RISE OF AMERICAN POWER1890-1919

Imperialism

• Manifest Destiny was an idea that shaped America since the Louisiana Purchase. By this point the frontier has been discovered.

• “New” frontiers, beyond our borders, were being looked at.

• Growth of a powerful steam engine navy required ports to refuel

• Industrialization has made us a global trade partner with the need for foreign resources

Open Door Policy

• The United States negotiated with the Europeans to have an “open door” policy in China which we would have fair access to Chinese markets.

• The US was also responsible for ending Japanese isolation by negotiating the opening of 2 ports for US ships

• Japan’s friendship will go on to modernize with American help and become a global power in the region.

• By 1890 the US had important business interest in Hawaii, sugar plantations.

• To protect American sugar growers a tariff was placed on foreign sugar, hurting Hawaiian growers

• In 1893 the American growers assisted by the US Marines successfully overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy

• But President Cleveland refused to annex Hawaii with force

Spanish American War

• Underlying Causes:

• Economics- Spain increased taxes on Cubans, America placed a tariff on sugar from Cuba, Cuban was on verge of collapse

• Humanitarian- Many Americans sympathized with Cuban revolutionaries and the suffering of the people

• Expansionism- War was an opportunity to seize territory from Spain

Jingoism

• Super Patriotism and aggressive actions were brewing in America that created a warlike mood

• But there were also many underlying factors that were creating war for the Americans

Yellow Journalism

• William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World are competing for readers

• Both papers printed the most sensational stories and pictures about the horrors of the Cuban Revolution.

• Things were exaggerated and distorted for effect

The “De Lome Letter”

• A personal letter written by the Spanish minister, Enrique Dupuy de Lome, called President McKinley “weak and catering to the rabble”

• It will get printed in the New York Journal and the public outcry for war is immediate

Sinking of the Maine

• Less than a week after the letter is publish, the battleship Maine exploded and sank in the harbor of Havana Cuba

• 266 Americans died

• Public blames Spain and demands a declaration of war in 1898.

Fighting the Spanish American War

• War will last 4 months with 2,400 American soldiers dying

• Teddy Roosevelt will gain notoriety with the Rough Riders

Results of the War

• 1898 Treaty of Paris is negotiated with Spain:

• Cuba gains its independence

• US buys the Philippines for $20 million, and gave Puerto Rico and Guam

America in Latin America

• Monroe Doctrine of 1823:

• European nations are not allowed to interfere with the independence of Latin American countries

• The US uses this to basically threaten war against anyone who is involved in our hemisphere (stole Texas from Spain, Venezuela vs England)

• Roosevelt Corollary: President Roosevelt had his own interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The United States has the right to step in “as a international police power”in the western hemisphere

“Speak softly but carry a big stick”

• Big Stick Policy: Roosevelt meant that the US would use peaceful methods to protect its interests, but would use military force if necessary

• Troops were sent to Nicaragua 1912-1933, Haiti 1915-1934, Dominican Republic 1916-1924

• Dollar Diplomacy: President Taft came up with the way to stabilize other countries was to increase US investment in foreign economies

Panama Canal

• 1901 the US gained the sole right to build a canal connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic as long as it was open to all

• TR wanted to build it across Panama but it was part of Colombia, and they were reluctant

• The US encouraged a revolution in Panama and once they gained independence they negotiated a 99 year lease

• Construction began in 1904 and finished in 1914

• Yellow fever and malaria caused delays as did trying to move 250 million cubic yards of soil

Pics of the Panama Canal