Chapter 27 Empire and Expansion
US Imperialism
- Farmers and Industrialists looked to shores for expansion
- “Expand or explode”
- Reasons
- Religion
- Boyish adventure
- Money
- “Bring values to the backward people”
- All the other modern countries were doing it (Britain France Spain Japan)
- Roosevelt and henry lodge interpret Darwinism to mean that earth belongs to the strong and fit (USA)
- New steel navy
- Manifested in Garfield and Harrison administrations through the desire to rally Latin America into American leadership (in trade)
- 1889 first pan-American conference to discuss mutual tariff reductions
- James G. Blaine published big sister and presided over the conference
- Sketched vague plan
- Opened doors for future discussions
- 1880-1890 near wars and diplomatic crisis
- American and german navies nearly duke it out over Samoan islands
- American and Italy: 11 lynched Italians in New Orleans 1891 (America paid compensation)
- America and chile (2 American sailors die in chile port no war caused chilies forced to pay
- America Canada seal hunting
- Americans are very bloodthirsty and very willing/ eager for war
Maine
- Yellow journalism makes up Cuban atrocities
- William R Hearst vs Joseph Pulitzer compete for biggest “scoops”
- Claimed Spanish-American costumes brutality undressed and searched an American women
- Readers didn't know it was a woman who did that in Spanish customs (traveling)
- Spain lightly talked of letting Cuba govern itself but was opposed by Spaniards in Cuba and led to riots so we sends our main to evacuate Americans if need be
- Tenseness grows when Hearst revealed a private letter from a Cuban minister
- He had stolen it from his mail
- Called president Mckinley an ear-to-the-ground politician who lacked good faith
- Caused uproar Cuban minister forced to resign
- Main mysteriously blows up killing 260 men
- 2 investigations take place one led by the Spanish 9 not allowed near reck) and one by the Americans investigating on their own
- Americans take least likely route and decided it was caused by a submarine mine
- 1997 released it was caused by spontaneous combustion of a coal bunker next to ammo storage ( what the Spanish had deduced in 1898
- Americans go to war
- Remember Maine to hell with Spain
Mahan and Seapower
European naval forces declined except for Britain
Military sea and commercial sea should be interdependent
Control the sea control the world
Dominant economic military and political power divided by the sea
USA should be a world power + need to control the sea = need a powerful navy
The Spanish-American war
- The US won
- 1898
- Mckinley criticized for not wanting a war and allowing Spain to meet demands for a peaceful solution
- ‘Backbone of a chocolate eclair”
- Maine sent by McKinley
- Theodore Roosevelt wants war desperately
- Eventually gave people what they wanted because of a lack of faith in Spanish promises to end reconcentration camps in Cuba
- Teller Amendment and war declared
- Teller amendment stated that the USA would give Cuba freedom when they won
The territory gained from war
- Gained Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam from Spain
- King of Hawaii (annexed )
- Purchased Philippines for 20 million
- shows the US becoming a world power
TR’s Roughriders
- Made of polo players, college buddies, cowboys hunters, and native Americans
- Walked for a weak ‘
- 17000
- Lots of confusion upon disembarkment for Cuba
- Participated in 2 major battle