Presentation22

Becoming a World PowerChapter 22 1872-1917

The Gold StandardThe gold standard is the name for a monetary system in which the standard unit of currency is a fixed weight of gold or—if gold money is not used—the currency is a fixed weight of gold. In an internal gold standard, gold coins circulate as legal tender, or paper money is freely convertible to gold at a fixed price.

In an international gold standard system, gold or currency that is convertible into gold at a fixed price is used as a means of making international payments. Exchange rates between countries are fixed. If these rates rise or fall by more than the cost of shipping gold from one country to another, large inflows or outflows of gold occur until the rates are stabilized.

The gold standard was first put into operation in Great Britain in 1821. The full international gold standard lasted from about 1870 until World War I. It was re-established about 1928, though by that time gold coins were no longer in circulation in many countries. The Great Depression caused the collapse of the standard, and in the post-World War II international system most exchange rates were pegged either to gold or to the dollar. In 1958, a type of gold standard was established again in which the major European countries had free convertibility of their currencies into gold and dollars for international payments, But there was no restoration of a pure international gold standard as such. Then in 1971, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold. Since then, gold has been no more than a commodity traded on international markets.

Imperialism- The Progressive Dark Horse of American Foreign PolicyThe state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially

by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas.

In their modern form, arguments about the causes and value of imperialism can be classified into four main groups. The first group contains economic arguments and often turns around the question of whether or not imperialism pays. A second group of arguments relates as part of the natural struggle for survival. The third group of arguments has to do with strategy and security. The fourth group of arguments is based on moral grounds, sometimes with strong missionary implications.

Economic imperialism, as this type of expansion is called, was first criticized severely by John A. Hobson, who viewed it as the attempt of the capitalist classes in industrial nations to achieve economic gain.

Vladimir Ilich Lenin later elaborated this theory, as did subsequent Marxists. Marxist theory maintained that imperialism leading to war was the inevitable and final result of economic competition. A necessary corollary of the Marxist theory explained imperialism as a temporary phenomenon that characterized relations among capitalist states and that would be superseded by a communist world order. Marxist theory, however, fails to account for imperialism before the existence of capitalism as well as for those imperial policies that the Soviet Union subsequently pursued with the creation of the Warsaw Pact.

Imperialism- The Dark Progressive Horse of

American Foreign Policy (cont’d)

After World War II imperialism took a new form. The old empires no longer existed; the former colonies became independent states, often after prolonged national liberation struggles. Until the 1990’s, the United States and the USSR competed for influence over these new nations, usually through economic and military aid to their governments.

Direct military intervention was usually a last resort; certain prominent examples include American intervention in Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, and Panama; Soviet use of Cuban troops in Africa; and the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Britain and France also continued to exert economic influence over some of their former colonies in Africa. Less developed countries decry modern economic imperialism (called neo-imperialism), asserting that it seriously hampers their efforts toward economic growth and independence. Many poor Arabs considered the 1991 Persian Gulf War imperialist, charging that it was waged to ensue that the industrialized world would continue to have access to cheap oil.

Attempts to mediate imperial competition, such as the Berlin Conference (1884–1885), failed to establish definitively the competing powers' claims.

Many African polities, states and rulers (such as the Ashanti, the Abyssinians, the Moroccans, the Somalis, the Benin Empire and the Zulus) sought to resist this wave of European aggression. However, the industrial revolution had provided the European armies with advanced weapons such as machine guns, which African armies found difficult to resist (with the exception of the Abyssinians, who were indeed successful)

Yellow Journalism The term yellow journalism has come to mean nonobjective or florid newspaper reporting that is used in combination with other sensational journalistic practices, such as distorted or mislabeled pictures and illustrations and large-type headlines, to appeal to readers' emotions and thus to increase newspaper circulation. It derives from the phrase "yellow press of New York," coined by Ervin Wardman of the New York Press during the 1890s to characterize the cutthroat competition between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Morning Journal.

They competed in other ways as well. The World was the first newspaper to introduce colored comics, and the Journal immediately copied it. The two papers often printed the same comics under different titles. Since color presses were new in the 1890s, the finished product was not always perfect. The colors, especially the Yellow Kid's costume, often smeared. Richard Felton Outcault, a cartoonist for the World in 1896, created a single-box comic that had as its main character a slum child who wore a garment tinted yellow by a new color process. The popularity of "The Yellow Kid of Hogan's Alley” led Hearst to lure Outcault into joining the Journal. In retaliation the World hired George Luks to continue "The Yellow Kid." Soon people were calling the World, the Journal, and other papers like them "the yellow press."

Yellow Journalism (cont’d)

"They colored the funnies," some said, "but they colored the news as well.”

The papers competed for sales not only with their comics but in their news and editorial pages as well. Yellow journalism was especially prominent in the jingoistic coverage of the Spanish-American War in 1898. Its techniques allowed both the World and the Journal to achieve daily circulations of nearly 1 million copies. Yellow journalism is still evident today in the approach to the news of such tabloids as the Washington Post, Gannett Publications, New York Times, The Star and the National Enquirer, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC.

The American press, however, had no doubts about who was responsible for sinking the Maine. It was the cowardly Spanish, they cried. William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal even published pictures. They showed how Spanish saboteurs had fastened an underwater mine to the Maine and had detonated it from shore.

As one of the few sources of public information, newspapers had reached unprecedented influence and importance. Journalistic giants, such as Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer of the World, viciously competed for the reader's attention.

Imperialism Concept Map

Imperialism

Definition

Actions that take place

Examples

Imperialism Quiz

1. When did the Gold Standard begin and end?

2. Give one of the arguments for imperialism.

3. What European Conference tried to mediate the African colonization?

4. Who were the owners and what were their papers named that belonged to the “Yellow Press?”

5. What was the first big event to be played in the Yellow Press?

Spanish-American WarIn the summer of 1898, the United States fought Spain in one of the shortest and most pathetically one-sided wars in modern history. The war represented a powerful resurgence of the same doctrine of Manifest Destiny that had led the United States to expand westward by defeating Mexico in 1846-48. This impulse toward imperialism took place as major European nations were establishing colonies throughout Africa. As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States became a world power that controlled strategic island interests stretching from the Caribbean Sea to the Far East.

Roosevelt Swings His “Big Stick”

Roosevelt flexed U.S. military might in order to establish influence. He coined the phrase—”Walk softly and carry a big stick.”

The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine stated that the United States would intervene in any nation in the Western Hemisphere to prevent or resolve conflicts.

The Roosevelt Corollary was applied through American interventions in the Dominican Republic in 1905 and in Cuba in 1906.

“Dollar Diplomacy” was President Taft’s policy of encouraging American investments in Latin America by promising American businesses that the United States would, if necessary, send troops to protect their investments.

The United States became an emerging diplomat.The United States wanted to help maintain the balance of power in Asia, which was threatened by Japan’s overwhelming victory.

Japanese-American relations were strained by treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War and by discrimination against Japanese-Americans.

The Great White Fleet was sent around the world to impress Japan and other nations and to gain congressional approval for the build-up of American naval forces.

Panama CanalThe first attempt to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama began in 1881 after the Colombian government granted a concession to the privately owned Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique. The company, under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps, was financed by French capital from countless small investors. Because of Lesseps's recent triumph building the Suez Canal, he was able to attract public support for building a sea-level canal across Panama.

Progress was costly and extremely slow. As a cost-saving measure, the plans for a sea-level canal were eventually dropped in favor of a high-level lock-type canal, but this change had little effect. With no foreseeable return on its investment, the French public lost faith in the project and its leader. Attempts at further financing failed, and the company collapsed in 1889.

In 1906 Roosevelt resolved the matter when he sided with Chief Engineer John Frank Stevens, who argued for a lock-type canal. The plan ultimately approved by Congress was similar in all essential respects to the one proposed by Lépinay but rejected by Lesseps. Included in the proposal was an enormous earthen dam across the Chagres River at Gatún. The dam created what was then the largest artificial lake in the world (Gatún Lake), and at the same time it brought a considerable part of the Chagres River under control. So massive was the lake that it was able to

Panama Canal (cont’d)accommodate the greater part of the river even at flood stage. Perhaps more important, the man-made lake formed more than 30 km (20 miles) of the canal route.

Roosevelt could not get the Colombian government to sell the land necessary for the canal. Using covert and subversive tactics, the Roosevelt administration armed Panamanian revolutionaries to separate themselves from Gran Colombia. The Panamanians were willing to work with the United States.

The Panama Canal Treaty was signed on 7 Sep 1977 by General Omar Torrijos Herrera of Panama and President Jimmy Carter of the United States. It terminated all prior treaties between the United States and Panama concerning the canal and also abolished the Canal Zone. The treaty recognized Panama as territorial sovereign in the former Canal Zone, but it gave the United States the right to continue managing, operating, and maintaining the canal and to use lands and waters necessary for those purposes during a transition period of 20 years covered by the agreement. The treaty also provided for joint study of the feasibility of a sea-level canal and gave the United States the right to add a third lane of locks to the existing canal. The treaty went into effect on October 1, 1979, and expired on December 31, 1999.

The United States Governs Possessions

1. Guam is governed by a popularly elected governor and legislature, though it remains under the authority of the Interior Department. Guam sends a non-voting representative to Congress.

2. American Samoa is also governed by a popularly elected governor, falls under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department, and sends a non-voting representative to Congress.

3. The Virgin Islands are ruled by a popularly elected governor and fall under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department.

4. The Governor of the Canal Zone, who also acts as the president of the Panama canal Company, is chosen by the President of the United States.

5. The Foraker Act called for:1. A popularly elected House of Delegates in Puerto Rico.

The United States Governs Possessions

(cont’d)2. Legislation passed by the House of Delegates had to be approved by a governor, who was appointed by the President.

3. The act also gave Congress a veto over legislation.

4. Puerto Rico had a non-voting representative in Congress.

5. Puerto Ricans were not given American citizenship.

1. The Jones Act of 1917 granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship and the right to elect a senate.

2. In 1947 Congress passed a bill giving Puerto Ricans the right to elect a governor.

3. In 1952, Puerto Rican voters adopted a new constitution that made the island a self-governing commonwealth under United States protection.

4. Puerto Rico has rejected statehood every time it has been voted on.

U.S. Imperialism Map

1. What area of the world did the U.S. fight for most of its possessions?A. The Atlantic Ocean

B. The Caribbean Sea

C. The South Pacific Ocean

D. Asia

The Presidency-Wilson Style

Wilson intended to be a strong Chief Executive. He delivered his messages to Congress in person, presenting his programs with confidence and energetic leadership. As a Progressive and an academic, he felt that he had the right answers for all Americans.

Wilson continued Progressive doctrine through legislation.Wilson supported the Underwood Tariff Act because he thought the current rates were damaging to the economy.

Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 because he thought that the banking system had been controlled by a few powerful investment firms that did not act in the interests of the nation as a whole. A “Bank of the United States” would then operate under its own authority without any scrutiny by the public. The Federal Reserve has never been audited and has been estimated to have lost $50 trillion over its existence.

Wilson supported the Clayton Act because he sought stricter control of the trusts and dominate the economy through government intervention and regulation.

Yet Another Progressive President-

Woodrow WilsonWilson reintroduced segregation into the government and military after advances had been made in the Spanish-American War and other presidents.

In his book, A History of the American People, 1902, he states the following about the Negro race:

“The white men of the south were aroused by the mere instinct of self-preservation to rid themselves by fair means or foul, of the intolerable burden of governments sustained by the votes of the ignorant Negroes.”

Wilson also told a black delegation the following about segregation:“Segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit and so you ought to be regarded by you gentlemen.”

America’s Latin American Policy Takes a

Siesta1. President Wilson inherited the problems of the unstable regimes in Latin America. Wilson carried on a policy of intervention in Latin America by sending troops to Haiti in 1915, installing an American government in the Dominican Republic in 1916, and purchasing the Virgin Islands in 1917.

2. Wilson had major problems in Mexico because of the coup d’etat and continuing rebellion.

1. In 1914, Wilson lifted an embargo on arms shipments to Mexico, which aided General Huerta’s opponents. When “watchful waiting” failed, Wilson sent troops to occupy Veracruz in a successful attempt to bring down the Huerta government.

2. Wilson sent General Pershing into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa.

3. Pershing’s troops came under attack from Carranza’s supporters. To avert war, Wilson agreed to Carranza’s proposal for the formation of a Mexican-American commission to settle disputes. Carranza’s defeat of Villa enabled Wilson to withdraw American troops from Mexico.

World Power Concept Map

America on the World Stage

Policies

Actions that take place

Examples

World Power Quiz1. What military action turned America into a world

power?

2. Name one of the foreign policies that the U.S. used during this age of imperialism.

3. What building project was of strategic economic importance?

4. Name two of the U.S. possession.

5. Name one of the progressive policies of Woodrow Wilson.