American Imperialism before WWI

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American Imperialism before WWI
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American Imperialism

• While many European states were busy creating
  empires in Africa and Asia, many Americans began
  to feel the pangs of expansionism too.
• According to Professor Frederick Jackson Turner
  (University of Wisconsin), the frontier was
  officially settled by 1890.

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American Imperialism

• By the 1890s, the United States was the world
  leader in industrial output and agricultural
  production.
• American business wanted to expand into new
  markets.
• Arguments in favor of expansion had great appeal.

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American Imperialism

• Expansionists also argued that Americans had a
  right and a duty to bring Western culture to the
  uncivilized peoples of the world.
• Many expansionists, especially those in the
  military (like Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan),
  proposed that America needed overseas territories
  to protect our merchant fleet.

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American Foreign Policy

• American foreign policy for the first 100 years
  of the republic was dictated by George
  Washingtons Farewell Address.
• Washington begged his countrymen to avoid
  foreign entanglements.

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American Foreign Policy

• Except for the Monroe Doctrine, the United States
  primarily stayed isolated throughout most of the
  19th century.
• American attitudes began to change after the
  Civil War.

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American Imperialism HawaiI

• The Nation of Hawaii
• By 1875 American sugar planters had brokered a
  treaty between HawaiI and the U.S.
• An 1882 amendment to the treaty gave the U.S.
  Pearl Harbor as a naval and refueling base.
• The growing power of the Americans ousted King
  Kalakana (the Bayonet Constitution).

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American Imperialism HawaiI

• .

• In 1891, Queen Liliuokalani came to the throne.
  She resented the growing power of the Americans.
• In 1893 the sugar planters rebelled against the
  Queens attempt to limit their power.

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American Imperialism Hawaii

• The American Ambassador called for the Marines,
  who deposed the Queen in the Hawaiian
  Revolution of 1893.
• A new Americanized constitution was installed.
• President Grover Cleveland refused to annex
  HawaiI because he said he was ashamed of the
  whole affair.

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American Imperialism HawaiI

• After Cleveland left office, his successor,
  William McKinley, pushed Congress to annex Hawaii
  (which was done in 1898).
• Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900.
• It became a state in 1959.

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American Imperialism The Venezuelan Border
Dispute and the Monroe Doctrine

• After Hawaii, the next test for American foreign
  policy came in Venezuela (1895). Here, the
  United States and Great Britain almost went to
  war over the Monroe Doctrine.
• Britain and Venezuela were arguing over the
  border between British Guiana and Venezuela (no
  one cared until gold was discovered).

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American Imperialism the Venezuelan Border
Dispute
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American Imperialism the Venezuelan Border
Dispute

• When Britain refused to negotiate through
  American arbitration, President Cleveland asked
  Congress for the authority to defend Venezuela.
• Britain backed down and agreed to arbitration,
  which favored their claims anyway.
• This was the last time the U.S. and Britain were
  at odds with each other.

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American Imperialism Cuba

• The next major test would come in Cuba. In the
  late 1890s, Americans opened their daily
  newspapers to find shocking and lurid tales of
  violence and revolution in Cuba, a Spanish owned
  island 90 miles south of Florida.

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American Imperialism Cuba

• In 1898, the United States put aside its long
  standing policy of neutrality to intervene in the
  Cuban revolution.
• Actually, American interests in Cuba went back
  many decades

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Cuba

• In 1823, John Quincy Adams was the Secretary of
  State under President Monroe. He compared Cuba
  to a ripe apple. A storm he said, might tear
  that apple from its native tree and drop it
  into American hands.
• The Cuban rebels of the 1890s were giving Spain
  the storm JQA had hoped for 75 years earlier.

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Cuba

• The Ostend Manifesto (1854) was an attempt by
  President Franklin Pierce to extend the southern
  boundary of the U.S. by annexing Cuba. The U.S.
  was willing to negotiate with Spain a payment of
  120m.

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Cuba

• If Spain refused to sell, Pierce was prepared to
  take Cuba by force and make it a slave state.
• This was leaked to a New York newspaper, and
  faced with a firestorm of criticism, Pierce
  repudiated the Manifesto and disavowed any
  knowledge of it.

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• Spain held on tightly to her Pearl of the
  Antilles. This was the last remnant of Spanish
  colonialism in the New World and Spain did not
  want to give it up.
• For the United States, Cubas close proximity,
  climate, and soil made her a great place for
  investment. Americans had invested over 50
  million in Cuba (more than anywhere else) and had
  trade with the island in excess of 100
  million/year (nearly 25 of all American exports).

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• The U.S. wanted naval bases in Cuba.
• Growing American sympathy for the rebels fighting
  for their freedom created a tense situation with
  Spain.
• By 1898, many Americans were eager for a conflict
  with Spain over Cuba.

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• Sympathy for the Cuban rebels, reports of Spanish
  atrocities against the Cubans (the first
  concentration camps), and anger towards a
  European power still trying to maintain control
  of colonies in the Western Hemisphere stirred
  Americans to action.
• The yellow press whipped the nation into a
  frenzy with lurid accounts, usually exaggerated,
  of conditions in Cuba.

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• Newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst sent a
  photographer to cover Cuba with the famous words
  You provide the pictures, Ill provide the war!

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• A typical headline read Blood on the roadsides,
  blood in the fields, blood on the doorsteps,
  blood, blood, blood!
• Such sensational reports were often inaccurate,
  but they succeeded in stirring American anger
  against Spain.

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• President McKinley hoped to resolve the Cuban
  issue without military intervention, but several
  events prevented that from happening. Key things
  besides yellow journalism were the De Lome
  letter and the Battleship Maine.

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Cuba, and the Coming of War

• De Lome was the Spanish ambassador to Washington.
  In a private letter written to a friend in Spain
  in early January 1898 (that was intercepted and
  reprinted by the press), De Lome called McKinley
  weak and catering to rabblea low politician
• De Lome was then recalled to Spain.

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Steps Leading to War

• President McKinley sent the battleship USS Maine
  to Havana Harbor to protect American citizens and
  American investment (and pressure Spain).

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Steps Leading to War

• On Feb. 15, 1898 the Maine exploded in Havana
  Harbor, killing 266 American sailors (of the 350
  on board). American newspapers immediately
  blamed Spanish saboteurs.
• The Spanish denied having anything to do with the
  disaster.

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Steps Leading to War

• Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers ran headlines that
  said Remember the Maineto Hell with Spain!
  The nation was now poised for war.

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The Coming of War

• Spain knew it could not defeat the United States,
  and on April 9, 1898 agreed to all the
  concessions over Cuba the United States asked
  for.
• President McKinley tried to resist the political
  pressure to declare war, but fearing his party
  (Republican) would lose face and power, he
  acquiesced.
• Two days later (April 11, 1898), McKinley asked
  Congress to declare war on Spain.

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The Spanish-American War

• Before hostilities really began, Assistant
  Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt,
  secretly ordered the American Pacific fleet
  (known as the Asiatic Squadron) out of port in
  Hong Kong to sail to the Philippines right away.
• American naval ships hadnt been to the
  Philippines in 22 years.

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The Spanish-American War

• Roosevelt ordered the Spanish fleet captured or
  destroyed.
• At dawn on May 1, just days after war was
  officially declared, Commodore Dewey and a
  small fleet of six American ships surprised the
  enemy. From the bridge of his flagship, the
  cruiser Olympia, Dewey commanded the attack on
  the surprised Spanish fleet.
• Remember the Maine and down with Spain! was the
  battle cry of his gunners.

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The Spanish-American War

• In a four-hour engagement, without losing a ship
  or a man (except for an engineer who died of heat
  exhaustion), Deweys fleet destroyed the Spanish
  Pacific fleet of 10 ships in Manila Bay.

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The Spanish-American War

• The American ships fired off nearly 6,000 shells,
  Spanish casualties numbered nearly 400, and the
  Americans captured the crucial naval station at
  Cavite.
• The Americans had such an easy time of it that at
  one point in the engagement, Dewey ordered his
  men to cease firing so they could have breakfast.
  They returned to the attack after breakfast.
• I control Manila Bay completely, he cabled
  Washington, and can take the city at any time.

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The Spanish-American War

• Deweys battle order to his captain on the
  Olympia You may fire when you are ready,
  Gridley, immediately became as famous as David
  Farraguts Damn the torpedoes!
• Newspapers in the U.S. called Deweys victory
  The Greatest Naval Engagement of Modern Times,
  and compared it to Horatio Nelsons defeat of the
  French at Trafalgar.

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The Spanish-American War

• Because of his immediate fame and popularity,
  Dewey went from Commodore to rear admiral to
  Admiral of the Navy, a rank and honor revived by
  Congress and abolished after his death. The
  president was his only superior.
• Given the pathetic condition of the outgunned and
  mostly unarmored Spanish fleet, however, Deweys
  victory was more like a turkey shoot.

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The Spanish-American War

• The Spanish admiral, Patricio Montojo, had fully
  expected defeat so he moved his ships to a
  shallow anchorage.
• This way his men could cling to the rigging when
  their ships went down instead of drowning.

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The Spanish-American War

• American troops easily captured Manila and took
  complete possession of the Philippines in August
  (1898).

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The Spanish-American War

• When war finally came, few were more eager to
  fight than the young Assistant Secretary of the
  Navy, Teddy Roosevelt.
• Roosevelt resigned his position, and formed a
  volunteer regiment (the First Volunteer Calvary
  Regiment).

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The Spanish-American War

• Sent to Cuba to fight for Cuban independence,
  Roosevelts unit (nicknamed the Rough Riders)
  saw action in Santiago (Cubas 2nd largest city).
• Roosevelts charge up San Juan Hill became the
  stuff of legend. His unit was joined by the
  African American units of the 9th and 10th
  Cavalries.

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The Spanish-American War

• Two days later, the combined American forces
  destroyed the Spanish fleet in Santiago, causing
  the Spanish army in Cuba to surrender.

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The Spanish-American War

• The war lasted just four months. America lost
  over 5000 soldiers, but only 400 to actual
  combat. The rest died of diseases (heat
  exhaustion, yellow fever, malaria, typhoid, food
  poisoning, etc).
• Secretary of State John Hay famously called this
  action a splendid little war.
• This marked the end of the Spanish Empire in the
  New World.

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The Spanish-American War

• The United States had turned from her position of
  isolationism to become an international power.
• The United States now joined the ranks of the
  worlds colonial powers.

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The Treaty of Paris (1898)

• Having just defeated Spain, the following terms
  were agreed to in October 1898
• Cuba would gain independence from Spain, but
  Spain would retain Cubas heavy debts.
• Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were ceded
  to the United States.

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The Treaty of Paris (1898)

• The United States agreed to pay Spain 20.0
  million for the Philippines. The U.S. now had a
  launching point for trade in the Far East.
• The United States now had the overseas empire
  many had dreamed of (with all the positives and
  negatives that went with it).

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American Imperialism
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The Philippines

• As a result of the Spanish-American War, the
  United States could no longer be truly isolated
  again. As we will see in WWI and leading up to
  WWII, the U.S. tried to revert back to a position
  of isolation, but it was never achieved. The
  world had gotten too small.

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The Philippines

• President McKinley saw in the Philippines the
  chance to educate and uplift and civilize and
  Christianize the Filipinos. Meanwhile, they
  had been Catholic for three centuries.
• The Philippines had helped the United States
  against Spain, much the same way Cuba helped the
  United States. Filipinos expected independence
  (like that granted Cuba) to be their reward.

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The Philippines

• Filipinos were outraged when Congress did not
  approve independence for the Philippines. Most
  Filipinos felt betrayed by the United States, and
  that they had merely traded one master (Spain)
  for another.
• Filipino nationalists, under the direction of
  Emilio Aguinaldo, rose up in armed rebellion
  against American rule in 1899. Aguinaldo had
  helped the Americans in ridding the Philippines
  of Spanish rule.

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The Philippine Insurrection

• From 1899-1902, American military forces clashed
  with Filipino nationalists. Aguinaldo and 70,000
  rebels spent more than two years fighting for
  their nations freedom in a bloody, and often
  brutal war.
• After Aguinaldo was captured, the war ended.
  4,300 Americans and 57,000 Filipinos were killed
  in this little known American war.

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America and the World

• After the Philippine insurrection was put down,
  movements were made to give the Filipinos more
  autonomy. However whenever these came before
  Congress, they were voted down because it was
  felt the Filipinos needed more time to develop
  a true democracy.
• Today, Puerto Rico and Guam are still territorial
  possessions of the United States. The
  Philippines was finally granted independence
  after WWII, in 1946.

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Foreign Policy under Teddy

• Teddys Big Stick diplomacy Based on the West
  African proverb Speak softly and carry a big
  stick you will go far.
• Essentially the Roosevelt Corollary grew out of
  this attitude.

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Foreign Policy under Teddy

• It has come to mean any diplomatic negotiations
  that are backed up by the threat of (American)
  force. This is sometimes called Gunboat
  Diplomacy.

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Foreign Policy under Teddy

• The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
  In the early 1900s Venezuela and the Dominican
  Republic defaulted on loans from Britain,
  Germany, and Italy. European warships menaced
  Latin American/ Caribbean nations.
• Teddy Roosevelt invoked the Monroe Doctrine and
  sent American battleships to force the Europeans
  out. The Europeans were furious, saying if they
  could not use force to get their debts paid, the
  U.S. must take responsibility.

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Foreign Policy under Teddy

• To satisfy this demand, Roosevelt announced the
  Roosevelt Corollary in 1904. He declared the
  U.S. would exercise international police power
  to get Latin American/Caribbean nations to honor
  their financial commitments.
• Through the 1920s, this policy sent American
  troops to Nicaragua and Honduras (and other
  places) to guarantee repayment of foreign debts.

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Teddy and the Big Ditch

• As the U.S. expanded its interests in the
  Pacific, it wanted to be able to move its naval
  fleet easily between oceans without making the
  long voyage around South America (8000 nautical
  miles).
• Teddy Roosevelt proposed building a canal across
  the narrow Isthmus of Panama, which was a
  province of Columbia.

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Teddy and the Big Ditch

• Columbia did not want to give the U.S. the rights
  to build fearing it would lose control of the
  region.
• When it looked like another canal might be built
  in Nicaragua, key Panamanian business and civic
  leaders seized the moment and started a
  rebellion.

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Panama and the Big Ditch

• So in November 1903, with U.S. encouragement,
  Panama rebelled against Columbia. When Columbia
  sent troops to put down the rebellion, 10
  American warships prevented the Columbian troops
  from landing.
• The rebel leaders, among them my uncles
  grandfather, quickly declared Panamanian
  independence (creating the Republic of Panama)
  and signed a document granting the U.S. rights to
  build the canal.

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Panama and the Big Ditch

• The U.S. was also granted rights to the Canal
  Zone, averaging 10 miles wide and just over 50
  miles long.
• This would be considered sovereign American
  territory until given back to Panama in 1999.

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Panama and the Big Ditch
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Panama and the Big Ditch

• Building the canal began in 1904. Pittsburgh's
  furnaces roared as more than fifty mills,
  foundries, and machine shops churned out the
  rivets, bolts, nut, girders, and other steel
  pieces the canal builders needed.
• The Canal was a modern marvel of American
  engineering, technological, and medical
  advancement. When it opened in 1914, the Canal
  was a symbol of U.S. power and influence in Latin
  America.

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Teddy and the Big Ditch

• TR became the first sitting president to leave
  the country while in office. Here he sits in a
  95 ton Bucyrus hydraulic bucket lifter.
• Teddy Roosevelt considered the Canal his legacy
  and his greatest achievement.