Seward purchase of Alaska (1867) • Treaty negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward • U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million • Made to eliminate Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere and expand U.S. territories • Thought to be a great Arctic wasteland • Many Americans (including Radical Republicans) called it “Seward’s Icebox” or “Seward’s Folly”
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Seward purchase of Alaska (1867) Treaty negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward Treaty negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward U.S.
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Seward purchase of Alaska (1867)
• Treaty negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward
• U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million
• Made to eliminate Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere and expand U.S. territories
• Thought to be a great Arctic wasteland
• Many Americans (including Radical Republicans) called it “Seward’s Icebox” or “Seward’s Folly”
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1890)
• Naval strategist and historian
• Wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783
• Emphasized importance of sea power
• Influenced growth of the U.S. Navy
Queen Liliuokalani/Hawaii (1893)
• The only state that was once an independent monarchy
• Queen Liliuokalani opposed American political and business influence
• Was deposed in a bloodless revolution led by Americans
• Pineapple grower Sanford Dole became president of the “Republic of Hawaii”
Annexation of Hawaii (1893)
Upon assuming office, Grover Cleveland reviewed the pending Hawaiian annexation and concluded that a majority of the natives did not favor the change.Acting on principle, Cleveland withdrew the treaty from Senate consideration, angering the growing body of expansionists.
Grover Cleveland
“Yellow” journalism (1896)
• Use of extreme sensationalism to attract readers
• Derived from an early comic strip character called the “Yellow Kid”
• First appeared in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World
• He and William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) exaggerated stories to attract readers and sell papers
• Contributed to U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War
William McKinley(1897-1901)
• 25th president• Won Republican
presidential nomination in 1896 (with help of millionaire Mark Hanna)
• Defeated William Jennings Bryan
• Helped acquire Guam, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and American Samoa
• Six months into his second term, shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY
De Lôme Letter(February 9, 1898)
• Letter written by the Spanish minister to the U.S. to a friend in Cuba
• Described President McKinley as “weak” and a “cheap politician”
• Stolen and published in The New York World, letter caused DeLôme’s resignation
• Used as propaganda—one of the factors turning American public opinion against Spain
ENRIQUE DUPUY DE LOME
U.S.S. Maine (1898)
• On February 15, the Battleship U.S.S. Maine was blown up by accident when spontaneous combustion in a coal bunker caused a powder magazine to explode
• Yellow Journalism exaggerated the story and blamed the Spanish
U.S.S. Maine (1898)
Spanish-American War (1898)
• Conflict between U.S. and Spain
• Begun over the cause of Cuban independence
• Marked the emergence of U.S. as a world power; the beginning of American overseas imperialism
• Most of the fighting took place in Spanish possessions of Cuba and Philippines
Teller Amendment (1898)
• Passed by Congress in response to McKinley’s war message
• Put conditions on U.S. involvement in Cuba
• Said U.S. would not annex Cuba
• Promised to leave “control of the island to its people”
Rough Riders (July 1, 1898)
• First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
• Col. Leonard Wood originally headed the group of 1,000 cowboys, miners, football players, and others
• TR commanded the unit and led them in a successful charge up Kettle Hill near San Juan Hill
• Having been forced to leave their horses in Florida, most were on foot
Sanford Dole/Hawaii (1898)
• Sanford Dole hands sovereignty over Hawaii to the U.S.
• Was annexed as a possession in 1898
• Became a U.S. territory in 1900
George Dewey/Manila (1898)
• Commodore Perry’s Asiatic Squadron was alerted to possible war with Spain as early as December, 1897
• On May 1, 1898, the Spanish fleet in the Philippines was destroyed
• Manila surrendered on August 13
• Spain agreed to a peace conference to be held in Paris in October 1898
Treaty of Paris (1898)
• Cuba became independent• United States claimed Puerto
Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands
• The treaty barely passed the Senate, with only to votes over the two-thirds needed for ratification
Open Door Notes (1899)• In 19C Japan and other
nations had divided China into “spheres of influence”
• Principle stating that all nations have equal trading rights and commercial opportunities in China
• Sought privileges for the U.S.
• Proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay
• Most nations (especially Japan) disregarded the provisions
• Ended with recognition of China’s sovereignty after World War II
Secretary of StateJohn Hay
Platt Amendment (1901)
• Agreement between the U.S. and Cuba
• Gave U.S. the rights to intervene in Cuban affairs and to lease naval bases on the island
• Made (in effect) Cuba a U.S. dependency
• The U.S. invoked the amendment several times before its repeal in 1934
Insular cases (1901-1903)
• The Supreme Court decided that constitutional rights did not extend to territorial possessions
• “The Constitution did not follow the flag”
• Congress had the right to administer each island possession without constitutional restraint
• Inhabitants of these possessions did not have the same rights as American citizens
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)
• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) between the U.S. and Great Britain ensured that neither country would seek individual rights over a canal to be built in Central America
• Hay-Pauncefote superseded this, when British relinquished any claims and gave the U.S. sole rights to construct and control the canal
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)
• Panamanian uprising supported by the U.S. led to Panama’s independence
• Allowed the U.S. to build the Panama canal
• Construction, begun in 1906, spanned eight years