Transcript Pacific Islands and Alaska

Others in the Pacific
Wake, Midway, and Guam (and Samoa too)
Secretary of State William H. Seward
• Secretary of State under
– Lincoln
– Johnson
• He envisioned a GREAT
EMPIRE and wanted to
annex
– Canada
– Hawaii
– Several Caribbean islands
• Virgin Islands
• Dominican Republic
“Our population is destined to roll its resistless waves
to the icy barriers of the north, and to encounter
oriental civilization on the shores of the Pacific.”
~William Seward
– Several Pacific islands
– Alaska
What do you think almost
happen to him?
Had been in serious carriage accident just nine days earlier
- close to death - bedridden
Night of Lincoln’s assassination… (PLAN included hitting top
officials in administration)
One of the co-conspirators - Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Paine)
Talked his way into the Seward house
- Pretending that he was delivering medicine
- Stopped on the stairs by Seward's son, Frederick
Lewis Panicked  attacking Frederick and dashing into the
Secretary of State's bedroom.
He stabbed Seward multiple times, injured another of Seward's
sons and his bodyguard, and retreated into the night thinking he
had mortally wounded the Secretary of State.
It was only after Powell was captured the next day that he
discovered that Seward was still alive; Seward went on to make a
full recovery
US claimed the islands of Midway (1867) and
Wake* (1899) in the Pacific.
*The claim is currently disputed by the Republic of Marshall Islands - sovereignty
over Wake (boundary dispute)
Why Midway and Wake?
LOCATION…PRIME LOCATION!
1)
Northwest of Hawaii and approximately
half way between the West coast of the
United States and Japan
2)
Perfect way station for both military and
merchant vessels.
3)
Islands uninhabited  little stood in the
way of the United States annexing the
islands
Established Naval and Air bases
- airstrip and a few Air Force buildings
4)
This marks America’s first
annexation of a territory not on the
North American continent3
Samoa
Annexed the
area in 1889.
Island WAS occupied however escalating tensions between
competing Samoan warlords
AND it wasn’t only US looking there - Britain and Germany
- Three powers met in Berlin
- Split the islands into three different protectorates.
*To diffuse tensions, and possibly war
All this was done without consulting the local Samoans.
Historians…Had the United States not previously expanded
its control into Hawaii and Midway they would not have had
the leverage and strength within the region grab themselves
a share of these valuable islands.
American Samoa still exists as a territory of the United States
(Refueling Station)
Guam
Why?
1) The strategic position
2) Nature of the land
itself.
1) Northern half plateau of coral
formation,
2) Southern half hilly
Inhabited
primarily
by the
native
Chamorro
While President McKinley
unabashedly admitted he
couldn't find the Philippine
Islands on a map "within
2,000 miles", Guam was even
harder to find
Guam mattered to Spain, the
country that had claimed the
island since 1668
Guam was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of
Paris ended the Spanish American War in 1898 and
formally purchased from Spain for $20 million in 1899.
At the time of the turnover, the local
population of Guam about 10,000 inhabitants.
U.S. President William McKinley issued an
executive order placing Guam within the
administration of the Department of Navy.
Under Navy administration, Guam
experienced many improvements in the
areas of agriculture, public health, sanitation,
education, land management, taxes, and
public works.
The U.S. Navy continued to use Guam as a
refueling and communication station until
1941, when it fell to invading Japanese forces
shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Still a territory of the US today
Now…let’s turn our attentions to another
attention-grabbing area …
Purchase of Alaska
March 30, 1867
Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to
purchase Alaska from Russia for bargain price
$7.2 million ($0.02 per acre).
At the time, critics thought Seward was crazy
and called the deal "Seward's folly."
Seward was laughed at for his willingness to
spend so much on "Seward's icebox"
Background
Why buy an “ice box?”
Seward had wanted to buy Alaska for
a long time.
#1 - so large
 would increase the size of the U.S.
by nearly 20 percent.
Who was there already? Russia
FIRST OFFER TO SELL  during
President James Buchanan's
administration. ..But the Civil War
stalled negotiations.
After the war, it was not easy for
Seward to convince the Senate that
Alaska would be an important
addition to the United States.
Czar said to renegotiate… Russia
pushed the sale
#1) Couldn’t defend its territory (fur trade and
Missionaries)
- lacked the financial resources to support major
settlements or a military presence
- permanent Russian settlers in Alaska never numbered
more than four hundred.
#2) They saw America’s hunger…
Russian official remarked about American freebooters,"
meaning pirates, were "rapidly multiplying in the Pacific"
Senate
ratified
treaty
byexpanding…Russian
a vote of 37 to 2.
and the country
wasthe
hungry
to keep
traders
running into
traders of money needed

However,
theAmerican
appropriation
to purchase Alaska
was
delayed by more than a year due to opposition in the House of
#3) Defeat in the Crimean War
Representatives.
The House finally approved the appropriation in July 1868, by a vote
of 113 to 48. … Treaty of Cessation
The Americans formally took possession of Alaska in October, 1867 after a
memorable ceremony when the Russian flag was lowered.
"At least the attempt was made to lower it,
but as it caught and was torn in two it
required the aid of some three or four
Russian soldiers before it came down,"
witness Mariette Davis wrote.
Relatively few people came to Alaska
because it was difficult and costly to
travel, and the fish, timber and mining
industries had yet to develop.
- And most American citizens knew little
if anything about Alaska.
At that time the population of Alaska
Natives was about 30,000, many more
than any non-Natives.
“The purchase
of Alaska, but
it will take the
people a
generation to
find it out”
~Seward
Since the development of Alaska was not a pressing
issue, Congress did not create a civilian government,
leaving the new American possession in political limbo
For the first 17 years following
the sale of Russian America to
the United States, there was no
government in Alaska outside
of that provided by the Army,
customs collectors and the
navy in coastal towns (military
district with no civilian laws)
Since Congress had set up no
rules for local government in
Alaska, the new arrivals at
Sitka took things into their
own hands.
115 civilians signed a charter
creating a city government.
The town government:
- levied taxes
- started a school and some
other facilities,
But it didn't last long because
some people refused to pay
taxes to a government with
no basis in the law.
A bigger reason the town
government failed was that many
of the early speculators, in the
words of an Army officer in 1870,
"came, looked and went away."
The American flag flew …meant nothing to most of Alaska's
estimated 30,000 Native people.
Why?
1) No one had asked them
about the purchase of
Alaska.
2) Most remained unaware
of the sale for a long time.
Ex: In the interior region of
Alaska - no American presence for
many years.
3) Governed themselves
through customs and
traditions developed over
generations, typically with
family and group ties
controlling behavior.
In the largest Southeast villages 
knew about the sale of Alaska and did
not approve.
Writing two years after the sale, Maj.
Gen. Jefferson Davis said the Indians
"frequently take occasion to express their
dislike at not having been consulted about
the transfer of the territory. They do not like
the idea of the whites settling in their midst
without being subjected to their jurisdiction,
in some instances they have expressed a
determination to exact tribute for the
privilege of trading among them."
Going back to the Alaska Treaty of
Cessation…and Native Alaskan
said that any Russians who chose
to stay in Alaska "shall be
admitted to the enjoyment of all
the rights, advantages, and
immunities of citizens of the United
States," but the agreement did not
grant the same rights to the
original Native Alaskans.
Specifically excluded the
"uncivilized native tribes" from
any advantages.
"The uncivilized tribes will be subject to
such laws and regulations as the United
States may, from time to time, adopt in
regard to aboriginal tribes of that
country,"
In 1946, Alaskans approved
statehood and adopted a
constitution in 1955.
On January 3, 1959,
President Eisenhower
announced Alaska's entrance
into the Union as the 49th
state.
Ultimately, buying Alaska proved to be a
very good move.
Major discoveries of gold were made
there in the 1880s and 1890s.
Alaska produced a total of 40.3 million
troy ounces of gold from 1880 through
the end of 2007 = 2, 763, 428 lbs
2010 - $45 billion
These discoveries brought attention
and people to Alaska.
Forest, Fishing, Wildlife
Petroleum transported across the
state through a pipeline is Alaska's
richest mineral resource.
1896 gold was discovered in the Klondike region
Native Alaska self-governance movement?