U.S. Imperialism & Foreign Policy, 1890-1920: Comprehensive Study Notes

From Continental to Global Power (1877 – 1898)

• 1877-1897: U.S. politics & historiography focused almost exclusively on domestic reconstruction, industry, westward settlement.
• By $1898$ a sudden pivot: war with Spain and the acquisition of overseas possessions (Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, the Philippines) mark the birth of a formal American empire.
• Cartoon imagery of 1898: Uncle Sam stretching across oceans; popular pride mingled with minority dissent.

Ideological Foundations of U.S. Imperialism

• Social-Darwinist frame: nations, like individuals or “races,” are either predators or prey; survival requires entering the small club (≈6-8 powers) that rules the world.
• Goal c. $1900$: be "in the club" without yet becoming its military leader; build enough navy/army to be respected, but avoid European-style mass militarism.
• Manifest Destiny reborn overseas: after the continental frontier closed (1890 census), new lands abroad became the "new frontier" for adventure, markets, and missionary zeal.
• Racial paternalism (“White Man’s Burden”): non-white populations viewed as children to be tutored; internal minorities (African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants) analogized to external colonies.

Early Manifestation: 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

• Chicago fair (“White City”) celebrated 401st anniversary of Columbus.
• Temporary neoclassical architecture evoked Rome/Egypt to signal that the U.S. was heir to earlier empires.
• Exhibit blended technological triumphalism (à la 1876 Philadelphia) with overt geopolitical ambition.

The Global Context: New Imperialism (≈1870-1914)

• Africa: in $1870$ ~90 % independent; by $1900$ all but Liberia & Ethiopia parceled among European states.
• Imperial map indicates urgency—“scramble” almost complete; U.S. must seize remaining weak colonies (Spain’s) or be locked out.

Motives for Expansion

1. Great-power status & strategic positioning (naval coaling stations, Caribbean hegemony).
2. Economic relief to 1893-1897 depression: open captive markets for surplus manufactures & farm goods.
3. New settlement frontier (talked about more than used—few Americans actually moved to colonies).
4. Christian/ civilizing mission rhetoric.

Alfred Thayer Mahan & Navalism

• 1890 bestseller The Influence of Sea Power upon History: whoever "rules the waves" rules the world.
• Prescriptions: modern steel fleet, overseas bases, isthmian canal, two-ocean navy.
• Global impact: Germany & Japan adopt Mahan; every Imperial Japanese Navy captain kept translated copies through WW II.
• U.S. naval appropriations surge in 1890s → brand-new “white hull” battleships by 1898.

Media, Public Opinion & the Road to War

• Yellow Journalism: Pulitzer’s New York World & Hearst’s New York Journal sensationalize Cuban rebellion (1895-98) & Spanish atrocities.
• USS Maine sent to Havana (Jan 1898) to protect U.S. interests; explodes Feb 15, $1898$ (later proven internal coal-dust blast). Headlines: “Destruction … was the work of an enemy!”
• Rallying cry “Remember the Maine” creates mass clamor; Congress votes war April 1898.

Spanish-American War (April–Aug 1898)

Course & Key Battles

• War lasts ≈100 days (“a splendid little war”).
• Battle of Manila Bay (May 1): Commodore Dewey sinks entire Spanish Pacific squadron; U.S. casualties $=0$.
• Cuban campaign: landings at Daiquirí & Siboney → Battle of San Juan Hill/Kettle Hill.
– 3 000 U.S. vs 120 Spaniards; Spanish defenders mostly teen conscripts; rapid capitulation.
– Theodore Roosevelt’s volunteer 1st U.S. Cavalry (“Rough Riders”) + Buffalo Soldier regiments (10th Cavalry) spearhead assaults.

Role of African-American Troops

• Four segregated “Colored” regiments present; 10th Cavalry crucial at San Juan Heights.
• Despite valor, black soldiers receive scant credit; Roosevelt later downplays their contribution; no improvement in Jim Crow racial order.

Immediate Outcomes & Territorial Gains

• Treaty of Paris (Dec 1898): Spain cedes Puerto Rico & Guam, sells Philippines ($\$20$ million); Cuba nominally independent under Platt Amendment constraints.
• U.S. annexes Hawaii (July 1898) outside treaty to secure mid-Pacific link.

Imperial Administration & Debates

• Domestic Anti-Imperialist League (Mark Twain, Carnegie, Gompers) argues empire violates republican ideals.
• Senate ratifies Philippine annexation by single vote → razor-thin mandate.
• Political cartoons depict Uncle Sam as schoolmaster; colonials (Filipino, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, Cuban) as unruly pupils; African American janitor swept aside; Chinese barred at door.

The Philippines & the Philippine-American War (1899-1902/1913)

• Emilio Aguinaldo leads independence movement; initially welcomes U.S., then resists when annexation becomes clear.
• Open warfare Feb 1899; >100\,000 Filipino deaths (combat + disease) vs $\approx4\,300$ U.S. (¾ disease).
• U.S. employs brutal counter-insurgency: ‘water cure’ (prototype waterboarding) → courts-martial once exposed.
• Strategy shift: separate rebels from populace, co-opt landed elites; archipelago pacified by $1902$ in north, by $1913$ among Muslim Moros of Mindanao/Sulu.
• Aftermath: disillusion at home curtails appetite for further colonies; Philippines remain U.S. possession until July 4, $1946$.

Domestic & International Repercussions

• McKinley’s reelection $1900$ rides wartime prosperity; assassinated Sept 1901 → VP Theodore Roosevelt becomes youngest president (age 42).
• Japan notes U.S. arrival in Asia; parallel expansionism sets stage for future Pacific rivalry (culminating 1941-45).

Roosevelt Era: “Big Stick” Diplomacy

• Motto: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Image of U.S. as hemispheric policeman.

Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904)

• Monroe Doctrine (1823) = "Europe, keep out" (defensive).
• Corollary makes it offensive: U.S. may intervene in Latin American states with “chronic wrongdoing” or unpaid European debts.
• Goal: pre-empt European gunboats by sending U.S. Marines first; de facto protectorate system.
• Cartoon: TR with collection bag, Navy ships labeled “Debt Collector.”

Panama & the Canal

• Isthmus then part of Colombia; Bogotá rejects U.S. canal treaty.
• Nov 1903: U.S. warships prevent Colombian troops quelling Panamanian secession; new Republic of Panama grants $10$-mile-wide Canal Zone as U.S. sovereign territory.
• Engineering feat: $26$-mile lock canal, $11$ years (1904-1914), battles malaria/yellow-fever (Gorgas sanitation program).
• Canal halves New York-to-San Francisco voyage, vital for two-ocean Navy (opens Aug 1914).

Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy (1909-1913)

• Replace gunboats with bankers: encourage U.S. investment & loans in Latin America & China to gain leverage.
• Critics: TR calls it timid; Progressives deem it mercenary; uneven success (e.g., failed attempt to control Manchurian railways).

Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy” (1913-1921)

• Rhetoric: support self-determination, spread constitutional democracy, reject conquest.
• Practice proves contradictory—most military interventions of any pre-FDR president:
– Mexico: Tampico Affair & Veracruz occupation (1914); Pershing “Punitive Expedition” against Pancho Villa (1916-17).
– Nicaragua: Marines already there (1909); Wilson extends occupation until 1933.
– Haiti: occupation 1915-1934 after presidential assassinations; U.S. rewrites constitution, controls customs.
– Dominican Republic: occupation 1916-1924 to stabilize finances & suppress rebels.
• Famous boast: “I will teach the South American republics to elect good men.”
• Paternalism rather than partnership; seeds resentment but also entrenches U.S. primacy.

Long-Term Patterns & Legacy

• By 1920 the U.S. controls a trans-Caribbean belt (Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, Guantánamo Bay lease) and a western Pacific foothold (Philippines, Guam, Hawaii).
• Strategic triad: Big Navy + Canal + Island Bases ⇒ global reach.
• Ethical debates over race, republicanism, & torture presage later Vietnam/Iraq controversies.
• Shift after $1933$: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor” Policy begins withdrawal from long occupations (Haiti ’34, DR ’34, Nicaragua ’33) while retaining economic and naval leverage.