1865-1917

• Foreign policy centered on expanding west, protecting interests abroad, and limiting foreign influences

  • Post civil Wa= development in industrial economy

  • Developed into a world power controlling territories in the Caribbean and the Philippines

• William H. Seward: secretary of state (1861-1869)

  • Prevented Great Britain and France from entering the war with the confederacy

  • Purchased Alaska

• Napoleon III sent French troops to occupy Mexico, Seward threatened under the Monroe Doctrine and the French withdrew

• Russia and Great Britain fought over Alaska

  • Russia set it up as a seal-hunting colony

  • America purchased for $7.2 million

• U.S industrialized in the late 19th century

  • Hoped to gain sources of raw materials and worldwide markets

  • some hoped new territories might offer a reprise from unhappiness after the panic of 1893

• Survival of the fittest applied to competition among nations too

  • Military advantage, colonies, and sphere of influence

• America needed to acquire territory or gain control over the political or economic life of other countries

  • Needed to compete with other imperialistic nations or risk being reduced to a 2nd class power

  • Expansion included missionaries, politicians, naval strategies, and journalists

• Missionaries

  • Anglo-Saxons were the “fittest to survive”

  • Protestants had a “religious duty” to spread Christianity and other benefits (medicine, science, and technology)

  • Racial superiority

• Politicians

  • Republican party was closely allied with business leaders

  • Endorsed use of foreign affairs to search new markets

  • Eager to build power through expansion

• Naval Power

  • Alfred Thayer Mahan- navy captain; argued a strong navy was crucial to securing foreign markets

  • Persuaded congress to fund steel ships

  • Samoa was a coaling and supplying station

  • Developed the 3rd largest navy in the world

• Journalism

  • increased circulation by printing adventure stories

  • Stimulated demand for a larger role in world affairs

• Latin America

  • The U.S took interest in Western affairs

  • “Protectors” of Latin America

  • James G Blaine: secretary of state; helped extend traditions

• Pan-American Conferece

  • Establish closer ties with southern neighbors

  • Began in 1889

  • Create a permanent organization for international cooperation on trade and other issues

  • Move towards a larger goal of hemispheric cooperation on economic and political issues

  • Became a part of the Organization of American States in 1949

• Venezuelan Boundary Dispute

  • Boundary dispute between the British colony of Guiana and Venezuela

  • The U.S stepped in and said they could invoke the monroe doctrine

  • British agreed to U.S demands

  • Acted as a turning point in the British-American relationship

    • Useful in 20th-century world wars

Spanish-American War

• American investment, Spanish misrule, and Monroe doctrine justified U.S intervention in Cuba

  Causes of War

  • Cuban Revolt (1868-1878)

    • Hoping to overthrow Spanish rule or pull America in

    • Spain sent General Valeriano Weyler and 100,000 troops

    • Civilians were sent to armed camps

    • Thousands died of starvation and disease

  • Yellow Press

    • Sensationalist reporting featuring bold and lurid headlines of crime, disaster, and scandal

    • Josep Pulitzer’s Word and Willian Randolph Hearst’s “Journal”

    • Urged Congress to intervene in Cuba

  • De Lome Letter

    • 1898

    • Written by Spanish minister

    • Critical of President McKinley

    • Considered an official insult against to U.S

  • Sinking of the Maine

    • Feb. 15, 1898

    • A U.S military ship anchored in Havana, Cuba exploded

      • Killed 260 Americans

    • Yellow Press declared it was intentional

  • Jingoism: extreme nationalism calling for an aggressive foreign policy

  McKinley’s War Message

  • Issued an ultimatum to Spain demanding it agree to a ceasefire in Cuba

    • Spain agreed

  • Newspaper and Congress demanded war

    • Yielded to pressure in April

    • Put an end to miseries in Cuba, protect U.S citizens living in Cuba, end injury to businesses, and end menace to peace

  • Teller Amendment

    • War authorized on April 20th

    • Teller Amendment: U.S had no intention of political control of Cuba

  Fighting the War

  • First shots fired in Malina Bay

    • Last in August

  • The Philippines

    • Theodore Roosevelt wanted to show off the U.S Navy's power

      • Sent George Dewey to the Philippines (Malina Bay)

  • Invasion of Cuba

    • Largely volunteer troops

    • >5,000 U.S. soldiers died of foreign disease

      • Malaria and Dysentery

    • Charge San Juan Hill

      • Rough Riders: regime led by Roosevelt

    • The U.S Navy destroyed Spanish Navy at Santiago Bay

    • August 1898: Spain asked for peace terms

  Annexation of Hawaii

  • American Missionaries and entrepreneurs settled on Hawaiian islands

    • Settlers helped overthrow Queen Liliuokalani (Hawaiian Monarch)

    • President Cleveland opposed the imperialism of Hawaii

  • Officially annexed in 1898, U.S territory in 1900, State in 1959

• Controversy over the Treaty of Peace

  • Signed in Paris on Dec 10, 1898

    • US Acquisition of Puerto Rico and Guam

    • US acquisition of the Philippines for $20 mil

  The Philippean Question

  • Annexation dispute over the Philippines

  • Imperialists wanted to annex it, but anit-imperialists opposed

    • Anti declared it broke the constitution’s declaration of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,”

    • The US could end up tangled in Asian politics

  • Feb 6, 1899: The treaty of Paris came into vote

    • Anti fell 2 votes short

  • Philippians national leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, who fought with US troops, was then fighting against them

    • 3 yr long war

  Other Results of the War

  • Anti-imperialist league: led by William Jennings, rallied opposition to acts of expansion in the Pacific

  • Insular Cases

    • Did the US Constitution apply to US territories?

    • Series of court cases arguing the issue

      • Decided constitutional rights did not apply automatically, the decision fell to congress

  • Platt Amendment

    • US troops remained in Cuba until 1901

    • Platt Amendment made the withdrawal of US troops under 3 conditions

      • 1) Cuba would never sign treaties that might impair their independence

      • 2) The US can interfere in Cuba’s affairs to preserve its independence

      • 3) Allowance of US naval bases in Cuba

    • Cuba became a US protectorate

  • Election in 1900

    • Republican Party: McKinley and Roosevelt

    • Democratic: William Jennings Bryan

      • McKinley won by a lot

    • US filled with new pride

    • Now recognized as a first-class world power by Europe

  Open Door Policy in China

  • John Hay was worried about China

    • Empire weakened by corruption and failure to modernize

    • Falling under the control of various European countries

  • Sphere of Influence: the ability to dominate trade and investment within the sphere

  • Hay asked Europe to accept an open-door policy

    • Give all nations equal trading privilege

  • Boxer Rebellion

    • Xenophobia: hatred or fear of foreigners

    • Society of Harmonious Fists (boxers): secret society of Chinese nationalists

      • Attacked foreign settlements

      • Killed dozens of missionaries

    • International force crushed the rebellion

      • forced to pay indemnities

  • Hay’s 2nd Round of Notes

    • The US committed to preserving Chinese territory in integrity and safeguarding “equal” and impartial trade with China

    • Open door influence US/Japan relationship

    • European powers kept from grabbing larger pieces of China by political rivalries among themselves

  • Roosevelt’s Big Stick Policy

    • McKinley was fatally shot by an anarchist

      • Theodor Roosevelt succeded him

      • Motto “Speak softly and carry a big stick,”

    • Wanted to build the US as a world power

  • Panama Canal

    • The US desired a canal through central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific

      • Connect them to Puerto Rico and the Philippines

      • Required agreement from the British due to a treaty from 1850

      • Called the agreement the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty

    • Building the Canal

      • Took 10 years

        • A lot of laborers died

      • Congress voted to pay Panama $25 million for the canal

      • George Goethals: Canal engineer

      • Dr. William Gorgas assisted in building the canal

      • 1999: The US returned the Canal zone to Panama

    • Revolution in Panama

      • Roosevelt made a revolt for Panama’s independence from Columbia (1903)

        • Ended quickly with little bloodshed

      • The New Panama government signed the Hay-Bunnau-Varilla Treaty

        • The US could build the Canal

    • Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

      • 1902: British dispatched warships to Venezuela to force them to pay their debts

        • December 1904: Roosevelt declared the US would intervene when necessary

        • Called the US Corollary

        • The US would send gunboats to Latin American countries who owed debts

      • US presidents used it to excuse sending gunships to Hati, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua

        • Created poor US relationships with Latin America

    East Asia

  • The US and Japan were relatively new imperialistic powers in East Asia

    • Friendly to competitive

  • Russo-Japanese war

    • 2004: War between Russia and Japan

      • Roosevelt arranged a diplomatic meeting between them in New Hampshire

      • Both signed the Treaty of Portsmouth

    • Japanese nationalists blamed the US for not getting what they were “owed” from Russia

  • “Gentelman’s Agreement”

    • Discriminatory laws in California created friction between the US and Japan

    • Informal Agreement: Japan would restrict immigration, Cali would change it’s laws

  • Great White Fleet

    • Roosevelt sent battleships on a world-round cruise

      • 1907-1909

    • Japanese government welcomed them upon their arrival in Tokyo Bay

  • Root-Takahhira Agreement

    • US/Japan (1908) pledged mutual respect for each nation’s Pacific possessions and support for China’s open door policy

• Peace Efforts

  • Big-Stick policies promote peaceful solutions to international disputes

    • Awarded a noble peace prize in 1906

    • Algeciras Conference: settled conflict between France and Germany regarding Morocco

    • US participation in the Second International Peace Conference at the Hague (1907): discussed rules for limiting warfare

  • Theodor Roosevelt represented the vigor of a youthful nation arriving on the world stage

  • Dollar Diplomacy

    • President William Howard Taft (1909-1913)

    • Dollar Diplomacy: policy of promoting US trade by supporting American enterprises abroad

  • Dollar Diplomacy in East Asia and Latin America

    • Private American financial investment in China and Central America would lead to greater stability and promote US business interests

    • Anti-Imperialism in the US and overseas

  • Railroads in China

    • D.D first tested in China

      • Invest in railroads

      • Treaty signed in 1911

    • Russia/Japan agreement about Sphere of Influence in Manchuria

      • Violated the open-door policy

• Intervention in Nicaragua

  • The US intervened in Nicagagua’s financial affairs in 1902

    • Sent marines when civil war broke out

  • Woodrow Wilson and Foreign Affairs

    • Woodrow Wilson promoted a moral approach to foreign affairs

      • Stated the anti-imperialistic, big-stick, and dollar diplomacy policies of his predecessors

  • The Lodge Corollary

    • Henry Cabot Lodge: Republican senator for Massachusets

      • Responsible for actions that alienated Latin America and Japan

    • Passed the Lodge Corollary in 1912

      • Non-European powers would not be allowed to own territory in the western hemisphere

    • Taft opposed the corollary

      • Offended Latin America and Japan

  • Moral Diplomacy

    • Little success in applying a high moral standard to foreign relations

    • Wanted to show that the US respects other nations’ rights and supports democracy

    • Wilson took steps to correct wrongful policies

  • The Philippines

    • Jones Act of 1916: full territorial access to that country, bill of rights, male sufferage, and independence when a stable government was established

  • Puerto Rico Citizenship

    • 1917: all inhabitants of Puerto Rico were granted US citizenship and access to a limited central government

  • Conciliation Treaties

    • Treaties that submit disputes to international commissions and observe a 1-year “cool-off period” before taking military action

  • Military Intervention under President Wilson

    • Argued that intervention in Nicaragua and Hati was necessary to maintain stability

    • Revolution and civil war in Mexico

      • Wilson refused to recognize military dictator General Vicrotiano Huerta

        • Seized power in 1913

    • Tampico Incident

      • US called an arms embargo against Mexico and sent a fleet to Vera Cruz

      • 1944: US soldiers went ashore and got arrested

      • Wilson retaliated by ordering the navy to occupy Veracruz

      • ABC powers: Argentina, Brazil, and Chile

        • Mediated the dispute

    • Pancho Villa and the US Expeditionary Force

      • Huerta fell from power in 1914

      • Democratic regime led by Venustiano Canaza

      • Pancho Villa led a group of rebels across the US border and killed people in Texas and New Mexico

      • John J Pershing and an expeditionary force pursued Villa into Northern Mexico