AMERICAS RISE TO WORLD POWER. In the later years of the 1890s, the definition of nationhood was projected abroad as the USA took its place as an imperial.

AMERICA’S RISE TO WORLD POWER

AMERICA’S RISE TO WORLD POWER In the later years of the 1890s, the

definition of nationhood was projected abroad as the USA took its place as an imperial power on the international stage.

In world history, the last quarter of the 19th century is known as the age of imperialism., when rival European empires carved up large parts of the world among themselves.

For most of this period the USA remained a second-rate power.

AMERICA’S RISE TO WORLD POWER

1880: The sultan of Turkey decided to close three foreign embassies to reduce expenses.

He chose those in Sweden, Belgium, and the USA.

In that year, the American navy was smaller than Denmark’s or Chile’s.

OLD IMPERIALISM v. NEW IMPERIALISM Until the 1890s, American expansion

had taken place on the North American continent.

Fueled by ideas of Manifest Destiny, the USA expanded from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

This is the Old Imperialism: the expansion of the USA within its bounders.

OLD IMPERIALISM v. NEW IMPERIALISM Ever since the Monroe Doctrine, many

Americans had considered the Western Hemisphere an American sphere of influence.

There was persistent talk of acquiring Cuba.

Pres. Grant had sought to annex the Dominican Republic, only to see the Senate reject the idea.

OLD IMPERIALISM v. NEW IMPERIALISM 1890s: Americans began to look to

overseas expansion. In a very real sense, they were looking to build an empire. THE NEW IMPERIALISM

But most who looked overseas were more interested in expanding trade then in territorial acquisition.

Yet the USA will pursue territorial expansion.

OLD IMPERIALISM v. NEW IMPERIALISM

The nation’s agriculture and industrial production could no longer be absorbed at home.

Companies like Singer Sewing Machines and Standard Oil Company aggressively marketed their products aboard.

Especially during economic downturns, business leaders insisted on the necessity of greater access to foreign customers.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE NEW IMPERIALISM There were several motivations for the

emergence of the New Imperialism: 1. The need for worldwide markets for the

growing industrial and agricultural surpluses. 2. The need to find new sources of raw

materials for manufacturing. 3. Many conservatives hoped that overseas

territories and adventures might offer an outlet and safety valve for unhappiness at home.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE NEW IMPERIALISM For the most part,

advocates of an expansionist policy hoped to achieve their ends by economic and diplomatic means, not by military action.

The concept of Social Darwinism was applied to the New Imperialism.

International Darwinism: Only the strongest survived, this meant that the USA had to be strong religiously, militarily and politically.

Therefore the USA had to demonstrate its strength by acquiring territories overseas.

Thus the idea of Manifest Destiny was extended to apply to all parts of the world.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE NEW IMPERIALISM The USA was not alone in the quest for

empire. Many nations led by GB, FR, Germany,

Russia and Japan, were involved in the late 19th century push for empire.

Some in the USA believed that the nation had to compete with these imperialistic nations for new territory or it would grow weak and fail to survive.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE NEW IMPERIALISM

A small group of thinkers actively promoted American expansionism. This group included: Missionaries Politicians Naval strategists Journalists

THE MISSIONARIES 1885: Rev. Josiah Strong

published Our Country. In this book, he tried to

revive the idea of manifest destiny.

Having demonstrated their special aptitude for liberty and self-govt., on the No. Am., continent, he announced, Anglo-Saxons should now spread their institutions and values to “inferior races” throughout the world.

THE MISSIONARIES Strong insisted that the economy would

benefit since one means of civilizing “savages” was to turn them into consumers of American goods.

Many of the missionaries who traveled to Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands believed in the racial superiority and supremacy of whites.

Mission activities of their churches encouraged many Americans to support active US govt., involvement in foreign affairs.

THE POLITICIANS Many in the Republican

party were closely aligned with big business.

Republican politicians generally endorsed the use of foreign affairs to search for new markets.

Congressional leaders such as Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (MA) and Gov. Theodore Roosevelt (NY) were eager to build US power through global expansion.

NAVAL POWER Naval officer Alfred

Thayer Mahan, in The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (1890), argued that no nation could prosper without a large fleet of ships engaged in international trade, protected by a powerful navy operating from overseas bases.

NAVAL POWER

Mahan wrote his book in the same year that the census bureau announced that there was no longer a clear line separating settled land from unsettled land. Thus the frontier no longer existed.

“Americans,” wrote Mahan, “must now begin to look outward.

NAVAL POWER Mahan’s arguments

influenced the outlook of Sec. of State James G. Blaine.

He persuaded Pres. Harrison to get Congress to fund the building of four new navy ships.

Blaine also urged the Pres., to try to acquire Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Cuba as strategic naval bases.

THE PRESS Newspaper and

magazine editors found that they could increase circulation by printing adventure stories about distant and exotic places.

Stories in the popular press increased public interest and stimulated demands for a larger US role in world affairs.

THE PRESS The depression that began in 1893

heightened the belief that a more aggressive foreign policy was necessary to stimulate American exports.

Fears of economic and ethnic disunity fueled an assertive nationalism.

In the face of social conflict and the new immigration, government and private organizations in the 1890s promoted a unifying patriotism.

THE PRESS These were the years

when rituals like the Pledge of Allegiance and the practice of standing for the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” came into existence.

Americans had long honored the Stars and Stripes, but the “cult of the flag,” including an official Flag Day, dates back to the 1890s.

THE PRESS New mass circulation newspapers also

promoted nationalistic sentiments. By the late 1890s, papers like William

Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World were selling a million copies each day by mixing sensational stories of crime and political corruption with very aggressive appeals to patriotic sentiments.

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR A principal target of American

imperialism was the nearby Caribbean area.

Expansionists from the South had coveted Cuba as early as the 1850s.

In the 1890s, large American investments in Cuban sugar, Spanish misrule of Cuba, and the Monroe Doctrine all provided justification for US intervention in Cuba.

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

In the 1890s, American public opinion was being swept by a growing wave of jingoism – an intense form of nationalism calling for an aggressive foreign policy.

Expansionists demanded that the USA take its place with the imperialist nations of Europe as a world power.

Not everyone favored such a policy.

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

CAUSES OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

THE CUBAN REVOLT

THE CUBAN REVOLT

Bands of Cuban nationalists had been fighting for ten years to overthrow Spanish rule.

Spanish misrule and the high Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894 had damaged Cuba’s sugar based economy. Many of the sugar plantations were owned by Americans.

1895: The nationalists adopted the strategy of sabotaging and laying waste Cuban plantations in order either to force Spain’s withdrawal or involve the USA in their revolution.

THE CUBAN REVOLT

Spain responded by sending Gen. Valeriano Weyler to suppress the revolt.

Under his reconcentration policy, Cubans were relocated into concentration camps.

About 100,000 Cubans died between 1896 and 1898.

THE CUBAN REVOLT

THE CUBAN REVOLT

President Cleveland refused to intervene and issued a neutrality proclamation.

US mediation was offered but Spain refused.

1896: McKinley began president. Autumn 1897: He came close to

delivering an ultimatum to Spain that would have resulted in war.

THE CUBAN REVOLT

Spain ended reconcentration, removed Weyler and gave some autonomy to Cuba.

It appeared war might be avoided. The Spanish in Cuba rioted to protest

Spain’s talk of granting Cuba some type of self-government.

The crisis was far from being resolved.

YELLOW JOURNALISM

YELLOW JOURNALISM

Actively promoting war fever in the USA were sensationalistic city newspapers with their bold and lurid headlines of crime, disaster, scandal and atrocities.

YELLOW JOURNALISM

YELLOW JOURNALISM

YELLOW JOURNALISM

Hearst and Pulitzer printed exaggerated and false accusations of Spanish atrocities in Cuba.

Believing what they read daily in newspapers, many Americans urged Congress and the president to intervene in Cuba to stop the atrocities and suffering.

YELLOW JOURNALISM

YELLOW JOURNALISM

DE LOME LETTER

DE LOME LETTER

Feb. 1898, Hearst reported a stolen private letter written by the Spanish minister in the USA, Dupuy de Lome.

The letter portrayed McKinley as corrupt and indicated that Spain was not really interested in instituting reforms in Cuba.

Many Americans considered it an official Spanish insult against the country’s national honor.

US anger forced de Lome to resign before the US called for his recall.

THE SINKING OF THE MAINE

THE SINKING OF THE MAINE

The US sent the Battleship Maine to Cuba in 1898.

The purpose of the move was to protect and evacuate Americans if danger occurred while also giving voice to popular distaste for Spain’s reconcentration policies.

Ostensibly it was sent as a “friendly visit.”

THE SINKING OF THE MAINE

Feb. 15, 1898: The Maine was at anchor in Havana Harbor.

It suddenly exploded killing 266 Americans on board.

The yellow press accused Spain of deliberately blowing up the ship.

THE SINKING OF THE MAINE A Spanish investigation

announced the explosion was internal, presumably accidental.

The American version reported that the blast was caused by a submarine mine.

1976: A US Navy report showed the blast inside the ship was accidental.

Americans accepted the submarine mine view and leapt to the concluson that the Spanish govt., was responsible.

Americans now cried for war: “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”

MCKINLEY DECLARES WAR

MCKINLEY DECLARES WAR

Following the sinking of the Maine, McKinley issued an ultimatum to Spain demanding that it agree to a ceasefire in Cuba.

Spain agreed, but McKinley faced enormous pressure from the yellow press and Congress to declare war.

McKinley yielded to the public pressure.

In his war message, McKinley offered 4 reasons for the US to intervene in Cuba:

Put an end to the barbarities, bloodshed and horrible conditions in Cuba.

Protect American lives and interests in Cuba.

End the US economic hardships.

End “the constant menace to our peace” arising from the disorders in Cuba.

MCKINLEY DECLARES WAR

THE TELLER AMENDMENT

Responding to McKinley’s war message, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing war.

Part of the resolution was the Teller Amendment.

The Amendment declared that the USA had no intention of taking control of Cuba and that, once peace was restored to the island, the Cuban people would control their own government.

Purpose: Seeking to get international support for war against Spain.

FIGHTING THE WAR

FIGHTING THE WAR

The first shots of the Spanish-American War were fired in Manila Bay in the Philippines in May 1898.

The last shots were fired a few months later in August 1898.

So swift was the American victory that Secretary of State John Hay called it a “splendid little war.”

THE PHILIPPINES

THE PHILIPPINES

ANNEXATION OF HAWAII

THE US INVADES CUBA

THE TREATY OF PARIS 1898

Spain signed the armistice on August 12, 1898.

The Treaty of Paris1898 did the following: Cuba was freed from Spain. US received Guam. US gained Puerto Rico.

THE TREATY OF PARIS 1898

The Philippine issue was a major dilemma in the peace negotiations.

The US had taken Manila the day after Spain sued for peace.

The Philippines was not one of the spoils of war.

US agreed to pay Spain $20 million.

THE TREATY OF PARIS 1898

McKinley’s faced a dilemma. He believed that US should give the

Philippines to Spain especially after fighting a war for Cuban independence.

But if left alone, the Philippines might fall into anarchy.

The lesser of two evils was to take the Philippines and leave independence for later.

IMPERIALISTS versus ANTI-IMPERALISTS

IMPERIALISTS versus ANTI-IMPERIALIST

The Philippine issue touched off a debate between American imperialists and anti-imperialists.

This debate was one of the most intellectual and vigorous in US history.

Its outcome set the stage for American foreign policy into the 21st century.

IMPERIALISTS versus ANTI-IMPERIALISTS

IMPERIALISTS

Favored annexation of the Philippines.

The Philippines and Hawaii were necessary steps toward Asia.

Protestant missionaries eager to convert Catholic Filipinos.

Philippines a new market for American goods.

ANTI-IMPERIALIST

Feared foreign issues would overshadow needed reforms in the USA.

Feared foreign workers would lower wages at home.

Some feared that American factories would relocate overseas.

IMPERIALISTS versus ANTI-IMPERIALISTS.

Both the Imperialist and expansionists appealed to the patriotism and to the glory of annexation.

Both played up possible trade possibilities.

Both argued that the Philippines had an abundance of natural resources.

Both argued that the US would help uplift (and exploit) the world’s poor.

IMPERIALISTS versus ANTI-IMPERIALISTS The Anti-Imperialists argued that, for the first

time, the USA would be taking possession of a heavily populated area whose people were of a different race and culture.

They believed this would violate the principles of the Declaration of Independence by depriving the Filipinos of the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

They also believed annexation would involve the USA in the political affairs of Asia.

IMPERIALISTS versus ANTI-IMPERIALISTS

On Feb. 6, 1899, the Imperialists prevailed and the Treaty of Paris (and Philippine annexation) was ratified by an extremely close vote of 57 to 27.

The Anti-Imperialists fell just 2 votes short of defeating the treaty.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR Imperialism remained

a major issue in the USA even after ratification of the Treaty of Paris.

An Anti-Imperialist League, led by William Jennings Bryan, rallied opposition to further acts of expansion in the Pacific.

THE INSULAR CASES

THE INSULAR CASES The Insular cases

were Supreme Court cases concerning the extent to which constitutional rights applied to peoples of newly acquired territories.

The cases were heard by the Court in 1901.

The Court ruled: Some rights are

fundamental and applied to all Americans.

Other rights are procedural and should not be imposed upon those unfamiliar with American law.

The Constitution did not follow the flag.

CUBAN INDEPENDENCE

CUBAN INDEPENDENCE The US military set up

a military government in Cuba.

This govt., made major advances in govt, finance, education, agriculture, and public health.

The US withdrew in 1902 in honor of the Teller Amendment.

After withdrawing, the US sought to ensure that Cuba would not be vulnerable to European powers and to maintain US influence in Cuban affairs.

The Cubans were forced to write the Platt Amendment into their constitution of 1901.

THE PLATT AMENDMENT The provisions of the Platt

Amendment were: Cuba bound itself not to impair their

independence by treaty or by contracting a debt beyond their resources.

US could send troops to restore order and to provide mutual protection.

Cuba promised to sell or lease needed coaling or naval stations = GUANTANAMO BAY!

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION

Filipinos assumed they would be granted freedom after the war, like the Cubans.

The US Senate narrowly blocked such a resolution.

The Philippines became a protectorate.

They were tragically deceived.

1899: Open rebellion began when the Filipinos declared their independence.

The rebellion was led by Emilio Aguinaldo.

EMILIO AGUINALDO

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION

Savage fighting resulted in more casualties than in the Spanish-American War.

The Filipinos waged vicious guerilla warfare.

Infuriated American troops responded with atrocities.

4,300 Americans and 57,000 Filipinos were killed.

The insurrection was finally broken in 1901 when Aguinaldo was captured.

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION The Anti-Imperialists

intensified their protests.

They argued that the US fight to free Cuba morphed into a war to deprive the Filipinos of their freedom.

Atrocity stories boosted their protests.

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION

The US established a Philippine Commission under the direction of William Howard Taft.

The US instituted education, public health and infrastructure reforms.

The Philippines remained resentful.

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION

The Philippines finally achieved their independence on July 4, 1946.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR Established the US’s

first overseas empire. Europeans gave the

US more respect. The Monroe Doctrine

was enhanced. GB became an ally of

the US while Germany grew more frustrated with limited imperialistic successes.

Philippines drew the US into Asian affairs.

US became concerned with Japanese expansion.

US undertook a large naval buildup.

War helped heal the rift between North and South.

Nationalism was the result of an urban, mass-culture and industrial society.