Empire in the progressive age

PART ONE: EXPANDING THE FRONTEIR (1880-1904)

Guano Islands (and Insular Territories)

under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The law allowed U.S. citizens to claim unclaimed, empty islands containing bird or bat droppings, which were prized as agricultural fertilizer and for gunpowder production

Jones v. United States

In Jones v. United States (1890), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The landmark ruling affirmed that the U.S. government has jurisdiction over unclaimed islands claimed for guano mining, and can prosecute crimes (such as murder) committed there under federal admiralty laws.

Case Background

• The Crime: Henry Jones, a laborer, was indicted for murder following a deadly labor riot on Navassa Island (a small, uninhabited island in the Caribbean).

• The Defense: Jones challenged the court's jurisdiction, arguing that the United States government lacked the authority to prosecute him for a crime committed outside of traditional U.S. state or territorial borders
  
  RULING: U.S. Jurisdiction still applies on these islands allowing u.s. to expand and collect materials.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan transformed American imperialism by arguing that national prosperity and global power relied on a dominant navy, overseas bases, and expanded foreign markets. His writings fueled an aggressive push for overseas expansion and the modernization of the U.S. military.

Josiah Strong/Our Country

Reverend Josiah Strong’s 1885 book, Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, was a foundational text of late-19th-century American imperialism. It provided a religious and moral justification for expansion by arguing that Anglo-Saxon Protestants had a divine duty to "civilize and Christianize" the rest of the world.

Yellow Journalism

Spanish-American War

Philippine War

Teller Amendment

Platt Amendment

Open door policy

Foraker Act