Chapter 27 – The Path of Empire

1. Imperialist Stirrings
a. A sense of Anglo-Saxon superiority led Americans to want to spread their religion and values to other countries.
Americans like Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge interpreted Darwinism to mean that the earth belonged
to the strong: America. Late-comer Europeans were grasping for land in Africa and America felt it must also look
for land.
b. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 argued that control of the
sea was key to world dominance. Helped stimulate a naval race among country.
c. James G. Blaine advocated his “Big Sister” policy that would gather the Latin American nations behind America’s
leadership and open trade among the countries. In 1889, he presided over the Pan-American Conference, a
promising step, though no real plan was made.
d. America and Germany almost got into a war in 1889 over the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific. The lynching of
11 Italians in New Orleans in 1891 nearly made war with Italy until the US paid a fee. 2 American sailors died in a
Chilean port in 1892 and Chile’s navy threatened the Pacific Coast until the Chileans paid a fee. The US and Canada
fought over seal hunting near the Pribilof Islands off the coast of Alaska in 1893.
2. Monroe’s Doctrine and the Venezuelan Squall
a. Venezuela and British Guiana were fighting over land between the countries. Venezuela promoted arbitration but
gold was discovered. Cleveland and Richard Olney (secretary of state) authored a note to Britain that stated that they
were flouting the Monroe Doctrine and should arbitrate. IT also said that the US was calling the shots in the Western
Hemisphere.
b. Britain was preoccupied and only responded months later saying it wasn’t the US’s business.
c. Cleveland sent a message to Congress urging for a commission of experts who would decided the boundary and then
if Britain disobeyed it, they would fight.
d. Britain didn’t really have a motive to fight. Canada was vulnerable to American armies and Britain’s merchant ships
were vulnerable to America’s raiders. Britain’s policy of “splendid isolation” was backfiring as they had no allies.
German Kaiser Wilhelm II was to attack the navy
e. A British raider was captured by the Dutch-descended Boers in South Africa and the Kaiser congratulated them.
Britain focused on Germany and arbitrated with Venezuela.
f. The prestige of the Monroe Doctrine was enhanced. Europe was annoyed at Cleveland, but he had succeeded. Latin
American countries were impressed with America’s protection.
g. The Great Rapprochement was Britain’s attempt to cultivate a friendship with America and it became the
cornerstone of foreign policy.
3. Spurning the Hawaiian Pear
a. Hawaii was a way station for Yankee shipping and succeeded in evangelizing the natives. The State Department
warned others off in the 1840s. In 1875, commercial reciprocity agreement and in 1887, a treaty that guaranteed use
of Pearl Harbor.
b. The sugar trade of Hawaii was profitable until the McKinley Tariff in 1890. American planters thought the best way
to overcome this was annexation. Queen Liliuokalani believed the islands should be under native control.
c. This caused a revolt in 1893 by white settlers, assisted by federal troops with unofficial orders from an American
minister.
d. A treaty was written up, but before it could get through Congress, Harrison was replaced by Cleveland and he
believed the Hawaiians had been wronged. He withdrew the treaty and sent a probe to Hawaii who discovered that
most natives didn’t favor annexation. However, whites were in power and Cleveland couldn’t use force so the matter
was shelved.
4. Cubans Rise in Revolt
a. Cubans rose against the Spanish again in 1895. Their motives were economic as the American tariff of 1894
crippled their sugar trade.
b. Under the logic that Spain wouldn’t want the land if it was destroyed, or the US would step in, insurrectos burned
everything in sight – scorched-earth policy.
c. American sympathies went out to the Cubans. The US had monetary stakes in the country and the Spanish rule
menaced the shipping routes of the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico.
d. “Butcher” Weyler came to Cuban in 1896 to crush the rebellion and put the citizens in reconcentration camps that
killed most that entered.
e. In 1896, Congress passed a resolution that required Cleveland to recognize the Cubans. He refused and said that if
Congress declared war, he wouldn’t provide the troops.
5. The Mystery of the Maine Explosion
a. “Yellow journalism” led by William R. Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer reported on the Cuban situation. Hearst sent
Frederic Remington to Cuba to draw conditions.
b. Remington depicted officials viciously disrobing and searching an American woman. Indignation soared.
c. “Butcher” Weyler was removed in 1897, but conditions worsened. There was talk in Spain about granting the
Cubans self-government, but the Spaniards in Cuba protested viciously.
 d. Washington sent the Maine to Cuba ostensibly for a “friendly visit” but really to evacuate Americans if hostilities
should erupt.
e. In February 1898, Hearst published a letter written by the Spanish minister Dupuy de Lôme in Washington DC that
described McKinley as an ear-to-the-ground politician who lacked good faith. He was forced to resign.
f. A few days later, the Maine blew up in the Havana harbor. American investigators concluded it was caused by a
submarine mine while Spanish investigators concluded it was accidental. America spurned arbitration.
6. McKinley Unleashes the Dogs of War
a. War fever burned even though American diplomats had already granted the two demands: end to reconcentration
camps and an armistice with Cuban rebels. McKinley was hesitant, and condemned by Theodore Roosevelt.
b. McKinley didn’t want war as he had seen enough in the Civil War. Mark Hanna and Wall Street didn’t want war as
it would disrupt business. But the public wanted war, and McKinley eventually gave it to them.
c. McKinley also didn’t believe Spain’s promises as they had broken them before. He believed in the democratic
principle and was hesitant to deny the people. He also didn’t want the Democrats to use it as fuel for the next
election.
d. Congress responded uproariously with a declaration of war and also adopted the Teller Amendment that proclaimed
once they had fought off Spain, they would grant Cuban its independence.
7. Dewey’s May Day Victory at Manila
a. While Americans celebrated, Europeans were skeptical. The American army was vastly inferior and the navy was
slightly less powerful. Plus, they were friendly to their European ally, with the exception of Britain.
b. Spain’s disadvantage was operating miles from home. The American navy was in fairly good shape.
c. The navy secretary John D. Long wouldn’t leave his desk for fear that his secretary Theodore Roosevelt would do
something. On February 1898, Roosevelt cabled Commodore George Dewey, ordering him to attack Spain’s
Philippines in the event of a war. McKinley confirmed these instructions.
d. On the first of May 1898, Dewey attacked the fortified harbor of Manila and destroyed an entire fleet of Spanish
vessels, all without an injury on his part.
8. Unexpected Imperialistic Plums
a. Dewey was promoted and America was exuberant. However, he couldn’t storm the forts of Manila with his soldiers
and was forced to wait for reinforcements from America.
b. Foreign warships congregated, ostensibly to protect their nationals. The Germans sent warships and defied the US’s
blockade regulations. Dewey threatened war, but the British commander protected them. And rumors were spread
that Britain had stopped the Germans from blowing the Americans out of the water.
c. American troops arrived in August 1898 with Filipino insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo.
d. An impression arose that the US needed Hawaii as a way station for supplies on the way to Dewey. The US could
have used Hawaii without annexation, but the white-dominated island government was too eager. The US public
approved an annexation was rushed through Congress and signed by McKinley in July of 1898.
e. The Hawaiian residents were granted full territorial and citizenship rights.
9. The Confused Invasion of Cuba
a. The Spanish government sent a fleet of badly prepared ships to Cuba commanded by Admiral Cervera. Panic seized
the eastern seaboard and the government was forced to send Civil War ships to assuage the public. Cervera was
eventually cornered by the American fleet in the Santiago harbor.
b. An American army led by General William R. Shafter, including the “Rough Riders,” was sent from the rear to
drive out Cervera. The Rough Riders were made up of hardy characters commanded by Colonel Leonard Wood but
organized by Theodore Roosevelt, the lieutenant colonel.
c. In the middle of June, a disorganized group of soldiers left Tampa. Shafter landed near Santiago, Cuba without
difficulty and the Spanish troops’ defense was pitiful.
10. Curtains for Spain in America
a. Cervera was vastly outgunned but ordered to fight. His fleet was entirely destroyed and Santiago surrendered.
b. An American army led by General Nelson A. Miles took Puerto Rico. In August 1898, Spain had satisfied its honor
and signed an armistice.
c. However, the American army was in trouble. Disease and poor meat decimated the army. Roosevelt made “round-
robin” demands on Washington to move the troops and some were moved to Long Island.
11. McKinley Heeds Duty, Destiny, and Dollars
a. In later 1898, Spanish and American negotiators met in Paris to discuss the war acquisitions. The US had taken
Cuba, an unsuspecting Guam, and Puerto Rico.
b. The Philippines were difficult. McKinley couldn’t give them back to Spanish misrule and left to themselves, the
Philippines might fall into anarchy or under German rule, leading to a world war.
c. McKinley saw that the public wanted annexation. Protestants wanted to convert Spanish Catholics. Wall Street
wanted the commercialism from the islands. McKinley’s wife expressed concern for the islanders.
d. McKinley claimed that God had called for annexation.
e. Manila was captured the day after the armistice was signed and couldn’t be counted as spoils of war. The US
eventually paid $20 million for the islands and the House Speaker “Czar” Reed resigned in protest.
12. America’s Course (Curse?) of Empire
a. The nation now faced a challenge of assimilating a distant area was foreign language, race, culture, religion and
government.
b. The Anti-Imperialist League was formed to oppose the McKinley administration’s policy. It included prominent
American figures. They argued that annexation would violate the “consent of the governed” as the Filipinos wanted
freedom. Annexation would send the US into the Far East politically and militarily.
c. Imperialists argued that it was patriotic and that trade profits would be enormous. Wealthy Americans must “help”
the underprivileged Filipinos.
d. In the Senate, the Spanish treaty met resistance. Silverite Bryan logically said that the war was still going on while
the treaty was unsigned. He argued that the sooner they signed the document, the sooner they could give the
Philippines their independence.
13. Perplexities in Puerto Rico and Cuba
a. In the Foraker Act of 1900, Congress granted the Filipinos limited popular government and in 1917, full citizenship.
b. Beginning in 1901, the Insular Cases by the Supreme Court decided that the Constitution didn’t necessarily extend
to all territories.
c. Cuba was ruled by military government led by General Leonard Wood and achieved miracles in government,
finance, education, agriculture, and public health.
d. The US honored the Teller Amendment of 1898 and withdrew from Cuba in 1902. The Washington government
couldn’t turn the country completely loose – European powers might seize it. The Cubans were forced to write the
1901 Platt Amendment which didn’t allow Cubans to risk their freedom by incurring debts or making treaties. They
swore that the US could interfere when necessary and to sell or lease coaling or naval stations to the US.
14. New Horizons in Two Hemispheres
a. The Spanish-American war didn’t cause the US to become a world power, it merely advertized it.
b. American prestige grew in Europe. America’s good fortune reinforced the idea that preparedness wasn’t necessary.
c. The enthusiasm for these victories made it easy to rush towards imperialism.
d. The US became a Far Eastern power, but unable to defend the Philippines.
e. Captain Mahan’s emphasis on the navy led to support for bigger battleships. Elihu Root took over the War
Department and established a general staff and founded the War College in Washington.
f. The “bloody chasm” between the north and the south closed.