CH 27 PATH OF EMPIRE

IMPERIALIST STIRRINGS • From after the Civil War to the 1880s, US was very isolationist

• In 1890s, because of more exports, increased manufacturing capabilities, power, and wealth, it began to expand into overseas markets

• Influenced by above and:

• Yellow journalism of Pulitzer and Hearst

• Missionaries like Josiah Strong wanted to promote domestic evangelical work in the West and frontier, then the idea was extended

• Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest was taken to mean the US was the fittest and needed to take over other nations to improve them [was already being done by Europeans in Africa and Asia]

• Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote in 1890 “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783” which argued that every successful nation had a great navy

• This started a world wide naval race

• Diplomatic affairs also had an impact

• America and Germany almost went to war over the Samoan Islands to decide who could build a naval base

• Italy and America almost fought due to the lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans

• The US and Chile almost went to war after the deaths of two American sailors at Valparaiso in 1892

• America was getting more aggressive and wanting to assert itself

MONROE DOCTRINE AND VENEZUELAN SQUALL • British Guiana and Venezuela had been disputing their borders

for years

• Gold was discovered, so the situation got worse

• 1895, President Cleveland sent a note written by the Secretary of State (Richard Olney) to Britain informing them that the British actions were violating the Monroe Doctrine and that WE controlled things in the Americas

• Not only was the Western Hemisphere closed to European meddling, but the US would also negotiate border disputes as well

• British replied four months later saying that the Monroe Doctrine didn’t exist

• The US and Britain almost go to war over this, but negotiations started and Britain actually got what they wanted anyway in the treaty

• Results were that Monroe Doctrine was strengthened, Latin American nations appreciated the protection, and Britain wanted better relations with the US afterwards.

• US missionaries first went to Hawaii in the 1820, and since we had liked the islands

• Treaties in 1875 and 1887 had guaranteed commercial trade and US rights to Pearl Harbor

• Sugar is the main cash crop, but in 1890 a tariff raised the prices on sugar and thus it’s price

• Americans felt the best way to get around this was to annex Hawaii, a move opposed by its Queen Liliuokalani

• In 1893, desperate Americans led by Sanford Dole revolted on the island and succeeded

• They used Marines from a naval ship offshore to accomplish this ‘coup’

• The intent and actions were questionable, and Cleveland refused to allow Hawaii annexed until he left office

SPURNING THE HAWAIIAN PEAR

DAY 1 WRITE THE QUESTION IN THE SPACE PROVIDED

• A: What is ‘yellow journalism’?

• B: How does Darwin’s theory apply to imperialism?

• C: What was the Monroe Doctrine and how is it tested in the 1890s?

• D: Describe two reasons why Hawaii was of intense interest in the late 1800s.

CUBANS RISE IN REVOLT • In 1895, Cuba revolted against Spain

• Cuban field workers torched their sugar cane fields in the hopes of getting Spain out or having the US come in to help

• Spanish respond by sending General Weyler to put down the revolt

• His response was to create concentration camps where many of the rebels were killed

• Many of the atrocities were published, and expanded upon, in the newspapers

• Yellow journalists documented the stories of what was going on in Cuba

• Hearst hired Nathanial Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) to write stories for his papers

• American public opinion was turning against Spain and for the Cuban people

THE MYSTERY OF THE MAINE EXPLOSION

• The yellow presses competed against each other to come up with more sensational stories

• Hearst sent an artist, Frederick Remington, to draw pictures of (often fictional) atrocities

• February 9, 1898, a letter written by the Spanish minister to Washington, Dupuy de Lome, was published by Hearst

• It ridiculed president McKinley calling him ‘weak’ and a ‘low politician’

• Then on February 15, the US battleship Maine was in Havana Harbor and exploded, killing 260 officers and men

• The American public and newspapers blamed the Spanish

• Later investigations revealed an accidental explosion from inside the ship in the artillery room

MCKINLEY UNLEASHES THE DOGS OF WAR • American public wants war, but McKinley

privately didn’t want violence

• He had fought in the Civil War and advisors believed it would upset business

• On April 11, 1898, he sent his war message to Congress anyway since war seemed inevitable

• Congress also adopts the Teller Amendment which stated that once the war was over the Cubans would be given their freedom

DEWEY’S MAY DAY VICTORY AT MANILA • On paper, the Spanish had the advantage of more troops,

better army (again on paper), and younger (less senile) generals

• Navy Secretary John D Long and his Asst Secretary Theodore Roosevelt had just recently modernized the navy (Alfred Thayer Mahan)

• On February 25, 1898 Roosevelt found himself on a weekend without his boss

• He cabled Commodore George Dewey at Hong Kong and told him to take over the Philippines if we went to war with Spain

• Dewey double checked with McKinley to make sure the orders were correct

• May 1, 1898, Dewey sailed his brand new 6 ship fleet into Manila Bay and found 10 Spanish ships (some so old they could barely float)

• Dewey defeated them easily, completely taking the islands from the Spanish without a single sailor dying (400 Spanish)

UNEXPECTED IMPERIALISTIC PLUMS • Dewey had naval control but could not storm the islands and its forts

• He had to wait for reinforcements

• On July 7, 1898, the US annexed Hawaii (support for Dewey and probably the sugar as well)

• US troops collaborated with Filipino insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo to overthrow the Spanish rulers

• August 13, 1898, American troops arrived and captured Manila, but…

• We did not allow the Filipino soldiers to take part in this

• About 11,000 American soldiers arrive in the Philippines and begin to rule over the islands instead of the Filipinos

• This and the actual attack on Manila leads to the Philippine-American War (1899-1902)

• Given limited autonomy initially, they are guaranteed eventual independence in 1916, with the eventual independence actually coming in 1946

DAY 2 WRITE THE QUESTION IN THE SPACE PROVIDED

• A: How do the Spanish react to the rebels? Did they seal their own fates?

• B: What part do ‘yellow journalists’ play in bringing war with Spain?

• C: Describe three events/reasons that lead us into war with Spain.

• D: Given the outcome of the events in the Philippines, what is your opinion of the United States’ intentions at the beginning of this war?

CONFUSED INVASION OF CUBA • Spanish sent warships to Cuba, which panicked

many Americans on the east coast

• The Spanish made port in Santiago Harbor and their fleet was commanded by Admiral Cervera

• They sent four armored ships (one without guns) and six torpedo boats (three of which didn’t make it to Cuba)

• American ships were sent to blockade and easily did so against the old Spanish ships

• US strategy said to now plan an invasion, and the leader of it was General William R Shafter

• So grossly overweight he had to be carried around on a door

• American troops are extremely ill-prepared also

• They were provided woolen underwear and also uniforms designed for subzero operations against the Indians

ROUGH RIDERS AND TO CUBA • A part of the invading army, made up of

volunteers

• Ex cowboys, ex polo players, and ex convicts

• Commanded by Col Leonard Wood but organized mainly by Theodore Roosevelt who had resigned from the Navy Dept to serve

• He used his political pull to secure his commission (was near sighted and took along a dozen pairs of glasses)

• By mid June, 17,000 men converged on Tampa, FL to make their way to Cuba

• The scene was of total confusion and many supplies, including horses, never make it to Cuba

LANDING AND FIGHTING • The Americans landed and found

the Spanish even more disorganized than themselves

• The Spanish numbered about 2,000

• Fighting broke out on July 1 at El Caney and San Juan Hill

• The US suffered heavy casualties but with the support of two black regiments, the Rough Riders were able to charge their San Juan Hill

• Roosevelt was even able to shoot a Spaniard with his revolver and rejoiced to see his victim double up like a jackrabbit

CURTAINS FOR SPAIN IN AMERICA

• The American army was fast closing in on Santiago

• This endangered the Spanish fleet, who was given a virtual suicide order to fight the American ships

• One American ship could fire more artillery than all four of the Spanish ships combined

• July 3, the Spanish fleet was destroyed as their wooden decks caught fire, the ships then were beached

• 500 Spanish were killed, and 1 American

• The American army then turned to Puerto Rico and found little resistance

• August 12, 1898 Spain signed an armistice

DISEASE TAKES ITS TOLL • If Spain had held out a few more months

the results may have been different

• American soldiers suffered far greater casualties due to disease during the war than to actual fighting

• Malaria, typhoid, dysentery, yellow fever, and food poisoning (from the canned beef sent to feed them)

• Roosevelt sent a letter to Washington demanding that the army be taken out before they all died

• In the end, 400 Americans died in the fighting and 5,000 died due to disease and other causes

MCKINLEY HEEDS DUTY, DESTINY, AND DOLLARS • During negotiations in Paris, America gets:

• Guam, Puerto Rico, and freed Cuba

• Question was what to do with the Philippines

• [We can’t give it back to the Spanish, and we couldn’t just sail away from our responsibilities]

• [Would the Philippines fall into anarchy, would they be gobbled up by Germany]

• Perhaps the best course, McKinley felt, was to take them and then give them freedom later

• Protestant missionaries saw this as a chance to Christianize the islands

• Wall Street saw this as a chance to sell its goods overseas

• McKinley decides to Christianize and civilize them

• We pay Spain $20 million

AMERICA’S CURSE (COURSE) OF EMPIRE • Upon taking the Philippines, uproar broke out dividing the American

people

• Until then, we had acquired territory that was on the American continent (or at least had very few people like Alaska and Hawaii)

• The Anti-Imperialist League came into being which firmly opposed the new imperialism of America

• Members included Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Samuel Gompers

• Declared that even the Filipinos wanted freedom, and denying that to them was un-American.

• In the Senate, the treaty was almost not passed

• William Jennings Bryan argued for its passage however, saying that the sooner the treaty passed the sooner the US could get rid of the Philippines

• The treaty passed by one vote

PERPLEXITIES IN PUERTO RICO AND CUBA

• Foraker Act of 1900 gave Puerto Ricans a limited degree of self government

• In 1917, Congress granted Puerto Ricans full American citizenship

• With the help of General Leonard Wood (Rough Riders) and Dr. Walter Reed, they were successful in getting rid of yellow fever in Cuba [they cleaned up the mosquito breeding areas]

• In 1902, the US withdrew from Cuba but were forced to write their own constitution

• The Platt Amendment

• Said the US could intervene in Cuba and restore order in case of anarchy, the US could trade freely with Cuba, and the US got two bays for naval bases, one of which was Guantanamo Bay

• The war only lasted 113 days but it firmly put America as a world power

• Patriotism was strong in the US, and the war finally put to rest many of the ghosts that still lingered from the Civil War

DAY 3 WRITE THE QUESTION IN THE SPACE PROVIDED

• A: In what condition were the American forces upon the invasion of Cuba?

• B: Why does the US so easily defeat the Spanish on both land and sea? Was this really a fair fight? Why?

• C: Why does McKinley take the Philippines?

• D: What role does the Senate play in treaties, and why was the treaty to end the Spanish American War so hotly contested?