Transcript Imperialism - PHS

Chapter 22
Honors U.S. History
 Policy
and Practice of taking over other
nations to gain more power
 Could
be done through military
occupation or through economic
domination of resources and markets
 Racism/Social
 Righteousness
 Mahanism
 Economics
Darwinism
 Starting
at the bottom of page 581
(Ideological Arguments), read through
the top of page 585
 Fill
out the sheet carefully as you go
 Social
Darwinism The United States is
“better”, therefore we must conquer
 Doing
this for the good of the world
 Imposed
American ideas and cultures on
the rest of the world
 Colonialism
U.S. rule of foreign
territories
 The
white man must righteously assume
rule and take over “incompetent” or
“barbaric races” in other lands
 The
forcing of Christianity on others
 “Imperialism
 Missionaries
of righteousness”
felt it was their duty to
“save” the “savages” with Christianity
 The
US had to develop new policies to
protect and promote its national security
and interests
 All
about making the U.S. the biggest
military power in the world
 emphasized
the importance of a strong
Navy for national greatness in his book,
The Influence of Sea Power upon History
 Proposed
3 main ideas that he thought
would accomplish this goal
 Teddy
Roosevelt, as Sec of Navy, “No
triumph of peace is quite as great as the
supreme triumph of war”
 They
are…..
 Proposed
that the US build a canal across
the isthmus of Panama to link its coasts
 Acquire
naval bases in the Caribbean
and the Pacific to protect the canal
 Annex
Hawaii and other Pacific islands to
promote trade and service the fleet
 One
reason for the widespread support
for a larger navy was its use to expand
and protect America’s international trade
 Simple
idea gave the U.S. larger
markets, more profits, and more jobs
 William
Seward
 Previously
Lincoln’s Secretary of State
 Purchased
Alaska from Russia in 1867
 Most
were confused as to why we wanted
Alaska
 Made
 He
fun of Seward for the purchase
wanted more…wanted to purchase
Haiti and Dominican Republic also
 Main
goal was a canal in Panama
 “Purely American waterway”
 “Part
 He
of our coastline”
had other wants….
 The
McKinley Tariff Act of 1890
effectively closed the US market to
Hawaiian sugar producers, facing them
with economic ruin
 The
goal was to make them poor and
powerless, so the U.S. could buy them
 Wanted
to keep Hawaii under native
control
 This was not in the interests of the United
States, so they found a way to prevent it
 Behind
the scenes, John Stevens, the
American minister to Hawaii, ordered the
Marines to help rebels overthrow the
Queen
 After
the Queen had been overthrown, he
sent a telegram to Washington stating:
“The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and
this is the golden hour for the United
States to pluck it”
A
group from the new Hawaiian
government was sent to Washington to
work out the details of the treaty of
annexation
 NO
HAWAIIANS on the delegation
 President
Harrison signed the pact, but
could not get approval from the Senate
before the end of his term
 Cleveland
called for an investigation into
the whole affair, and decided “the
undoubted sentiment of the people is for
the Queen, against the provisional
Government, and against annexation.”
 Cleveland
apologized for the “flagrant
wrong”
 One
big problem, the provisional
government refused to step down
 Many
Republicans strongly supported
annexation, Democrats generally
opposed annexation
 Democrats “the
mission of our nation is
to build up and make a greater country
out of what we have, instead of annexing
islands”
 American
sailors on shore leave in Chile
became involved in a drunken brawl
2
dead; 17 injured
 President
Harrison threatened military
retaliation against Chile
 Harrison
was ready to invade Chile and
make it our next American conquest
 Harrison
finally backed off when Chile
apologized and paid the U.S.
 President
Cleveland intervened in a
boundary dispute between Great Britain
and Venezuela over British Guiana
 The
U.S. seized on this opportunity to
divert public attention from a severe
economic depression
 Note
was sent to Britain, a “twenty inch
gun” demanding arbitration of the
disputed territory and stoutly asserting
American supremacy in the Western
hemisphere
 The
American population was ready to
go to war with Britain over this dispute
 The
message was sent that the United
States is in control of the Western
Hemisphere
 Cuba
was the last major European colony
in Latin America
 America
was obviously interested in it
due to its economic potential
 Spanish
rule over the Cubans became
increasingly harsh
 Cubans
rebelled in 1895, rebels
controlled the countryside and the
Spanish army ruled the towns and cities
 America
felt sympathy for the Cuban
insurgents because of the brutality of the
Spanish
 American’s
sympathy was further
aroused by the sensationalist “yellow
press”
 The
popular press of the day adopted
bold headlines, fevered editorials, and
real or exaggerated stories of violence,
sex, and corruption
 Attracted
attention, if not truth…
A
circulation war existed between
William Randolph Hearst (New York
Journal) and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York
World
 Both
men were competing to be the best
paper
 President
McKinley was focused on
Cuba, claiming that the chronic disorder
in Cuba disrupted America’s investments
and agitated public opinion
 Tried
diplomatic efforts at first but
warned would do whatever necessary
 In
early 1898, the New York Journal
published a private letter from the
Spanish minister to the U.S.
 It
mocked McKinley as “weak and a
bidder for the admiration of the crowd”
 On
Feb 15, 1898, the US battleship Maine
blew up in Havana harbor, killing 260
men
 TR: , “it
was an act of dirty treachery on
the part of the Spaniards”, and told
McKinley, “only war was compatible with
our national honor”
 Spain
had nothing to do with it
 Studies
done later showed that it was an
internal accident
 None
of that mattered though…
 The
sinking itself did not bring war, but it
inflamed the public
 People
read the daily headlines and
became more and more angry
 McKinley
demanded 3 things from Spain:
• he demanded an armistice in Cuba
• and end to the reconcentration policy
• the acceptance of American arbitration, which
implied Cuban independence
 Spain
countered by abolishing the
reconcentration camps and declaring an
armistice
 It
was too little and too late; America was
already preparing for war
 Congress
declared war on Spain on April
25, 1898
 Other
countries were suspicious of the
United States’ motives behind this
 Some
national leaders accused the
United States of blatant imperialism, so
Congress added the Teller Amendment
 disclaiming
any intention of annexing
Cuba and promising that Cubans would
govern themselves
 The
most decisive and important battle of
the war took place in the Philippines, not
Cuba
 This
battle involved the Navy
 Battle
of Manila Bay
 Strategic
 Close
 Close
harbor
to China Economic
to Hawaii “To maintain our flag in
the Philippines, we must raise our flgag
in Hawaii
 Congress
approved annexation of Hawaii
soon after
 Once
again, native Hawaiians were not
involved or allowed to have a say
 Same
pattern would soon follow in the
Philippines
 Victory
 Both
 The
came rather quickly in Cuba
sides proved to be inept though
United States would win, but only
because they made less mistakes than
the Spanish
 Americans
wore wool uniforms in
sweltering heat
 Soldiers
 More
were served poisoned food
than 5000 died of diseases, only 379
killed in battle
 TR
fought in this war
 Leader of the Rough Riders
 10th
Negro cavalry led final decisive
charge up San Juan Hill
 Rough
Riders led by TR, captured public
attention, and undue credit at times
 the
RR got the credit because of TR’s selfserving and well promoted account of the
conflict
 Required
Spain to accept Cuban
independence
 Give
up control of Puerto Rico and Guam
 Allow
the Americans to occupy Manila
Bay until peace with Philippines is final
 Acquisition
of Puerto Rico and Guam
indicated the expansionist nature the
conflict had assumed for the US
 Wasn’t
enough though…
 Decided
 Spain
to keep the Philippines
agreed, against Filipino wishes for
independence, to cede the Philippines to
the US
 McKinley
defended his decision in a selfrighteous imperialist rhetoric, promising
to extend Christian influence and
American values
 Sparked
a huge debate over the
ratification of the Treaty of Paris
 Economic
Expansion
 Strategic
Necessity
 Religious
and Racial responsibilities
 “The
conquest by force of arms must be
followed up by conquest for Christ”
 Only
one problem with this….Most
Filipino’s were…????
 Notable
opponents
• Mark Twain
• Jane Addams
• Andrew Carnegie
Anti-Imperialists!
 Campaigned
against the treaty,
distributing pamphlets, petitioning
Congress, and holding rallies
 Insisted
that Imperialism went against the
values of the Declaration of
Independence
 Other

arguments were less high minded
Many anti-imperialists objected to
expansion on the racist grounds that
Filipinos were inferior and uncivilized
 Others
feared cheap labor they could
provide
 Roosevelt
called the anti-Imperialists
“little better than traitors.”
 Finally, on
Feb 6, 1899, the Senate
narrowly ratified the treaty

All but two Republicans supported the
treaty
 Most
Democrats opposed it
 William
Jennings Bryan (D)
 William McKinley (R)
 Bryan
attempted to make the election of
1900 a referendum on the paramount
issue of Imperialism, promising to free
the Philippines if the Democrats won
 Imperialism
election
was not the main issue in the
 Many
Anti-Imperialists were conservatives
who did not like Bryan’s economic plan
 People
also supported McKinley because of
how the country prospered after the hard
1890’s and because he nominated the hero
of San Juan Hill, “TR” as his VP
 Filipino
leader, Emilio Aguinaldo,
welcomed U.S. naval victory as the sign of
an alliance
 Issued
Dec. of Independence
 But
when the Americans arrived they
refused to meet with those “savages”,
and wanted them to back down from their
“so called government”
 Filipinos
felt betrayed when the US
officially took over after the Treaty of
Paris, soon a war erupted
 US
had to use nearly 4 times as many
soldiers to suppress the Filipinos as to
defeat Spain in Cuba
 Employed
many of the same brutal
methods for which it had condemned
Spain
 US
crowded nearly 200,000 civilians into
concentration camps; Many killed
 “I
am in glory when I can sight my gun on
some dark skin and pull the trigger”
 Killed
men, women, children, prisoners,
and captives from age 10 and up
 The
United States established an official
colonial government in 1902
 William
Howard Taft was the first
governor general
 Established
new schools and roads
 Public health system
 TR’s
first priority as President
 Where
to build the canal was a question,
some favored Nicaragua, and the rest
Panama
 In
1903, Roosevelt pressed Columbia to
sell a canal zone to the United States for
10 million and an annual payment of
$250,000
 Columbia
rejected the proposal
 TR
was furious,
 “those
contemptible little creatures in
Columbia”, they are “imperiling their
own future.”
 Wanted
Congress to simply approve
military action instead of trying to pay
them
 TR
decided to try and work through
Philippe Bunau-Varilla
 French
official of the Panama Canal
Company
 TR
ordered US Naval forces to Panama
and Bunau-Varilla coordinated a revolt
against Columbian authority directed by
officials of the Panama railroad
 Was
a “bloodless revolution” and it
succeeded when U.S. forces prevented
Columbian troops from landing in
Panama
 Bunau-Varilla
then signed a treaty
accepting Roosevelt’s original terms for a
canal zone
 US
took total control of the canal zone in
1904 and completed construction of the
Panama Canal in 1914
 Many
were appalled at TR’s decision of
how to acquire the canal
 Others
wanted a canal so bad it didn’t
matter how the United States obtained it
 Attempted
to justify U.S. intervention and
authority in the region
 “The
inevitable effect of our building the
Canal must be to require us to police the
surrounding premises
 When
Taft becomes President, there are
changes to our approach with other
nations
 Dollar
Diplomacy
 “Substituting
dollars for bullets”
 Dollar
diplomacy increased American
power and influence in the Caribbean
and tied underdeveloped countries to the
US economically and strategically
 Failed
to improve conditions for most
Latin Americans
 Democrat
 Promised
to “never again seek one
additional foot of territory by conquest”
and would work to promote human
rights, national integrity, and opportunity
 Named William
Jennings Bryan Secretary
of State and immediately signed a treaty
with Columbia apologizing for TR’s
seizure of the Panama Canal
 BUT……………………….
 But
he would become the most
interventionist president in American
History
 Racist
 Thought
Latin Americans were inferior
and needed paternalistic guidance from
the United States