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Back to Subjects - American History

None Provided6

None Provided6 Never interfere with Europe was the cry of the founding fathers. Our very first president, George Washington warned us not to get involved with foreign powers. The spirit at the time of our nation’s birth was isolationism. The infant United States of America could not afford to get it’s hand caught in the cookie jar of world affairs. As children grow they get stronger, and the growth of the United States was no different. By the end of the Civil War the United States had muscles to flex. At the time the world was enthralled in the Age of Imperialism, in which a nation’s power was derived from it’s overseas holdings. The United States, who had just proved that it could beat itself up, was not going to be excluded from imperialistic contest the world arena provided. So, the United States was ushered into the Era of Imperialism. There are several reasons why the United States sought to found an empire. For theses reasons, American began it’s divine quest. Foremost were the economic prospects of empire. There were several commercial and business interests involved with the American imperialist movement. Overproduction in America caused economic depressions. In order to curve these slumps, America needed new markets. Also, as American business increased there was an ever-growing demand for raw materials. America glanced heavily at the potential of the Far East, especially China, and it’s southern neighbor Latin America as a new market, and a source of raw materials. These are the economic factors that contributed to the rise of American imperialism. For military and strategic reasons America needed to forge and empire. In 1890 Thomas Mahan published Influence of Sea Power upon History 1660 - 1783. In his book Mahan pointed out that Great Britain’s phenomenal growth as the world power was because of it’s unsurpassed naval power. America saw that in order to become a world power, it needed to expand it’s own navy. In order to maintain this new navy, America would also need to increase the number of harbors, refueling and repair stations, and trade ships around the globe. America also came to realize that the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans needed to be connected closer to home. This raised the demand for an isthmian canal. These are the military and strategic exponents that sparked America to expand beyond the mainland. Another reason for overseas expansion was “white man’s burden”. It was the duty to the world of the “White Anglo - Saxon Protestant” nations to shed the light of civilization to non “White Anglo - Saxon Protestant” nations. America saw itself as the torchbearer. This was the missionary belief that co founded U.S. imperialism. Finally, one of the main impetuses behind American imperialism was the official end to the American frontier. The 1890 census concluded so. Based on this notion, Frederick Jackson Turner postulated that the American frontier was vital to America’s development as a whole. The Reverend Josiah Strong had a solution to the panic now sweeping the country. He had an answer to the question “what to do now?” Rev. Strong held that the teachings of Protestantism and U.S. philosophy were one in the same, if Jesus Christ were alive today he would be an American. He found a new frontier for America, and that frontier was overseas. The roots of American imperialism did not suddenly sprout following the Civil War. Prior to “the War Between the States”, America had a history with foreign nations. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain entered into the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the Western Hemisphere would be closed to further European colonization, and any European actions in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as an attack on American interests. How would the still young American nation be able to back up it’s bark? At the time Great Britain was the supreme naval power in the world, and it promised to aid America in enforcing the Monroe Doctrine. America could now act on Latin America unchallenged by Europe. However, the Monroe Doctrine did not play an important part in American imperialism until after the Civil War. This was one of America’s early moves at imperialism. The staunch expansionist Commodore Matthew C. Perry was one of the first American’s to take “active measures” to open up new markets for America. In 1852 Great Britain took control over Hong Kong and Singapore. Perry warned President Fillamore that soon, Great Britain would control all of the Pacific. In 1853 he ordered Perry to take measures to secure ports in Japan. This began the yearlong diplomatic dance in which the United States would bring Japan out of isolation, opening it up to the global market 1854. This is another move the United States made in it’s early imperialistic stages. The beginnings of the drive for U.S. overseas expansion started under the Lincoln administration. One of the first proponents of expansion in was Secretary of State, William Seward. Seward wanted the U.S. to forge a vast empire, including Canada, the Caribbean especially Cuba, Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Mexico. His first expansionistic movement was the expelling of the French from Mexico, as it was a direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine. In 1864 Mexico asked for the younger brother of the Austrian Emperor, Maximilian to rule as emperor of Mexico. This move was supported by Napoleon III of France, and so in order to legitimize the new ruler, Napoleon sent French troops to Mexico, into the Western Hemisphere. Seward saw this as a direct offense to U.S. security according to the Monroe Doctrine. So in 1866, Seward sent 50,000 Federal Troops to the Rio Grande. Upon the sighting of Seward’s army the French soon withdrew their men, and Maximilian was executed by order of the Mexican leader Benito Juarez. Ever since 1784 Russia controlled Alaska. In 1867, Seward propelled Congress to buy Alaska from the Russians for 7.2 million dollars. For Seward the purchase was valuable in that it aided in keeping Europeans out of the Western Hemisphere. However, public opinion was brutal toward Seward, calling Alaska “Seward’s Icebox”, or “Seward’s Folly”. At the time the true value of Alaska was not known. The importance of Alaska would latter be known with the Yukon Gold Rush, and the vast oil deposits used today. Overall, Alaska has paid back it’s original selling price a thousand fold. Finally his final imperialistic act was the purchase of the Midway Islands in 1867. This would serve as a strategic coal station for the merchant marine, and U.S. Navy in years to come. 1849 was the year the Hawaiian Islands became a protectorate of the United States. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 between the U.S. and Hawaii allowed all sugar from Hawaii to enter the U.S. duty free, in exchange for exclusive land rights for only American planters. This was done in order to aid American overseas business. Later in 1887, the U.S. secured the naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This new naval platform would prove to be crucial in the upcoming Spanish American War. In 1893, the existing monarchy of Hawaii was removed by white planters with the aid of Hawaiian natives and the U.S. Marines. Soon, the new Hawaiian Republic petitioned for annexation by the U.S., and was finally annexed outright as a naval depot in 1898. The annexation of Hawaii opened up the boiling debate between imperialists and non-imperialists. Those in favor of imperialism believed the U.S. needed colonies overseas to compete economically with the world, while the anti imperialist held that an empire would be a major financial burden. Imperialists thought that in order to be a true world power, America needed colonies and naval bases. In response, anti imperialists thought that the U.S. should be concentrated on domestic issues. Imperialists brought up the missionary cause, saying it was America’s duty to take care of the weak and poor of underdeveloped nations. However anti imperialists stated that non-whites could never be assimilated into American society. U.S. expansionists felt the U.S. would appear cowardly if it simply gave up territories, while those opposed to expansion said the U.S. would be involved in more wars. Finally to the imperialist it was only honorable to keep lands in which American blood was shed to obtain. To this the anti imperialists argued that it was a direct violation of a democracy to annex land and not offer the same rights as citizenship. While critics of imperialism envisioned a slow transformation into a militant hegemony requiring a large standing army, supporters generally ignored the arguments of its opponents. 1889 marks the first U.S. effort to assume leadership of the Western Hemisphere. Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard in 1888 invited Latin American nations to an inter - American conference, scheduled in Washington D.C. in 1889. Later, Secretary of State James G. Blaine established an international bureau designed to promote commercial and cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Latin America. These efforts of leadership were viewed with serious suspicion by Latin American countries. The U.S. then expressed increased aggressiveness when a boundary dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela flared up over gold deposits in an ambiguously claimed area. The U.S. citing the Monroe Doctrine stated that it would arbitrate the affair. A U.S. commission awarded the majority of the disputed land to Great Britain. This increased good feeling in Anglo - American relations, while dampening U.S. ties with Latin America. In order to become a legitimate world power, traditionally one must defeat another world power. The U.S. was looking to do just that, and what better place to start a war than in a place 90 miles from home. Spain had been sent on a downward spiral ever since the 1700s. It had lost nearly all it’s colonial possessions during the Napoleonic Wars, and was in no condition to fight a war and win. The U.S. saw this as an opportunity at a chance at legitimization because Spain was only 90 miles away in Cuba. In order for a democracy to start a war, the people that make up the democracy need to be behind the war. Ever since 1895, newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Josef Pulitzer had been participating in what is called yellow journalism. All this time, their papers had been stirring pro imperialistic ideas, while rousing popular support against Spain, by sensationalizing Spanish brutality, and gloryizing the heroic, democratic deeds of the Cuban rebels. America had the public support to go to war in 1898; all that was need now was a spark to light the fuse. This spark came with the blowing up of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15th, 1898. A U.S. commission was sent to investigate, however no matter what the investigation concluded, America was going to war with Spain. In order to appease anti imperialists, Congress passed the Teller Amendment, which guaranteed the U.S. would not annex Cuba, leaving them independent. The war only lasted 113 days. It saw the total decimation of a European power by the United States. The Spanish Pacific Fleet was destroyed by Commodore Perry at Manila Bay in the Philippines, and the Spanish army in Cuba was forced to surrender. America had won the war. The ensuing Treaty of Paris of 1898 saw the spoils to the victors. Cuba was granted independence, the U.S. was given the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico, and the U.S. paid 20 million dollars for the Philippine Islands. By the wars end America was faced with several issues. Initially, the U.S. had to face the costs of the war, which was; 250 million dollars, 5,462 dead (362 in battle), and 1,604 wounded. Second, was the dire need of a canal to connect the Atlantic to the Pacific in order to quicken the voyage of merchant marine and navy ships. This would lead to further intervention in Latin America by the U.S. Furthermore the U.S. gained further interest with the Far East, because now it owned islands less than 400 miles off the mainland of Asia. Between the end of the Spanish American War and the Great Depression, the U.S. had sent troops to Latin America 32 times. President Theodore Roosevelt had added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. This was used to justify U.S. intervention in Latin America. It proclaimed that since the United States was a “civilized nation”, it had the right to stop “chronic wrongdoing” throughout the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt said, “any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. chronic wrongdoing however, . . . . may force the United States to exercise international police power”. This “police power” was used to help strengthen the United States, while not offsetting the worldly balance of power. Altogether this entailed Roosevelt’s Big Stick Policy, in which the United States uses it’s “police power” in the form of a “Big Stick”, the U.S. Navy, the Great White Fleet of 14 state of the art battleships Roosevelt had commissioned as Secretary of the Navy in the previous century. He used his executive authority to further American imperialism in Latin America. He used his power to gain the rights to build the Panama Canal, by inciting and openly supporting “a democratic revolution” in Panama. Roosevelt stated, “I took the canal, and left Congress to debate it.” In 1914, the U.S. would finish and open the Panama Canal, providing a link between east and west. Another reason for U.S. intervention was the idea of “dollar diplomacy”. This phrase was coined by President Taft. This policy used diplomacy to protect American interests abroad. Taft would use “dollar diplomacy”, and the Roosevelt Corollary in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries to further protect American business investments. These actions of intervention in Latin America were part of American imperialism. The U.S. got a late start in the race for trading rights with China, and with the U.S. now in the Philippines, the race became economically crucial for America. By this time, Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Japan claimed exclusive trading rights with China within their sphere of influence. Some, like Japan, even claimed parts of China as their own. In order to level out the playing field Secretary of State John Hay sent diplomatic dispatches to these nations, urging an Open Door Policy, in which there would be equal trading rights with China. All the dispatches came back to Hay with their corresponding nations endorsing the proposal. However, before the policy was enacted, the Chinese tried to expel the “foreign devils” from their homeland in what was to be called the Boxer Rebellion. This nationalist rebellion was put down by an international police force including 2,500 U.S. troops. Hay again asked the nations to allow China to pres Bibliography:

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