewey set sail for
another Spanish colony
– the Philippines
• In less than 3 months,
US achieved victory
over Spain
• Spanish-American war
known as “a splendid
little war”
Filipino's resent
US presence.
Hoped US
would give them
independence.
Dewey only lost 1 soldier in
attack against Philippines
“To Hell
with Spain”
Policies in Philippines and Cuba
The Philippines
Cuba
• President McKinley’s
arguments for annexation:
• President McKinley installed a
military government to protect
American business interests.
• Cuba drafted a constitution in
1900 that did not allow for U.S.
involvement.
• The U.S. government only
agreed to remove its troops if
Cuba included the Platt
Amendment.
• The Platt Amendment
remained in place until 1934. It
allowed for U.S. naval bases
on the island and intervention
whenever necessary.
(Guantánamo Bay)
– Filipinos were unfit for selfgovernment.
– Independence would bring
anarchy.
– European powers would try to
seize the islands.
• The Filipinos fought a threeyear war for independence.
• The Philippines did not gain
complete independence until
1946.
After the War
• Treaty of Paris (1898) – Spanish-American War
ended
• US acquired the territories of Philippines, Puerto
Rico, and Guam
• Foraker Act – established a civil govt. in Puerto
Rico (Puerto Rico can govern themselves)
• Teller Amendment – promised Cuba
independence (US not annexing Cuba)
– US military in Cuba for 3 years
• Platt Amendment – Cuban Constitution had
limits on what the government could do
– 2 US naval bases in Cuba
– US intervention when necessary
Leon Czolgosz
James Parker
• President
McKinley
assassinated
in 1901
• Theodore Roosevelt becomes
president
• He envisioned a canal across the
isthmus of Panama
• Colombian govt. that controlled
Panama would not sell the land
• 1903, Panamanian people
revolted against Colombians
• Roosevelt provided support for
the people of Panama to win their
independence
• Panama Canal allowed the US to
ship goods from east coast to
west coast faster
• 1914, the Panama Canal was
finished
TR
Americans needed a shorter route between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A French
company had bought a 25-year concession
from Colombia to build a canal across
Panama. (A concession is a grant for a piece
of land in exchange for a promise to use the
land for a specific purpose.) Defeated by
yellow fever and mismanagement, the
company abandoned the project and offered
its remaining rights to the United States for
$100 million.
Panama Canal
• The canal was the
world’s greatest
engineering feet to
date.
• 10 years to
complete
• 40,000 workers
• $390 Million
• several thousand
died during
construction
Trouble with Mexico
• Civil war in Mexico resulted
in US helping the rebels (led
by Venustiano Carranza) to
take over the Mexican govt.
• In 1916, Pancho Villa, enemy
of Carranza), crossed the
Rio Grande and killed 19
people in New Mexico
• President Woodrow Wilson
sent a force of 15,000 troops,
led by General John
Pershing, were sent into
Mexico to find Villa
• World War I drew Wilson
away from the situation and
US troops were recalled
• Pancho Villa raids ended up
going unavenged
Big Stick Diplomacy
“Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far.”
Roosevelt used this old African proverb to guide his
foreign policy (Imperialism).
• The Roosevelt Corollary addition to the Monroe Doctrine —
The United States will act as “an international police power” in
the Western Hemisphere and intervene to prevent intervention
by other powers. “DON’T MESS WITH THE WEST” – But WE
CAN.
• Roosevelt in Latin America — Under Roosevelt, the United
States often intervened in Latin America.
• Roosevelt in Asia — Roosevelt wanted to preserve an open
door to trade with China. He won a Nobel peace prize for
negotiating a peace settlement between Russia and Japan.
Big Stick Diplomacy
Comparing Policy...
William Howard Taft
• Elected President in 1908
• Taft believed in maintaining
influence through American
investments, not military might.
• This policy was called “dollar
diplomacy”.
• The United States reached new
heights of international power
under Roosevelt and Taft.
• However, the policies of both
Presidents also created enemies
in Latin America and a growing
international resentment of U.S.
intervention.
Woodrow Wilson
• Under Wilson, the United States
applied more moral and legalistic
standards to foreign policy
decisions.
• Wilson’s policy drew the United
States into the complex and bloody
Mexican Revolution.
• Wilson’s “moral or missionary
diplomacy” did not work well in
Mexico. Many lives were lost, and
U.S. financial interests lost ground.
• U.S.–Mexico relations were
strained for many years.
Big
Stick
in
Action
Anti-Imperialists
Pro-Imperialists
• A moral and political
argument: Expansionism
was a rejection of our
nation’s founding principle of
“liberty for all.”
• A racial argument:
Imperialism was just another
form of racism.
• An economic argument:
Expansion involved too many
costs. Maintaining the
armed forces required more
taxation, debt, and possibly
even compulsory, or
required, military service. In
addition, laborers from other
countries would compete for
jobs with U.S. workers.
• Imperialism offered a new
kind of frontier for American
expansion.
• A new international frontier
would keep Americans from
losing their competitive edge.
• Access to foreign markets
made the economy stronger.
• In 1907, President Roosevelt
sent the Great White
Fleet, part of the United
States Navy, on a cruise
around the world to
demonstrate U.S. naval
power to other nations.
American citizens clearly
saw the advantages of
having a powerful navy.
Foreign perceptions...
• In the Caribbean and Central America, the United
States often had to defend governments that were
unpopular with local inhabitants.
• Many U.S. citizens in Latin America heard the cry
“Yankee, Go Home!”
• Even before the completion of the Panama Canal,
the Panamanians began to complain that they
suffered from discrimination.
• However, many countries also began to turn to the
United States for help.
• The United States was both welcomed and rejected
in other countries.
• The American government still struggles to
reconcile its great power and national interests with
its relationships with other nations.
Commodore Perry and Japanese
Trade 1853
• Commodore of the U.S. Navy who compelled the
opening of Japan to the West with the Convention
of Kanagawa in 1854.
The Pacific and Southeast Asia
• Because US possessed
territories in the Pacific,
protecting these areas
was important
• Trade with China became
a major concern
• Open Door Policy
would leave China open
to the US and various
other nations for trade
• Issued to keep European
powers from gaining
control over Chinese
exports and markets
Boxer Rebellion
• Some Chinese nationalists wanted to bring
an end to foreign influence in China
• Known as “Boxers”, these nationalists
massacred 300 foreigners and Chinese
Christians in 1900
• US and other imperialists nations would
use the rebellion as an excuse to seize
more Chinese territory, strongly reaffirming
its devotion to keeping an Open Door
Policy in the region
Imperialist troops assemble to put
down the Boxer Rebellion