AP U.S. HISTORY – 12TH EDITION - CHAPTER 27
STIMULANTS TO OVERSEAS EXPANSION
1865 – 1910
DARWINISM – IMPERIALISM – MISSIONARIES – POLITICIANS – NAVAL POWER – POPULAR PRESS/YELLOW JOURNALISM
INTERNATIONAL DARWINISM· Teddy Roosevelt – Henry Cabot Lodge though “Darwinism” meant the earth belonged to the strong and fit [Uncle Same]
· Both favored building U.S. power through global expansion
· Darwinism applied not only to competition in the business world but also competition among nations
· The United States needed to be strong religiously, militarily, and politically
· The United States, to show its strength, must acquire territories overseas
· Expansionists applied the ideas of “Manifest Destiny” to all parts of the world
IMPERIALISM
· Imperialism is the acquiring or gaining control over the political or economic life of other countries
· European and other eastern hemisphere countries: Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan gained control of weaker, less developed countries in Africa, China, India, and in the Pacific / ADVOCATES OF IMPERIALISM
MISSIONARIES
· Protestant Americans had a Christian duty to colonize other lands for the purpose of spreading Christianity and western civilization to the “Backwards people” of the world.
· Members of the Christian faith had a sacred duty to bring the benefits of their “superior” civilization [medicine – science – and technology]
· Many missionaries believed in the racial superiority of whites
POLITICIANS
· Members of the Republican party were closely allied with big business
· Republican politicians endorsed the use of foreign affairs to search for new markets
#Page 624 The Imperial Menu and Caption
THE PATH OF THE EMPIRE
· New technology in industry, agriculture, and the forming of a wealthier middle class opened worldwide markets for Americans
· Exports of manufactured goods and agricultural products increased
· The “yellow press” generated interests in overseas markets and colonies:
1. William Randolph Hearst
2. Joseph Pulitzer
· Social Darwinism: survival of the fittest society
· Competition among European nations, America didn’t want to be left out
MONROE DOCTRINE IS QUESTIONED AND ANSWERED
VENEZUELAN SQUALL
· Britain had always shared in the wealth of British Guiana and Venezuela· When gold was found, both Britain and Venezuela squabbled over control of British Guiana
· The United States told Great Britain to get out – citing the Monroe Doctrine
· Great Britain refused to recognize the doctrine as legal / · President Cleveland told Britain he would set the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela
· If Britain failed to accept his terms, there would be war
· Britain backed down – they were already having trouble with European countries and a squabble over Canada
· The United States acting as an arbitrator, settled the dispute
EFFECTS
· The Monroe Doctrine was recognized as a legal doctrine
· Americans won the respect of Latin American countries
IMPERIALISM 1865 – 1914
A SHIFT IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
· During the 19th century, the U.S. foreign policy centered on expanding westward, protecting interests abroad, and limiting foreign influences in the Americas
· At the beginning of the 20th century the United States had become a world power with territory expanding across the Pacific
1. The United States had acquired an oversea empire
2. Intervened in Latin American nations
THE NEW IMPERIALISM
United States industrialized in the late 19th century and intensified its foreign involvement
REASONS FOR EXPANDING
· The United States needed world wide markets for its growing industrial and agricultural surpluses· Need sources of raw materials for manufacturing / · Overseas territories might offer an outlet for domestic discord:
1. Growing violence between labor and management
2. Unrest of farmers because of high volume but low prices
· Expansionists hoped to achieve solutions to domestic problems by economic and diplomatic means, not by military action
STIMULANTS OF IMPERIALISM
1865 – 1910
NAVAL POWER· A strong navy is crucial for an ambitious country to secure foreign markets and to becoming a world power
· The U.S. navy persuaded congress to finance the construction of modern steel ships
· The United States also required overseas islands to be used as coaling and supply stations in the Pacific
POPULAR PRESS
· Newspapers increased circulation by printing adventure stores about distant and exotic places / VIOLENCE ERUPTS BETWEEN IMPERIALISTIC POWERS
· American and German forces nearly come to blows in 1889 in the Samoan islands
· The lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans – 1891
· Chile and the United States after Chile kills two American sailors
· Arguments between the U.S. and Canada over seal hunting of the coast of Alaska
This wiliness to fight over foreign land demonstrated a new aggressive foreign policy
THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
· The principle target of American imperialism was the Caribbean area
· Expansionists from the South coveted Cuba as early as the 1850s
· In the 1890s, large American investments in Cuban sugar, Spanish misrule of Cuba, and the Monroe Doctrine provided justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba
In 1890s, the American public opinion was growing for war with Spain. An intense nationalism [jingoism] called for an aggressive foreign policy [expansionism]. Both President Cleveland and McKinley felt imperialistic actions were wrong.
THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
CAUSES OF THE WAR
CUBAN REVOLT – THE YELLOW PRESS – DELOME LETTER – SINKING OF THE MAINE
CUBAN REVOLT· Bands of Cuban nationalists had been fighting for years to overthrow Spanish colonial rule
· In 1895, Cuban rebels began burning and laying waste to Cuban plantations
1. Wanted to force Spain out of Cuba economically
2. Involve the United States in their revolution
· Spain responded by sending 100,000 Spanish troops
YELLOW PRESS
· American newspaper promoted the war
· Yellow Journalism: Newspaper invented atrocities, showed pictures of custom official disrobing and searching American women / DELOME LETTER
· This letter was printed on the front page of the New York Journal
· The letter condemned the President of the United States
SINKING OF THE MAINE
# The Explosion of the Maine pg. 629
· The battleship “Maine” was sunk one week after the Delome letter
· 260 sailors were killed
· The “yellow press” blamed the Spanish
MCKINLEY’S WAR MESSAGE
· Yielding to public pressure brought on by yellow journalism, President McKinley declared war against Spain
· Adopted the Teller Amendment
IMPERIALISM
THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
MAY 1898
The first shots of the Spanish American war were shot in Manila Bay, in the Philippines
THE PHILIPPINES· Teddy Roosevelt anticipating war with Spain, sent an American fleet commanded by Commodore Dewey to the Philippines
· The Philippines had been under Spanish rule since the 1500s
· Most of the Spanish fleet was defeated
· American and Filipino rebels captured the city of Manila on August 13, 1898 / INVASION OF CUBA
· Cuba was much more difficult to defeat than the Philippines
· An ill-prepared, largely volunteer force landed in Cuba
· Attacks by both American and Cuban forces succeeded in defeating the much larger but poorly led Spanish forces
· 500 Americans died from battle, another 5,000 died from malaria, typhoid, and dysentery
PEACE IN PARIS
· Without a navy, Spain asked the United States for peace
1. Recognition of Cuban independence
2. U.S. acquisition of the two Spanish islands: Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, and Guam in the Pacific
3. U.S. acquisition of the Philippines for $20 million
Imperialistic and anti-imperialistic forces argued bitterly about the acquisition of Cuba
Three years after the Spanish American War ended, a foreign diplomat in Washington remarked,
“I have seen two Americas, the America before the Spanish War and the America since.”
THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR – 1898
THE PHILIPPINES QUESTION
· Anti-imperialists in congress opposed taking over the Philippines:
1. It was heavily populated area whose people were of a different race and culture
2. Such action deprived Filipinos of the right to life, liberty, ad the pursuit of happiness
3. The United States might become entangled in the political affairs of Asia
· Imperialists in Congress wanted the treaty ratified. The treaty was passed 57 – 27
· Filipinos were outraged: first ruled by Spain, now by the United States
· Filipinos rebels fought American troops for 3 years with the loss of many lives before the revolution finally ended
RESULT OF CONFLICT
INSULAR CASES
· What were the constitutional rights of territories taken over by the United States· What provisions of the Constitution apply to them / · The Supreme Court ruled that constitutional rights did not automatically apply to territorial possessions
· Congress had the power to decide what their rights would be
CUBA AND THE PLATT AMENDMENT – 1901
· Never sign a treaty with a foreign power that impaired its independence
· Never build up an excessive debt
· Allow the U.S. to intervene in Cuban affairs to preserve independence and maintain law and order
· Allow the U.S. to maintain naval bases in Cuba
# Page 638 Uncle Sam and People from His Colonies and Caption
These demands were bitterly resented by Cuban nationalists