Topic 4: America Comes of Age (1890-1920)

American Influence Grows

Imperialism

  • Political, military, and economic domination of strong nations over weaker nations

  • Causes in America

    • territorial/influential desire

    • Having colonies in other regions provided a large amount of raw materials (extractive economy)

    • Excess of American products = a desire to trade overseas

    • Nationalism and the belief in Manifest Destiny fueled expansionist attitudes, encouraging the acquisition of foreign territories to enhance America’s global power and influence.

Commodore Matthew Perry

  • Perry travels to Japan and wins the emperor’s favor

    • America then gains access to Japanese ports and opens trade with Japan

    • This sets the precedent for further expansion in the Pacific and makes the US the first to gain access to Japan´s closed trading systems.

Purchase of Alaska

  • 1876 - William Seward buys Alaska from Russia

    • This doubles the size of America

    • America gains access to a large supply of natural resources, and gold is discovered.

    • Triggers the gold rush in the Klondike region

Acquisition of Hawaii

  • Hawaii was already economically linked to America

  • American planters had already dominated the economy for a while, and the white population was large

  • The American planters convince King Kalakaua to amend the constitution

    • This made it so that only the white population could vote

  • Queen Lilioukalani tries to reestablish Hawaiian rule

Quen Lilioukalani

  • the first and only Hawaiian queen

  • tried to regain control over the region after the amendment of the Hawaiian constitution

  • was overthrown in 1893

  • US annexed Hawaii in 1898

The Spanish-American War

Causes of the US entry into the war

  • Cuba launches a war for independence from spain

    • The Americans favor the Cubans and have sympathy for their rebellion

    • Spanish brutality further emphasizes the American alliance

  • Business owners become worried about the American economy in Cuba

  • William McKinley sends the USS Maine to protect American citizens in Cuba after spain refuses an agreement

Yellow Press

  • newspapers that used sensational headlines and exaggerated stories to promote readership

Treaty of Paris: Terms

  • officially ended the Spanish-American War

  • spain gives up Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam

  • Spain sells the Philippines to the US for 20 mil. dollars

Filipino Insurrection

  • Led by Emilio Aguinaldo after the Americans purchased the Philippines and took control

  • Emilio was captured in 1901, ending the Filipino movements for independence

Emilio Aguinaldo

  • leader of the Filipino group that fought for independence from spain in 1895

  • Later helped organize an insurrection againsst us presence in the philipines

  • Captured in 1901, the fight for Filipino independence ended

The United States Emerges as a World Power

Open Door Policy

  • american statement that the government didn´t want chinese colonies, but still wanted to trade there

Boxer Rebellion

  • Violence was started by members of a secret society in China

  • promoted the governments of Europe and America to send troops to squash the rebellion

Great White Fleet

  • fleet of baattleships sent by Pres. Roosevelt in 1907

  • a ¨ goodwill cruise¨ around the world

¨Big Stick Diplomacy¨

  • Roosevelt’s policy of creating and using (only when necessary) a strong military to achieve American goals

  • Inspired by the African saying ¨speak softly and carry a big stick¨

Panama Canal

  • human-made waterway linking the Atlantic and the Pacific across the isthmus of Panama

Roosevelt Corollary

  • Pres. Roosevelt´s reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine to keep the western hemisphere free from intervention by European powers

¨Dollar Diplomacy¨

  • Pres. Taft´s policy of expanding American interests abroad

¨Moral Diplomacy¨

  • Woodrow Wilson´s statement that the us would not use force to assert influence in the world, but would instead work to promote human rights