Imperialism

5 Main Causes of Imperialism

• Economy

• Military

• Religion

• Social Darwinism

• Manifest Destiny

Purchase of Alaska

• Paid $7.2 million to Russia (2 cents an acre) for Alaska

  • Congress + most of America made fun of Secretary of State William H Seward 

    • Made a purchase for President Andrew Johnson

• Seward’s Quest for Empire

  • Believed that nation would eventually establish an empire as a result of a natural process of gravitation toward the US

    • Favored trade expansion, Central American canal, a transcontinental railroad, and improved communications system

• Impact on Indigenous People (Eskimos)

  • Children sent to boarding schools

  • People were physically punished for speaking their language or expressing their culture

  • Effects of abuse spread to future generations

    • Increased alcohol abuse

Annexation of Hawaii

• U.S. missionaries build first church in the 1820s

• Hawaii becomes U.S. Protectorate in 1859 due to economic treaties

  • Protectorate: economic and cultural influence, but the imperialist nation doesn’t have explicitly control (e.g. what happened to Morocco)

• “Tariff Act of 1890”

  • Known as the “McKinley Tariff”

  • Put protective tariff rates of 50% on foreign produc3ts

    • Hurt Hawaiian sugar farmers 

• Annexation of Hawaii

  • American businesses overthrew Queen Lili’uokalani (“Hawaii for Hawaiians”)

    • Asked for the annexation to the US in 1893

  • President Grover Cleveland opposed removing the queen

  • Sanford Ballard Dole: “The Republic of Hawaii” in 1894

    • “Westernize” Hawaii’s government 

1898 Annexation

Yellow Journalism

• fake news

• misinformation spread by articles written from the editor’s perspective rather than from an objective journalist standpoint

Hearst and Pulitzer

• took advantage of yellow journalism to spread nationalistic spirit and get more money

• printed sensational anti-Spanish stories

Jingoism

• raising intense nationalistic spirit that threatened force on other countries

  • e.g. through newspapers

Jose Marti

• US initially declared neutrality during the Cuban Insurrection

• when Jose Marti began his revolution, they supported him

Valeriano Weyler’s Reconstruction Policy

• said it was to protect Cubans during the revolution

• was basically concentration camps

USS Maine

• patrolled the Havana Harbor

• explosion killed 260 sailors

• US thought that Spain had attacked but it was an explosion caused by own crew

• US enters the war

De Lome Letter

• February 9, 1898

• Sent by Spanish ambassador

• criticized US president (McKinley) for taking Cuban side, saying it was only for public opinion

Assistant Secretary of the Navy

• Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the McKinley administration

  • Later quit his position to go fight in Cuba

• Criticized McKinley

Rough Riders

• random ah volunteer cavalry fighting against Cuba

  • 17k total athletes, glee-club singers, Texas Rangers, Native Americans

  • Under Theodore Roosevelt’s command

Santiago and San Juan Hill

• Most famous battle at Santiago (charge by Rough Riders + African American regiments)

• Rough Riders played a minor role at San Juan Hill

  • Newspapers still called Roosevelt the “Hero of San Juan Hill”

Teller Amendment

U.S. would not annex Cuba & help Cuba gain independence from Spain

Platt Amendment (1903)

• Cuba would not enter into any agreements w/ foreign powers that could endanger its independence

• U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs if necessary to maintain govt

• Cuba must lease Guantanamo Bay to U.S. for naval + coaling station

• Cuba must not build up an excessive public debt 

“Canal Fever”

U.S. wanted to build a canal through Nicaragua

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)

• US and Britain couldn’t build canal unless both agreed to do so (consent and cooperation of each other)

Hay-Paunceforte Treaty (1901)

• nullified Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

• began canal construction in Panama

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)

• established the Panama Canal Zone

Phillipe Bunau-Varilla

• French Engineer

• Key figure in decision to construct the Panama Canal

• 1902: Senate was deciding between Panama or Nicaragua for a canal

• Varilla lobbied to choose Panama by sending each senator a Nicaraguan postage stamp depicting a smoking volcano (targeted ad)

• Colombia (Panama was part of Colombia) refused to ratify a treaty allowing the U.S. to build a canal 

Dr. Walter Reed

• discovered the causes of yellow fever

  • More American soldiers died from yellow fever, malaria, & other diseases than actual combat during the Spanish-American War

Colonel W. Goethals

• U.S. Army General

  • In charge of the construction of the Panama Canal

Mexican Revolution

• Victoriano Huerta 

  • Seizes control of Mexico

  • Puts Francisco Madero in prison where he was later murdered

    • (“Ten Tragic Days”)

• Revolutionary leaders: Venustiano Carranza, Pancho VIlla, Emiliano Zapata, & Alvaro Obregon → fought against Huerta

• President Wilson sent troops to occupy Veracruz → Huez fled country

• Carranza would gain power

• Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy”

  • U.S. should be the conscience of the world 

  • Spread democracy

  • Promote peace

  • Condemn colonialism 

• Searching for Banditos (noah)

  • Went against Huerta 

• U.S. wanted Mexico due to profits from investments 

  • Specifically in Latin America: mining and smelting 

  • American imperialism was more focused in Latin America because all of our money was going there

Who opens up Japan?

• 1853: Commodore Matthew Perry opens up Japan

Treaty of Kanagawa

• 1854: Treaty of Kanagawa

  • Ended Japanese self-imposed isolation by US consulate to reside in Japan for diplomatic relations

Gentleman’s Agreement

• 1908: Gentleman’s Agreement

  • Japanese note agreeing to deny passports to laborers entering the US in return for desegregation of schools

Root-Takahira Agreement

• 1908: Root-Takahira Agreement

  • Pledge to maintain status quo in Far East

  • Agreement to mutual consultation regarding issues in Far East

  • Recognition of China’s independence and Open Door Policy (basically forced upon them by America)

Lodge Corollary

• 1912: Lodge Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine 

  • Non-European powers (China, Japan) would be excluded from holding territory in Western Hemisphere 

Governor of the Philippines

W. H. Taft

Who opened fire on the Spanish fleet in Manila?

Commodore George Dewey

Treaty of Paris

• Cuba was freed + Spanish gave up Puerto Rico & the island of Guam 

• U.S. paid Spain $20 million for the Philippines

  • U.S. becomes a stronger imperial power

American Anti-Imperialist League (1899)

• included people like William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, etc…

• campaigned against imperialist actions like annexation of Philippines

Foraker Act (1900)

• Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the US

  • Citizens of PR instead of US

• Taxed imported goods into PR

Insular Cases (1901-1903)

• Constitutional rights not extended to American territories

  • Congress could decide if they were

• Import duties (taxed goods) from Foraker act made legal

Jones Act (1917)

• Elected own officials

• Elected own law enforcement

• PR’s could NOT vote in US Presidential elections

• Removed tariffs on PR goods into the U.S

Oriental Chinese Exclusion Act (1887)

• Banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. for 10 years 

• Denied existing Chinese immigrants the right to become citizens

Open Door Policy

• Initiated by Secretary John Hay

• Give all nations equal access to trade in China.

• Guaranteed that China would NOT be taken over by any one foreign power

Boxer Rebellion

• Anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in North China 

• Between 1899 and 1901