Transcript America Becomes a World Power

America Becomes a World
Power
Imperialism
The policy of extending a nation’s
power by gaining political and
economic control over other
countries
Life in the United States
• Recovered from the Civil War
• Industrial and Agricultural leaders
• Expansion of the country from coast to
coast
• West was more settled
• Life was good!
Expansionists
• People who wanted to extend the nation’s
power within the Western Hemisphere and
around the world
• To keep economy growing, business
leaders wanted oversea markets
• US leaders watched European leaders
take control of foreign lands, and they
(US) did not want to be left out
Alaska
• 1867- Secretary of State William Seward
arranged for the United States to buy
Alaska from Russia
• President Andrew Johnson
• Price- $0.02 per acre or $7, 200,000.
• People thought it was a terrible deal
• “Seward’s Folly”- people complained that it
was an “arctic wasteland”
Alaska
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Thick forests
Plentiful fish and wildlife
Mild coastal climates
Discovered gold, copper, coal and other
minerals
• With these treasures, expansionists felt
that the USA should gain control over
other places in the world
Debate Over Expansionism
• Some Americans believed that expansionism
went against American values
• Others feared that it would lead to revolutions in
other countries
• Others felt that nonwhites in other countries
could never learn American values
• Some felt that the USA could be powerful
without taking over other lands
Imperialism
• American business leaders were eager to
start businesses in other countries
• Others wanted to sell their finished
products in new places
• America was interested in taking control
of the governments and economies of
other countries
Expansion in Asia and the Pacific
• America declared that US companies could
trade anywhere within China
• USA established trade treaties with Japan
• To reach this ports, the ships crossing the Pacific
Ocean needed to stop at islands for food and
fuel
• USA occupied the Midway Islands, located
between California and Asia
• USA did not want European countries from
claiming all of the islands
Midway Islands
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Hawaii
• Located in the Pacific Ocean closer to the
United States then the Midway Islands
• Consists of 8 main islands
• Word “Hawaii” is based on a native
Hawaiian word that means homeland
Hawaii
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Hawaii
• Hawaiians’ ancestors had come from the
South Pacific
• Hawaiians had lived on the islands for
more than a 1,000 years
• Ruled by their own kings and queens
• Missionaries were the first Americans to
go to Hawaii in 1820; they wanted to
convert the Hawaiian people to christianity
Annexing Hawaii
• Annex- to add a territory to a country
• 1835- Boston merchant established a
sugar plantation on the island
• Many more sugar and pineapple
plantations were started by American
business people
• Planters brought laborers from China and
Japan to work in the fields
Sugar Plantation
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Pineapple Plantation
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Hawaii
• Planters pressured the Hawaiians to allow the United
States to create a naval base on the island of Oahu.
(1887)
• Pearl Harbor
• Planters persuaded Congress to allow Hawaiian sugar to
be imported to US without paying an import tax
• U.S. sugar growers protested and felt that the law
favored the Hawaiian growers over the US growers
• U.S. growers convinced Congress to give them a bonus
and the Hawaiian growers wanted the bonus too
• Hawaiian growers wanted U.S. to annex Hawaii, so they
could get the bonus
Hawaii
• Native Hawaiians resented being pushed around
by Americans
• Queen Liliuokalani took the throne in 1891
• She declared “Hawaii for Hawaiians” and her
people rallied around her
• Americans feared they would lose their land in
Hawaii, so with the help of the U.S. marines,
planters forced the queen to give up her throne
and a new government was established in
Hawaii
Queen Liliuokalani
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Hawaii
• President Grover Cleveland did not
support the annexation of Hawaii
• He opposed imperialism and thought that
Hawaii should be ruled by Hawaiians
• President McKinley did annex Hawaii in
1898
Cuba
• Caribbean island located 90 miles from
Florida
• Cuba and Puerto Rico were Spanish
colonies
• Americans established sugar plantations
on the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico
• During the 1890s expansionists wanted to
annex these countries
Cuba and Puerto Rico
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adypix/Puerto_Rico_MapSquare.jpg
Sugarcane
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Sugarcane
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Expansionists
• Americans want to annex these islands
• Argued that it was time for the U.S. to
enforce the Monroe Doctrine
• No European country should control
territory in the Western Hemisphere
Cuba and Spain
• 1868- Cuba staged an unsuccessful revolt
against Spain
• 1895- Cuba tried to win independence from
Spain under the leadership of Jose Marti
• Spanish crushed this movement by herding
men, women, and children into “reconcentration”
camps
• Cubans were forced to live without beds, toilets,
medical care, and food
• Tens of thousands of people died
U.S. Comes to the Rescue
• American newspapers wrote stories about
the plight of the Cubans
• Newspapers were in competition with one
another for readers
• Some newspapers resorted to yellow
journalism: the practice of publishing
sensational and often exaggerated news
stories in order to attract readers
Yellow Journalism
• Some of the stories were based on untruths and
rumors
• One untruth was that a Spanish general was
“feeding prisoners to sharks.”
• Sympathy grew for the Cubans and Americans
were willing to go to war for Cuba
• President McKinley sent the new battleship
Maine to Havana, Cuba’s capital to help
Americans in case of trouble
The Spanish-American War
• February 15, 1898-explosion shook the Maine
and sank it killing 260 American sailors
• Cause of the explosion was not known- accident
or bomb (?)
• Many Americans were quick to blame Spain
• Teddy Roosevelt- “The Maine was sunk by an
act of dirty treachery on the part of the
Spaniards!”
Remember the Maine
• Men rushed to join the army shouting the
battle cry “Remember the Maine”
• Senators yelled, “Free Cuba.”
• President McKinley tried to work out a
solution between the Cubans and the
Spanish, but the Spanish did not respond
• Congress and newspapers were unhappy
with McKinley calling him a coward
• McKinley asked Congress to declare war
U.S.A. Goes to War
• April 19, 1898- Congress voted to go to
war with Spain to free Cuba
• Congress approved a resolution that
stated that the U.S. intended “to leave the
government and control of the Island
(Cuba) to its people.”
• American army grew from 30,000 men to
over 274,000 men
Rough Riders
• Teddy Roosevelt left his position as
assistant secretary of the navy
• Roosevelt formed his own regiment known
as the “Rough Riders”
• The Rough Riders were comprised of
seasoned ranch hands and powerful
wealthy men
Rough Riders
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Spanish-American War
• Lasted four months
• 345 Americans died in combat
• 5,500 Americans died from disease (yellow fever and
malaria)
• Cubans lacked the strength and weapons to force the
Spanish out of harbors and cities
• Rough Riders and other troops decided to capture the
city of Santiago, but first they had to capture San Juan
Hill, the location where the Spanish were defending the
city
• Americans captured San Juan Hill
• The Spanish tried to save their ships, but the Americans
sank or captured all of them
Results of the Spanish-American
War
• Secretary of State John Hay- it had been “a
splendid little war”
• Peace treaty with Spain: Cuba gained
independence, Puerto Rico came under
American rule, U.S. agreed to remove all of its
troops from Cuba, but troops could return to
preserve law, order and to preserve Cuba’s
independence, and U.S. was allowed to keep
naval bases in Cuba
• (naval bases remain today)
The Philippines
• Philippines are
islands located in the
Pacific Ocean
Battle at Manila Bay
• Philippine’s provided Spain’s main base in the
Pacific
• The Filipino people tried many times to throw off
Spanish rule
• 1898- tried again, and US became involved
• Assistant Naval Secretary Teddy Roosevelt told
Admiral George Dewey to “begin offensive
operations In Philippine Islands” in the event that
war was declared
Battle at Manila Bay
• Dewey’s fleet arrived in Manila, the capital
of the Philippines just 5 days after they
declared war with Spain
• Battle began at dawn and by 11am the
entire Spanish fleet was burning or sunk
• Spain’s old wooden ships were no match
for the steel American ships with welltrained sailors
• Only one American died in battle
Defeating the Spanish
• Filipino fighters and Dewey’s men
surrounded Manila
• Filipinos believed that the Americans
would help them gain their independence
• General Aguinaldo, a Filipino general,
issued the Declaration of Independence,
formed a national government, and
designed a national flag
Fighting the Filipinos
• Spanish agreed to “lose” a fake battle in order to
surrender to the Americans- they did not want to
give themselves up to the Filipinos
• Treaty-the United States “bought” the Philippines
from Spain for $20 million
• 1899- Congress voted to annex the Philippines
• Aguinaldo’s government felt betrayed
• For 3 years, 80,000 Filipino fighters fought off
the better trained American troops
• 20,000 Filipinos died
• 4,000 Americans died
Results of War
• Some Americans protested and wanted
the United States to grant freedom to the
Filipinos
• Expansionists won out
• President McKinley- “a land of plenty”
• Senator Henry Cabot Lodge- “Manila with
its magnificent bay…will keep us open to
markets of China.”
American Control of the Philippines
• After the revolution, Americans set up a
nonmilitary government to help the
Filipinos prepare for independence
• Americans built roads, hospitals, and
schools
• United States did not grant the Philippines
independence until 1947
Panama and the Canal
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Theodore Roosevelt
• 1901- Teddy Roosevelt was vice president
• “We stand on the threshold of a new
century. Is America a weakling, to shrink
from the work of the great powers? No.
The young giant of the West stands on a
continent and clasps the crest of an ocean
in either hand.”
• What does this quote mean?
Dreaming of a Canal
• Roosevelt wanted to join the two oceans
with a canal.
• Canal would allow ships to move between
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans quickly.
• The navy would be better able to defend
America’s new territories.
• Businesses would gain from lower
shipping costs.
Roosevelt becomes President
• September 1901- President McKinley was
assassinated and Roosevelt becomes
president.
• During President Roosevelt’s first speech
to Congress he argued for the canal.
• “No single great material work which
remains to be undertaken on this continent
is of such consequence to the American
people.”
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President
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Where Should the Canal be Built?
• Congress approved funding for the canal
• 1903, Roosevelt offered Columbia $10
million for their land in the province of
Panama, the narrowest part of Central
America
• Columbia senate refused- felt that the U.S.
was trying to take advantage of a weaker
country’s resources
Fighting for the Land
• Roosevelt sent an American warship to
Panama
• He knew that Panama wanted their
independence from Columbia
• Revolution started in Panama
• Marines prevented the Columbian soldiers
from reaching Panama’s borders
• Rebels (Panama) won battle
The Deal
• New country of Panama agreed to accept
$10 million in exchange for giving the U.S.
control over a “canal zone” ten miles wide
• Some senators disagreed with America’s
“gunboat diplomacy”
• Most Americans supported the policy
• Roosevelt’s personal motto- “Speak softly
and carry a big stick”
Building the Canal
• 1904- construction begins
• Isthmus- a narrow strip of land, border on
both sides by water, connecting two larger
bodies of land
• Workers faced terrible conditions
• Used water from river for bathing, cooking,
and drinking
• One year later, ¾ of American workers had
quit the project
Building the Canal
• Most workers were from the West Indies
• To prevent yellow fever and malaria,
workers had to eliminate mosquitoes that
carried the diseases
• Drained ditches, spread oil on swamps,
screened doors and windows
• Took two years for these measures to
eliminate the diseases
Building the Canal
• New chief engineer improved housing and
organized the project
• Cut through Panama’s mountains using
dynamite and steam shovels
• Excavated dirt was moved to lower elevations by
railroad cars
• Dirt was used to make earthen dams to form
three giant lakes
• Locks were built- a type of gate that would allow
water levels to be raised and lower along the
canal
Panama Canal
Building the Panama Canal
Building the Panama Canal
The Canal is Completed
• 1914 the canal opened
• 51 miles long
• President Roosevelt was out of office- “I took the
Canal Zone.”
• Still a controversial issue
• 1921- Congress apologized to Columbia and
gave them $25 million
• Latin Americans and Panamanians had antiAmerican feelings
• U.S. returned the zone to Panama in the 2000
Panama Canal
Panama Canal
Panama Canal